need help with a baby squirrel (pink)

[mafia99]

Quick back story:

Saw squirrel fall out of tree while I was in my backyard, figured his mother would come rescue him and went back inside. Came back outside nearly 5-6 hours later, he is still there, but now he is covered in dirt and bugs and almost looks like he is being eaten, but still squirming. I couldn't let him get eaten alive by bugs... Starting googleing stuff and wound up here. I currently have 6 other windows with squirrel info trying to learn as much as possible as fast as possible with what to do to help this guy. Before now I knew pretty much nothing about squirrels other than they like acorns.



I've got kind of a grasp of what I should do with him but I just want to get more detailed instructions because I don't want to do anything wrong. He is so tiny and fragile I don't want to hurt him...

He is really small, pink with no fur, eyes are not open. He has some small cuts on him and what looks like a bug bite. His skin is smooth to the touch, it doesn't feel sticky or anything (I think I read somewhere that it is supposed to feel sticky?). I tried doing that thing with the skin on the neck with him very gently and his skin doesn't tent but I know he has not had anything to drink in probably 7 hours or more.

When I first picked him up, I washed the dirt and bugs off of him with warm water and a little water syringe and started google'ing. Since then I've filled a ziplock bag with warm water, put it in a Tupperware, covered the bag with a shirt and sat him on top of it and covered him up with a sock.

When I first washed him off he was moving around a lot and making really low squeal noises. He looks like he is asleep now on the towel.. Oh he just squealed again as I'm typing this.


It is 2:30~ AM right now and I am unable to travel anywhere until morning, at least 6 more hours, so until then I can only use things around my house to care for him.


What should I do now? Make this pedialyte concoction and try to feed it to him slowly 1 drop at a time? Or use regular water? Is my syringe too big? Just keep him warm until morning when I can take him to the vet and/or get the pedialyte?



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[czarina]

:Welcome. You have come to the right place!
First he must be adequately warmed!
If you have a heating pad, preferably without a cut-off switch, place it under his container, half way, so he can move away if necessary, setting on low.
Or, you can make a rice buddy, out of a sock, using dry rice or beans, I don't remember how long, but nuke it for 30 seconds, and squish it around, to make sure there are no hot spots, then place it with the baby.
Once the baby is adequately warmed, start the homemade pedilyte, giving drops at a time.
I will post this now, so you can get started, the experts will be here soon to guide you.
Also, no towels, use fleece or old T-shirts.
I

[czarina]

Ok, now that we have the preliminary things addressed, (he has been without nutrition, fluids for a long time, so warm him first, then the pediliyte every 2 hours, an smaller syringe, 1cc would be better, but an eye dropper woill work in a plnch. Do not force the fluid, the proper feeding technique is the syringe is below the squirrels head, a drop at a time for now, do NOT go to fast, or he will aspirate the fluid and get pneumonia.

Now, do you want to raise the baby, or would you like us to find a rehabber in your area?

[mafia99]

Thanks a lot. I've been monitoring this thread since I made it and greatly appreciate your help. I don't have a heating pad at the moment but plan on getting one in the morning. Until then I'm switching out the bagged warm water ever 2 hours. I'm going to go try and feed him now.

[Rhapsody]

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

Please do not use an eyedropper to feed with --they tend to give to much fluid at one time.
Use a 1cc syringe and feed one drop of fluid at a time - slow and steady wins the race.

[mafia99]

ok so apparently there is no regular sugar in my house only sugar substitutes (splenda, equal) which I assume will not work. I won't be able to get real sugar for at least 2 more hours... Should I try regular water/something else or just wait?




@czarina, I will be able to answer that shortly. I think I may know someone already, will find out for sure in the morning

[czarina]

Also, you will need to stimulate it to urinate and poop. Basically you are mimicking the moms tongue. You can use a Q-tip or cotton ball dipped in warm water, and gently flick it on the genitals, you should do this at each feeding.

Also, the pedilyte, should be very warm.
There will be plenty of folks here in the morning to help guide you.
:thankyou for helping this little guy!

[czarina]

Do you have any maple syrup, or molasses, that you could add, for the time being? The brain requires sugar to function, and will pull all sugar from the body, which will dramatically drop the blood sugar.you can even just rub a little on his gums.

Right now priority:
Warmth
Sugar
Fluids

For now, you could also add the syrup to the pedilyte solution, to maintain brain function.
As in diabetes, the brain can function with extremely high blood sugsrs, but it cannot function with extremly low sugars, so find one of the suggested items and either rub it on the gums, or add to pedilyte solution.

I would not just feed the salt water, as it may induce vomiting, like drinking sea water. It will change the chemistry of the cells, and possibly push the potassium out of the cells.

[mafia99]

I do have light brown sugar which I used instead of regular sugar to make the pedialyte but unforunately I do not have a small enough syringe to use to feed him. I hear clicking noises coming from him and from what I read this is no good. I'm actually pretty frightened about that. So far from what I've read my understanding of this clicking noise is that it is pretty much terrible. I am scared to even attempt to feed him with my larger syringe because of this. As for putting the brown sugar on his gums, he just so small I can't really manage to get it into his mouth or even really close. He squirms when I pick him up and doesn't open his mouth. 1 more hour and I will be able to go get what I need...

