Will they be ok??

[Starfish]

Hi,

Yesterday, my hubby heard a sound of something falling and discovered baby squirrels at the base if a tree. There were no obvious injuries so we locked our cat in the house and kept our distance. We saw two clim trees throughout the day. But they seemed to often sleep Ina ball on the ground. We don't know if the mother went to see them. They were still there sleeping (yes, sleeping... Breathing moving) in a ball amongst the leaves. So I brought them sliced almonds and a bowl of water that I left near them.

They weren't afraid... One even started to approach me. I didn't touch it (for fear of domesticating it and I don't want rabies).

Are they ok? It's been24 hours. I don't know if they're independent enough yet. Why are they on the ground?

The road to hell is paved with good intentions. I don't want to bring them in if I shouldn't but I don't want them to be malnourished/dehydrated outside.

I placed some extra branches in front of them to slow down predators.

Help. Advice,??

[ques96]

:wave123 Others will hopefully chime in soon with great advise. If they have been on thier own that long with no sign of momma they more than likely need help especially if they tried to approach you. Many times when they are desperate for help they seek out humans and will crawl right up into thier hand out of desperation due to hunger and dehydration. If you bring them in post on here that you have them and further help and instructions on how to care for them can be given.

P.S. Rabies is not a concern in the case of squirrels.

[SammysMom]

No, if mom has not come yet, they need to be brought in. Where are you in Canada? We can try to find someone in your area to help. They will need to bi in a container like a large plastic tote or a cat carrier or cage with fleece, flannel or tee shirts. No loops to get their nails caught in. A heating pad UNDER one side of the container set on Low. Can you take a pic and send it to me at vfwpost7666@sbcglobal.net?

[SammysMom]

Here is some general information about babies. Do not feed them or give liquid until they are warmed though.
1) Is the baby uninjured? Is mom still around? and if so, warm the baby and place in a safe spot where mom can reunite if possible. Mom will not take a cold baby!
2) Okay, so you couldn’t reunite with mom. Start by warming the baby in a plastic container full of fleece or tee shirt material. (Not towels as the loops catch little claws and can cause injury) Place the container half on a heating pad that is set on low. It needs to be a heating pad that does not have an automatic shut-off. It needs to be half on and half off so that the baby can get off of the heat if it gets too hot.
3) Check to see if the baby is dehydrated. You can do this by gently picking up the skin on the back of the baby’s shoulders. If the skin goes right back down it is not dehydrated. If the skin remains “tented” for a time, you will need to rehydrate with Pedialyte or homemade Pedialyte.

Hydrate them right away (use a 1cc syringe and go slow)........ give some homemade pedialyte every hour for six to eight hours and then you can start start feeding them some formula made from goats milk (if they are thoroughly hydrated).
Pedialyte for no more than 24 hours!!! Too much sodium!!


Homemade Pedialyte
1 cup warm water
1/4 tsp salt (teaspoon)
1 Tbsp sugar (tablespoon)

Feed slowly with a 1cc syringe - head UP tail DOWN
Keep warm at all time – If no heating pad available fill bottle with hot water (cover bottle with sock) or fill a sock with dry rice or beans and microwave. Be sure to squish the rice or beans around to be sure there are no hot spots that might burn the babies.

____________
4) Once rehydrated begin to feed Fox Valley formula which can be ordered from http://foxvalleynutrition.com or while waiting for that to arrive use recipe below. As a general rule you will feed 5 - 7% of their body weight per feeding

Homemade Goats Milk Recipe -

1 cup Goats Milk * (if can - dilute)
1/3 cup Full Fat Vanilla Yogurt
1/3 cup Heavy Cream (frig section)

(lasts 72 hours in frig)
5) This information is really just meant to get you through until you can get the baby or babies to an experienced rehabber. If you are here on The Squirrel Board, you have access to all of the information you could ever need about squirrels. Most importantly there is generally someone here who can help to find you someone who can take the babies and prepare them for life in the trees. The trees are where they are meant to be and people here know how to get them safely there!

[CrazySquirrelLady]

After 24 hours you should gather them up. Sleeping on the ground will get em killed.

Put them in a box with fleece in it. Just get a yard or two from Walmart or something.

put a heating pad under their box, half under one end. A big rubbermaid tote is fine.

Squirrels don't have RABIES... :D

first warm them up! don't feed cold babies, it will kill them. Then offer them the home made Pedialyte formula to rehydrate them for a couple feedings.

You can feed them with the emergency goat formula recipe in the NUTRIT(ION SECTION.

Canned goat milk is fine. USE A 3 cc syringe. Feed with their head up and their bottoms down.

hold syringe under their mouths, so they have to drink facing down a little. This is so they don't choke.

don't let kids play with them if you have them, in a few weeks, you can release them back to where they came from.

others will be along with more experience to help out.

good luck.

[Starfish]

Thanks guys! Please keep posting.

My heart is racing right now. I'm not home right now. Should be in an hour. Hopefully they'll still be there alive. .... I really thought I was doing the right thing leaving them there. I didn't want to make things worse.

Uggggghhh.

Would kitten mother's milk replacement formula work? I have an open container in my fridge. (Nutrience)

I'm in the Ottawa, Ontario / gatineau, Quebec area.

