TN Rehabbers with an Open Mind

[Abbi's Mama]

I've been looking into getting my license for rehabbing, specifically to obtain a permit for Abbi as a NR. I messaged a member about this a while ago and I've finally decided to post a thread about it. I've been holding off because I expect to receive primarily negative feedback, and I would like to avoid that. If you don't agree with my proposition, please don't leave a rude comment.
As far as I can tell, in order to qualify as a rehabber in TN you have to meet at least 1 of 3 criteria...the only one I technically meet is 200 hours experience in rehabbing the animal species in which I would like a license...and I don't really meet that legally. I was wondering if someone would be willing to vouch for me and attest to my 200 hours...or if they were close, I could try to help them for a while if they were more comfortable with that.
I don't necessarily want a license so I can take in more animals (I would be open to that if I had more land and would be able to raise and release future babies, but right now that would be a bit difficult). I mainly want one so medical care is more readily available to Abbi. I'm one of those people that will push aside my own wants/needs so I can take my animals to the vet when needed (just took my dog to a $230 vet visit because she has crystals in her pee so now she's on a special, very expensive dog food to dissolve the crystals and prevent them from becoming kidney stones) and the possibility that Abbi could get sick and my resources would be limited kinda scares me to death.
Any positive, helpful feedback is encouraged. :)

[CritterMom]

1. Have you determined that you can absolutely do what you want to do - get a permit for an NR squirrel - even if you DO become certified? Many states will only allow this if the animal is used for "education" and you need to provide documentation that you are schlepping them to schools and things. Many states require rehabbers to put down any animal that cannot be released within 90 days. You need to determine with absolute certainty that you will be able to get this license for her. Because if you cannot, what you will end up doing is drawing attention to yourself and to Abbi, very likely to her detriment - if you know what I mean.

2. Do you know for sure that you cannot get vet help for Abbi? Here is a story: I got a message from a member who lives near me with a vet request for a maloccluded adult wild squirrel. My state does not allow squirrels as pets, and they are not supposed to be seen by vets either, but I knew of a vet who would see it - for a huge $$ and gave her that info. She is a very determined person, though, and she sat down with the Yellow Pages and started calling. She netted TWO other vets in the immediate area - within 10 miles - who will also see them (and the wild squirrel was helped and released, BTW). If she hadn't started calling, she would have never known...nor would I!

I would look into BOTH of these things. Make certain that rehabber certification will give you the "Get Out Of Jail Free" card you are looking for for Abbi, because it would be beyond tragic for wildlife authorities to seize her because they found out about her in your attempts to keep her safe. And get on the phone and start calling vets. You may wind up as lucky in your area as I did in mine!

[Abbi's Mama]

Oh I absolutely understand, and I definitely wouldn't want to draw attention to the situation if I wasn't able to get a permit for her.
I wish I was on better terms with my bf's mom...she had a permit for a pet raccoon...and I don't think she was using him for educational purposes. Though she may have easily been able to claim that since she is in fact a teacher at an elementary school.
Regarding vet help, I actually think the vet I take my dogs to would at least assist in medication (or at least the two women that work there would help...the guy that's seen my dogs a couple times gave me a disapproving look when he found out I had a squirrel, but he didn't say anything directly to me and that's been at least 3 months ago). Medication would be about the extent of their help, any other help would be experimental because the one vet hadn't even been able to raise a single squirrel to releasing age. :eek
There's another vet relatively close though that the bf's mom took her coon to, so that may be another option.

I don't want to jump into anything right now, I'm just trying to feel around and see if anyone else has more knowledge about the system than I do...or that I can reasonably find out without making TWRA suspicious lol