[mafia99]

He is also breathing pretty fast

[CritterMom]

Do you have a q-tip? Wet it, put part of the cotton part in his mouth and use your syringe to drip the rehydration fluid on the cotton that is not in his mouth. It will saturate the cotton tip and allow him to suck it out of the fibers. If you don't have a q-tip you can use a small clean watercolor brush. If you don't have that, one of the foam applicators that come with most eyeshadow will do it too. Just make sure any of these things are CLEAN.

[czarina]

You have some of the experts with Rhapsody and Crittermom, they know their stuff! They have dealt with numerous pinkies, and can guide you. These folks know their squirrel stuff!
Its really important to get some hydration into him, lifrsaving in fact.

[anniedancer]

Bless your heart for caring about the little one. Reading things like this gives me hope for Mankind. Good luck...I will pray for your little fellow.
Annie

[lennysmom]

Also, you'll want to get some Esbslic puppy formula - make sure you get the kind WITH probiotics, as the other kind has proven to give these little ones digestive problems. If you can't find it, you can use the temporary goats milk formula until you can get some.
I'm going to repost this - I'm sure you've already seen a lot of the info, but it's good to have it all in one place. :)
By the way, thanks for rescuing this little one. :thumbsup


Baby Squirrel 101

This is general information. We will also give you direct answers to your specific questions. Do you have a heating pad that does not have an automatic shut-off?
Baby Squirrel Information


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!

[mafia99]

ok so I got some mixed fruit pedialyte but was unable to find a small syringe so I used the q-tip method. Once the end of the q-tip was saturated with pedialyte I tried to stick it near his mouth. He didn't seem too happy about it at first trying to avoid the q-tip so I kind of had to force it into his mouth (gently). Once it was in his mouth it almost looked as if he was sucking but I couldn't tell. If he was he got maybe 1-2 eye drop sized drops in total or possibly less. I couldn't tell for sure if he was even sucking it at all or just moving around while it was in his mouth.

After attempting to feed him this way I wet another q-tip with warm water and gently scrubbed his genitals in attempt to stimulate them as czarina said. He had what looked like a really small dried up spec of urine around his genitals already but nothing came out when I rubbed him with the q-tip.

It's pretty hard for me to tell if I'm doing this right because I have basically zero experience doing things like this. I don't know how forceful to be with him but if I don't force it in his mouth it will never get there but I don't want to hurt him or be too rough.

I've got the heating pad set up now also. I've got him in a 2 ft by 1 ft box with heating pad on bottom taking up half of the bottom. A blanket over the heating pad and an additional crumpled pillow case on top of that which I've set him in like a little nest. I have the heating pad set to medium, but I don't know exactly how hot that is. It's warm to the touch but not too hot so I hope that it's good enough.

I'm just a bit worried now about re hydration because at this point I'm pretty positive he's dehydrated as its been almost 12 hours since I got him and he hasn't drank anything and I don't know if he's taking any of the pedialyte off of the q-tip. If I am able to find a small syringe should I just slowly and gently force the fluid into his mouth even if he acts like he doesn't want it or what?

Going to visit a vet and continue searching for a small syringe now...

[lennysmom]

Sometimes it takes them awhile to potty, so make sure to do it for several minutes - but if he is dehydrated, he may not pee for a day or so. You really need a small syringe - I went to the pharmacy and told them I had a small kitten I was nursing and did they have a 1cc syringe I could have - both pharmacies I asked gave me a couple, but make sure you get them without the needles!

It may take him a few times to get used to the syringe, but just remember to be gentle - if he is thirsty, which I'm sure he is, it shouldn't take him too long to catch on. Just make sure you are using the proper feeding technique so he doesn't aspirate. The easiest way I found is to lay him across your hand belly down, with his little head up and use the other hand to feed him.

[mafia99]

So the vet gave me the number of a wildlife person who met up with me and took the baby. I gave her all the supplies I had gotten for the baby including the heating pad and recently acquired small syringe which took me forever to find (lol). Anyway she is in good hands now. The wildlife lady told me about some basics to do in a situation like this, little did she know I was being coached by a team of specialized consultants hah. You guys are awesome and thanks for all of the help. I hope She-Bone grows up to be big and strong (I originally named him T-Bone, but was informed by the wildlife lady that he was actually a she, so I had to modify).




Thanks again :).

[Wonkawillie]

Possibly this person needs help? I know we dont like to reveal our locations. I could help. I am in the Northeast. PM me

[czarina]

:thankyou:thankyou:thankyou
For caring for your little girl. I know you had a very worrisome night, but you were great! With one that little, it can be touch and go, even for experienced rehabbers, so in this case, I think you did the right thing turning her over to someome who has done this before.
I wasn't going to sleep until I knew you were comfortable with the situation, or someone more experienced came on to guide you. Thats the great thing about TSB, its like a really special family,
(kinda of nuts), who really care about squirrels, and who will go above and beyond to help these little guys.

Unfortunately, you didn't get a chance to experience their almost magical personalities, BUT, be warned, once a baby squirrel has found you, it will happen again. We suspect they have some kind of underground hotline, keeping names and addresses, so don't be surprised if one day another little one walks up to you with its little arms up, beseeching you to pick it up and bring it home, because it needs help.

Again, thank you so much for caring, and if you get any updates, we'd love to hear them, and or see pictures.
:Love_Icon:grouphug:Love_Icon