Everything nine wants to be at home with those poor baby squirrels right now.

[Starfish]

They have hair. 2 can climb trees .... I don't know how old they are.

I just find it odd that they're sleeping on the ground.

[farrelli]

They shouldn't be sleeping on the ground. I hope you get home soon to save them.

Kitten formula isn't great. If they are still there when you get home, you'll have to run out again after you save them and gets some supplies like goat's milk.

[Starfish]

Ok. So we came home and managed to save 3. We found the 4th dead under some leaves. Not sure if it died of malnutrition or that we could have squished it while look for the others. We tried to be careful but it's possible. *Sigh*

Anyway, we have them inside. They were very thirsty. Gave them homemade pedialyte with a Terumo needle. (We keep some on hand as we've previously taken in kittens who were ill.)

They climb a lot so I don't think we can keep them in a box with heatpad. We put them in an old chinchilla cage with cedar pieces at the bottom in our washroom (we have cats) and upped the heat to 20 degrees Celcius.

Any thoughts??

Also, they have mites. uggghh... Tiny little things (samller than fleas) crawling around with were on me too. I've shower and boiled them off. But how do I get them off the squirrels and out of my home. I worrry of these things taking over. Gettting to my cats in my mattress, etc. I can't start taking a shower every time I feed them.

Also, does anyone know of anyone taking in baby squirrels in the Ottawa/Gatineau area? I'm pretty sure I'm in over my head on this one. They must need to eat like every 4 hours and I work. I'm ok for a couple of days (long weekend) but they're going to need more than I can give.

Tips? Adivce? Help??

How can I figure out how old they are?

Thanks a bunch everyone.

[SammysMom]

Do you have and Dawn dish soap or can you get it? A dilution of a little bit in water wiping them off with work on bugs. NO cedar!!!! Tee shirts or fleece or flannel so they don't get their nail caught. They MUST be warmed before hydrating or feeding. Please look at the baby squirrel info that has a goats milk formula recipe. Kitten milk is NOT for squirrels. They are not the carnivores that cats are :nono
They really do need the heat though. Put it under half of the chin cage with fabric in it to snuggle into.:thankyou for helping them.
Godspeed Little One...:Love_Icon

[SammysMom]

As far as the age, can you get a picture and send it to vfwpost7666@sbcglobal.net and I will post it for you.

[farrelli]

I don't know of any Ottawa members who could help? Anyone know?

I do know that we have a few Montreal members though. I don't know if they could help, and if they could, isn't about a 2 hour drive? Is that OK? Maybe you could meet in the middle?

I have to go for now. Thanks for taking care of them. If the Montreal people don't chime in, I'll PM them later.

[Starfish]

Thanks farelli and everyone. Much appreciated

Montreal is a little far. I'm not sure the hubby is going to be on board for that one. Half-way might work. He already thinks I'm over the top with the pedialyte and such... In his mind they're old enough to eat nuts... I'm not sure of their age but they were trying to milk from my fingers.

Rest assure that they have been removed from the cedar. I've cleaned out the cage and put the heating pad in with flannel change pad covers.

Headed to the grocery store to pick up Dawn, Goat milk, etc.

Please feel free to keep messaging. I'll be back soon to clean off the mites.... ughh... Being a bit of a germ freak and wanting to save nature's creatures doesn't mesh-well.

[SammysMom]

I started another thread using your location as a title to try and get you local help.
Thank-you so much for helping them!!!:Love_Icon :Love_Icon :Love_Icon

[CrazySquirrelLady]

just put the fleece inside the box, and put the heating pad under half of the box That way if they get hot they can go lay on the cool half.


Thank you for helping these babies. You are really going to love them and hate to see them go.

I hope someone up your way can help out, hang on, give us a couple of days if we can get it.

i'm sure someone will help soon who lives close by to you.

thanks again

[Starfish]

I have 2 heavy creme options : whipping (no sodium) or coking (small amount of sodium).... Help...

[SammysMom]

whipping

[Starfish]

Dawn oroginal scent with the little duck on it (blue). Or apple antibacterial without the little duck )green)??? I' m leaning towards duck

[Starfish]

Ty Sammy'smom

[Starfish]

Whipping creme... I have a no lactose option... Do I want lactose or no?

[Starfish]

They're getting lactose... Had it been a requirement, I'm sure it would have been mentioned

[SammysMom]

Blue dawn and with lactose

[Starfish]

Please let me know for the soap; I'm buying both. Do I wipe them with soap mix or put them in water (as was stated on another website)?

[Starfish]

Cool thanks

[SammysMom]

They are pretty compromised at the moment. I would make a mixture of water and a bit of soap in it and them wet a washcloth in it and wipe them down. What you do NOT want is for them to become chilled. Make sure you dry them carefully and put them wrapped in fleece or tee shirts and put on the heat. Maybe even turn up the heating pad to Med only until they are dry.
I am going out for a little while. Post and ask for help and if people don't see it immediately, I will be home in about an hour.

[SammysMom]

It will surprise you how quickly the bugs go away once the babies are on the right track. They really seem to prefer them when they are in a weakened state. Thank-you so much for helping them. Aren't they adorable?:poke :Love_Icon :Love_Icon :Love_Icon