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rangergirl
09-03-2017, 09:03 PM
On Friday, I took the mandatory training and became a squirrel 'foster mom' for a wildlife sanctuary. Rehabbing baby squirrels is something I recently did and loved loved loved it. My two 4.5 month old boys are doing awesome.
Also, on Friday, I brought home 4 orphaned babies (about 5-6 weeks old). Two of them had been at the sanctuary since mid August. The other two had been there only about 1.5 weeks. Everything seemed fine the first night... apart from the loud crying of one little boy who didn't seem to want to come out of his 'hat hammock', even to eat. Did I mention the terrible smell, wild looking fur, rough, bumpy skin and bald spots around his and the other's little mouths and cheeks? Anyhow, he did eat that first night - ravenously. Next morning, he would only take 0.5 cc of the Fox Valley 32/40. Next feeding, he refused to eat and slept all day. That evening, I managed to get 5 cc into him... but then he vomited some of it up. He was going downhill fast - and I had a bad feeling. When I put him in the cage, his cage-mate tried to push him out of the blankets, away from her. I thought it was odd - usually they snuggle.

This morning, I woke up to find he had died in the night.

I looked back thru the chart they had given me... looks like (when they did weigh him), he had been steadily losing weight. Nobody mentioned this to me...

I am so so sad and I feel like I should have done more... something... maybe electrolytes...? Its bothering me very much.

Can someone please give me an idea of what happened to him? He was so beautiful... black fur that was frosted with white. I called him 'Frosty'.

island rehabber
09-04-2017, 05:43 AM
How sad....RIP Frosty.
Most nature or wildlife centers DO NOT do well with baby squirrels. Baby squirrels are labor-intensive; they need to eat very often and when very young need to be fed at night, which nature centers don't do. Compromised babies don't stand a chance in those places. If he was steadily losing weight they had either aspirated him (formula inhaled into the lungs) and he was developing pneumonia, or he wasn't properly digesting the formula they were using. The bald spots and bumps around the babies' mouths is simply BAD hygiene: they did not clean the babies after feeding them. Formula crusted around a baby squirrel's mouth and face will remove the hair right off....some babies get naked forearms as well from formula dripping on them while they nurse and nobody cleaning it off :shakehead.

I am glad they are with you, someone who seems to truly care. :grouphug

Nancy in New York
09-04-2017, 06:22 AM
I'm so sorry to hear of the loss of your little one Frosty.
I'm glad he had you in the end to help him on his final journey.
We do not recommend Fox Valley 32/40 formula. They changed something
in it a few years back, and it has caused many deaths by not dissolving well,
and the little ones getting a "cement like" collection in their gut.
https://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/showthread.php?54405-WARNING-DO-NOT-FEED-Fox-Valley-32-40
Again, I'm so very sorry for your loss.:Love_Icon