Rehabber from Texas :)

[etwr]

Hello all,

New to the forum and new to rehabbing squirrels. We deal mainly with fawns. GW confiscated 2 babies friday so we took them.

Their eyes are closed but the are not pinkies.

Just trying to learn all i can about these little one's.

The people they were confiscated from said they had got them about a week ago. They have been feeding them kitten milk in a can from poet smart mixed with 1/2 pedialyte.

I am learning this in not advisable.

I have ordered Fox valley. I order both forumlas plus the booster and pro biotics. I wanted to make sure i had what i needed.

I have slowly moved them from the kitten formula to raw goat milk and yogurt.

Their poo is my concern. I do not have a clue what it should look like but the little girls is orange and stringy??? not really liquid but certainly not firm either. She poo's every time i stimulated her to urinate. This stopped early monday morning and she has not had poo since.

The little boys looks the same but he only poo'd 2 times between friday evening and sunday evening. There has been no poo since sunday night. Is this ok???

My fox valley finally shipped today so hopefully it will be here before the weekend.

Any suggestions on the poo issues or is this normal? is it going to take them some time to get things going since the slow transition to the goat milk/yogurt/

I do not have a grams scale. Will be getting this tomorrow when I have relief volunteers here to feed the fawns.

ANy advise or tips???

Thanks

[Spanky]

If you agree I will send a message to the administrators to move your thread to the help needed, non-emergency as it will get more attention there.


The people they were confiscated from said they had got them about a week ago. They have been feeding them kitten milk in a can from pet smart mixed with 1/2 pedialyte.

KMR often causes diarrhea and no, formula should not be mixed with hydration / pedialyte. If they require hydration, get them hydrated before feeding formula (but you probably know that) and if extra hydration is needed for a while, give hydration in between feedings.


I have ordered Fox valley. I order both formulas plus the booster and pro biotics. I wanted to make sure i had what i needed.

I have slowly moved them from the kitten formula to raw goat milk and yogurt.

This is a good temporary solution. If they were on KMR, it may take several days to get them straightened out.

We have seen issues in squirrels on 32/40 but especially in pinkies and most folks have been using Esbilac Puppy formula, the powder with pro & Prebiotics. Third ingredient should be "dried whey protein concentrate" and if not it is not the formulation (new) that our squirrels do well with. After eyes open some are using 50/50 Esbilac with FV 20/50.


Their poo is my concern. I do not have a clue what it should look like but the little girls is orange and stringy??? not really liquid but certainly not firm either. She poo's every time i stimulated her to urinate. This stopped early Monday morning and she has not had poo since.

The little boys looks the same but he only poo'd 2 times between Friday evening and Sunday evening. There has been no poo since Sunday night. Is this ok???

If they were on KMR, it may take several days to get them straightened out. This is worth repeating. :grin2 Orange is stringy I would say is bad, but let's get more experienced folks to weigh in (I have never had to use the GM formulation, so maybe it is that but I fear it is from the KMR).

:Welcome to TSB, and :thankyou for helping thee little ones!

[etwr]

Hi Spanky,

Thank you. Yes, let's get this moved where it needs to be :)

The only Pet ag I can find in powder anywhere within a 2 hour round trip, did not check further, is the Milk Replacer Plus. White can with blue dog sillhouette on the front. First 5 ingredients are: Vegetable Oil, Dried Skim Milk, Soy Protein isolate, Casein, and dicalcium phosphate.

I had found this in my research for the wee one's and where I found about pet ag changing their formula it said to check the 1st 5 ingredients. mine does not match. So i tossed the can I bought.

I was afraid to try to order it online for fear it be the wrong thing again so I went with Fox Valley because, like the goat milk formula, anything is better than what they were on. With it being a Friday afternoon, I needed to get moving with SOMETHING, so I ordered the Fox Valley and called my 'goat lady' haha to get more raw goat milk.

? Can I mix the Fox valley either the stage 1 or 2 with 1/2 goat milk? will this help whatever issue there is with the one's not having food luck with Fox Valley? I can not find esbilac in any neighboring cities.

[Spanky]

I will send a message to admin requesting this thread be moved.

I ordered some Esbilac from Amazon yesterday just to see what formulation I get since there are challenges with the formulation and getting the "good stuff". I will post on your thread if I get the "good stuff".

Do you have a Tractor Supple store nearby? They usually have the Esbilac.

Once we get the thread moved (fingers crossed), others may weigh in... there may be some folks going to the FV 20/50 after 4 - 5 weeks.

[etwr]

Thanks Spanky.

I have searched high and low for this stuff. Tractor supply. feed store. walmarts, brookshires etc. I do not have a pet smart or pet co close. I think the closest is Lufkin and it is a hour and a half one way. I know I would have a better chance of finding it in Houston but that is 2 1/2 hours one way. With all my fawns, I can not make that kind of trip right now. If the youngest fawns were older and the sick ones were better, yes. No one around me has it.

