Need some advice with this baby

[beezle-weezle]

Got a call Friday from a lady who found a baby unconscious on her kitchen floor. She says her cat must have taken the babies out of the nest. The cat killed 2 of them but the women was able to swat the cat away before it could kill this one. She put the little guy in her bathroom with some water and some wild squirrel food and started looking for somewhere to take him. After 2 days she found me (this was on Friday). When I met her to get the baby he was in a cardboard box with a blanket. He tried to dart as soon as the box was opened but I caught him with the blanket and got him into my tub. At home I opened the tub to evaluate him and he growled and charged me. I placed a shirt over him and was able to scoop him up. I weighed him (156 gr) and gently removed the shirt in one area at a time looking for signs of a cat attack. He was fine with being handled as long as he could not see my hands. No marks from the cat but I started him on Baytril anyway. Here is where it starts to get weird. He is about the size of a 6-7 week old. Very skinny, with a ragged tail. I started hydration. He was very awkward with the syringe and shredded my nipple. I chalked it up to fear and kept trying. He eventually caught on and we continued hydration till Sat. around noon. Yesterday I started him on Esbilac 4-1 ratio. He continued to shred nipples so I decided to try a neonate one (the ones that are hard plastic, long and skinny). As soon as I put it in his mouth he bit it in half. Next I went to nothing on the syringe. He mutilated the tip of my syringe but he did drink. At this point I has to see his teeth. This baby has top and bottom teeth, and they are already very yellow. Nothing like I have ever seen on a baby this small. After seeing his teeth I decided to see how well he ate on his own. I gave him a cheerio and he sat on his hunches and ate it with both hands. I started thinking he may be a little older. Today he spent most of the morning trying to get out of the tub so I decided to move him into the cage. I set up the cage with a nest on the bottom like I always do when babies move into the big boy cage. I feed him lunch (3-1 ratio today) and took him to his cage. As soon as I released him he began to run all over the cage and to my surprise climbs as well as an adult. After seeing this I decided to put some formula in a dish and place it in the cage. He drank it all like a pro. He didn't make a mess of it or snort it like a baby his age (judging by size) will do. Just licked it up and returned to the corner to growl at me some more. Is it possible this guy is just really small? He acts like an adult squirrel but is very small. Judging by how thin he is if he was still nursing momma has been gone for a lot longer than a few days. He is nothing but bone. I will post some pics at his next feeding. For now he seems content as long as no one looks in his cage. He also eats blocks like a pro.

[Nancy in New York]

WOW from you description he does appear to be considerably older than you initially thought.
I too have never seen a little squirrel with yellow teeth.
Pictures will be great!
Whatever his story, I'm glad he's with you.
Fatten him up and hopefully you can send him on your way.
It doesn't sound like he would take to overwintering too well.

Oh almost forgot. I think you can start him on full formula now.
As was explained to me, mama squirrel wouldn't/couldn't dilute her
milk/formula to accommodate a little one, so why do we? :dono

[beezle-weezle]

WOW from you description he does appear to be considerably older than you initially thought.
I too have never seen a little squirrel with yellow teeth.
Pictures will be great!
Whatever his story, I'm glad he's with you.
Fatten him up and hopefully you can send him on your way.
It doesn't sound like he would take to overwintering too well.

Oh almost forgot. I think you can start him on full formula now.
As was explained to me, mama squirrel wouldn't/couldn't dilute her
milk/formula to accommodate a little one, so why do we? :dono

I dilute mine because it is not mamas milk. To me anything new should be started slowly to let the body adjust. That's just my logic though, not anything I have read. So far my one mistake with putting him in the cage is I can no longer get my hands on him. Trying to catch him one more time to get some pics of those teeth. This one is really baffling me because at first glance he looks like a baby but acts like an adult. Maybe he only appears to be a baby because he I so thin but then again he has the big eyes of a baby. What is also weird is the second he hit the cage he started searching for a way out, even trying to bite the bars. I have never had a baby do this, they usually run into the nest until they are comfortable and slowly come out to explore.

[Nancy in New York]

I dilute mine because it is not mamas milk. To me anything new should be started slowly to let the body adjust. That's just my logic though, not anything I have read. So far my one mistake with putting him in the cage is I can no longer get my hands on him. Trying to catch him one more time to get some pics of those teeth. This one is really baffling me because at first glance he looks like a baby but acts like an adult. Maybe he only appears to be a baby because he I so thin but then again he has the big eyes of a baby. What is also weird is the second he hit the cage he started searching for a way out, even trying to bite the bars. I have never had a baby do this, they usually run into the nest until they are comfortable and slowly come out to explore.

This really is an oddity.
I am so anxious to see this little one.
Yeah, put them in a cage, and forget catching them.
UGH, that's a big downfall to the cages. :shakehead

[Mommaluvy]

Sounds like my Jaws er .. I mean Nutella.

I did not get around to checking the teeth color :grin3

But she too was about 7 weaker in size. Apparently very friendly to the finders. They had her about a week. Me.. Not so much. I had posted about her in a circling help thread. She did some really weird behaviors.. She circled and rabbit kicked the sides of the cage. It stopped when she got a bigger cage.. Only to happen again a week or two later. Moved her to the release cafe and it stopped again for about three weeks. Then she started pacing and running the height and width of the cage. I assumed she was getting anxious for release. I opened the hatch today.. And she was the first one out.. I am not sure the others left but as of ten minutes ago.. All four were back in playing and eating..

And I almost thought she was Neuro. But turned out she was hyper as all get out and did not care for confinement one bit. She was not terrible thin .. Just a real small fireball.

I think some mom squirrels keep their kids in the nest longer than others. Because I have seen some in the wild be out without momma but hanging around the drey. Running on the branches and climbing around the drey.

Maybe you got one of those. I had never seen one like Jaws before. If you gave a squirrel coffee it would be her. And not friendly either LOL . Course I've only raised about 30 to release but never one like her before.

[beezle-weezle]

Ok here is a pic of him and my poor syringes. I have decided to call him gremlin because he growls constantly. I managed to catch him and put him back in the tub for now, so after he calms down I will get a pic of his yellow teeth.

[Mommaluvy]

Your right.. He looks like a scraggly 7/8 weeker.. But the syring damage screams 10+

Maybe something happened to his mom very recently back and they were just old or savvy enough to be "ok" but not yet street smart. Maybe that's how the cat got his siblings.. Maybe they were down on the ground looking for food.

[beezle-weezle]

Here is a pic of the teeth. They look a little more yellow in person. You may have to zoom in to see well but this is a difficult little guy; getting him to open up and say ahh is next to impossible (unless he's trying to bite me).

[stepnstone]

Your right.. He looks like a scraggly 7/8 weeker.. But the syring damage screams 10+
Maybe something happened to his mom very recently back and they were just old or savvy enough to be "ok" but not yet street smart. Maybe that's how the cat got his siblings.. Maybe they were down on the ground looking for food.

I agree with age and your synopsis....
After "surviving" that cat he is definitely in survival mode.
That picture on the nest box shows that and....
he's pissed... :laugh2

[Rocky1]

Poor thing. Once he calms down and realizes you are trying to help, I think things will get better. To me, he just seems to have had a very hard life or recent history. He's all bones, lost the nest, etc. Of course, he's upset. It's wonderful that you are helping him!