Why is this so hard to find???? I used it for bunnies several years ago and had no problem finding it then. Now, it is difficult to find. Are they going to stop making it all together?

I read in many threads here that Fox Valley was the best formula for squirrels. Has this now changed?

I saw where others said Fox Valley would be all they ever buy now because of what pet ag did with the formulation. Did I miss the fact that those people had problems with Fox Valley later on?

I also read that Fox Valley was the most consistant production. Has this changed as well?

I have already invested in all formulas of Fox Valley plus the boost, now to find Fox Valley is not what I need. Geez. I just want to get these babies settled and thriving instead of constantly changing and order formula.

I am so confused now and the shape these babies are in. they can't afford to have a confused momma.

[Grinderhead]

Here is a place that I have ordered from it is the new kind.
http://www.revivalanimal.com/Esbilac.html?feed=Shopzilla&gdftrk=gdfV2457_a_7c543_a_7c2272_a_7c25330_d_423
Was cheaper them in the store but have not ordered lately don't
no if it still is.Shipping was fairly quick.
.

[Spanky]

A few years ago (before my time... well, my involvement) as I understand, PetAg did change the Esbilac formulation and the squirrels suffered. The formulation was changed again (or changed back?) and Esbilac is once again a great option for baby squirrels.

Now FV 32/40 has caused issues recently, babies, especially pinkies, simply do not digest it and it sits in their poor little tummies like concrete. :sadness

It seems now they Esbilac is back to being the "go to" for baby squirrels, especially pre-5 week old babies.

If what arrives tomorrow from Amazon is the good stuff I will let you know.

I wish I could answer (or someone else would) your question about FV + GM but I do not have that experience.

Here is the formula for goat's milk just in case:
3 parts goat’s milk
1 part heavy whipping cream
1 part vanilla yogurt

This will be a better alternative to KMR!

[Spanky]

Here is a place that I have ordered from it is the new kind.
http://www.revivalanimal.com/Esbilac.html?feed=Shopzilla&gdftrk=gdfV2457_a_7c543_a_7c2272_a_7c25330_d_423
Was cheaper them in the store but have not ordered lately don't
no if it still is.Shipping was fairly quick.
.

Just wanted to mention to make certain you order the powder if you order from here since the link brought up the liquid when I clicked it. The liquid is not the same formulation at all and is problematic!

[etwr]

Ok Thanks everyone.

I thought I had this researched and was just going to get advice on the poo issue. Guess not.

From my research this weekend I read:

*Fox Valley was the best for squirrels.
*Fox Valley was the most consistant. Others, it was like changing to a different formula from can to can.
*Others refuse to touch Esbilac after pet ag changed formulas and said they did not produce this milk for anything other than puppies.
* rehabbers have been using <4 weeks formula from Fox Valley and chose to not use the >4 even as the babies grew.

any many other things I can not recall right off the top of my head.

HAS THIS CHANGED?

I would prefer to have the babies on a formula i KNOW i can find. However, if something is better for them than Fox Valley, I will trash it when I get it in and use something else. I just need to KNOW what to use and not have all this conflicting info, use this.. I get it ordered.. Oh no, use this. These BABIES NEED something and NOW. I can not spend weeks ordering this then find i should have ordered something else.

They have suffered enough on the 1/2 kitten formula 1/2 pedialyte mix they have been fed before they got to me.

I have them on the goat milk/yogurt mix now. No whipping cream. I felt like their little digestive systems are already off enough. If I continue to get conflicting info and continue to change formulas, I might lose these little one's and I can't let that happen.

IS fox valley ok to use? I guess lets take a vote here so I can get them settled.

Anyone? what are all of you using so I can make a decision on what to do here. Time is crucial here to get these baby thriving and healthy. As I said, these babies do not have the time for me to order this, then find out i should have ordered that. They are weak already.

Can some people please post here what you are using so I can make a decision? THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL OF YOUR HELP!!!!

[etwr]

Just wanted to mention to make certain you order the powder if you order from here since the link brought up the liquid when I clicked it. The liquid is not the same formulation at all and is problematic!

Thanks Spanky.

I only use formula in the powder form anyway. The can milk does not last as long. I can mix it in the ratio I need instead of what they put in the can. The milk from a can always smelled sour to me, be it evaporated milk or pet formula. I like mixing my own. So no worries but thanks for the info.

[Spanky]

I will send a message to admin requesting this thread be moved.

I ordered some Esbilac from Amazon yesterday just to see what formulation I get since there are challenges with the formulation and getting the "good stuff". I will post on your thread if I get the "good stuff".

Do you have a Tractor Supple store nearby? They usually have the Esbilac.

Once we get the thread moved (fingers crossed), others may weigh in... there may be some folks going to the FV 20/50 after 4 - 5 weeks.

The Esbilac arrived from Amazon and it is the correct formulation.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002ASRZ8/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

The total price (with Prime) came to $11.97 (11.19 + 0.78 Tax).