which one, and for how long...

[cleolovelee]

i have an ~ 1 week old baby grey... she’s my first of the year and came prior to me being prepared, so i didn’t have any FV or esbilac on hand.... so i’m currently using the temporary mix of goats milk and yogurt (which she LOVES, btw).... i did get some FV delivered to an amazon drop box next day, so i do now have it, but it’s the 20/50 and not to be used till week 4.... so there’s the back story...

current issue... because the recipe i’m using now is temporary, should i go ahead and use the FV??? or should i grab some esbilac?? i’m worried about the esbilac given the ridiculous issues we experienced last year.... thankfully i never had any problems, but then i was also using older batches that i’d previously stocked up on.... so, i’m nervous as heck to try any of the new cans.... how long can this baby stay on the goats milk/yogurt recipe??

[HRT4SQRLS]

Unfortunately, your post is the one we have all been dreading. We have not come to a definitive recommendation as far as what to use for babies. I’m glad you are aware of last falls problems with puppy Esbilac. One thing that it did was to open our eyes to the devastating impact of deficient formula on our babies. Rehabbers are all over the place as far as what they will be using. I think it is safe to say that we will all be using something different this spring.

The only formula that has any trials done on the young babies is the NEW goat milk formula recommended by Henrys. It is a modification of the original temporary goat milk formula with yogurt and heavy cream.
https://www.henryspets.com/3-how-to-feed-a-baby-squirrel/ This link gives you the recipe for the formula.

On a personal note, I was quite surprised at how deficient the original goat milk recipe actually is. When the ingredients are put into a nutrition calculator you see numbers that show a very lean formula that won’t sustain them for long. Of course it was always a temporary formula and never intended for long term use.

Because you are sitting there with a pinky in your hands and you need information NOW, I would use the recipe recommended by Henry’s. Again, my opinion but I would switch to Fox Valley 20:50 at 3 weeks instead of the recommended 4 weeks. Last season I had a 3 week old (35g) that came to me on FV 20:50 so I continued it. He did wonderful and never had an issue with it.

I don’t see myself recommending Esbilac at any point in the future. It will take a long time to get the nasty taste of that disaster out of my mouth. I won’t be using it ever again. I have lost trust in the company. Again, I had to offer my opinion on this, as a consensus has not been established on TSB.

I would recommend that you stay closely involved with TSB as recommendations or problems develop. We are all in the same boat with this one.

[HRT4SQRLS]

One thing I would like to add. Shirley and Alan Casey of ewildagain.com have done expensive research and testing of MANY different lot numbers of formula. The data is published on their website. Fox Valley 20:50 should have 20% protein and 50% fat. Based on their data I noticed that all of the different lot numbers of FV 20:50 consistently had higher protein than 20%. It was closer to 25% as an average. The fat was consistently slightly lower than 50%, usually in the upper 40s.

Based on their data, the actual numbers for FV 20:50 make it closer to the FV 32:40 that they recommend for the <4 week olds. The actual data makes me feel a little better about giving a 3 week old FV20:50.

Another recommendation from their studies is to not depend on a single formula. They are recommending using a formula as an ingredient in your formula. In other words, we should be mixing 2 different formula to protect against total failure if one of the formulas fails like the Esbilac did last year.

[cleolovelee]

Unfortunately, your post is the one we have all been dreading. We have not come to a definitive recommendation as far as what to use for babies. I’m glad you are aware of last falls problems with puppy Esbilac. One thing that it did was to open our eyes to the devastating impact of deficient formula on our babies. Rehabbers are all over the place as far as what they will be using. I think it is safe to say that we will all be using something different this spring.

The only formula that has any trials done on the young babies is the NEW goat milk formula recommended by Henrys. It is a modification of the original temporary goat milk formula with yogurt and heavy cream.
https://www.henryspets.com/3-how-to-feed-a-baby-squirrel/ This link gives you the recipe for the formula.

On a personal note, I was quite surprised at how deficient the original goat milk recipe actually is. When the ingredients are put into a nutrition calculator you see numbers that show a very lean formula that won’t sustain them for long. Of course it was always a temporary formula and never intended for long term use.

Because you are sitting there with a pinky in your hands and you need information NOW, I would use the recipe recommended by Henry’s. Again, my opinion but I would switch to Fox Valley 20:50 at 3 weeks instead of the recommended 4 weeks. Last season I had a 3 week old (35g) that came to me on FV 20:50 so I continued it. He did wonderful and never had an issue with it.

I don’t see myself recommending Esbilac at any point in the future. It will take a long time to get the nasty taste of that disaster out of my mouth. I won’t be using it ever again. I have lost trust in the company. Again, I had to offer my opinion on this, as a consensus has not been established on TSB.

I would recommend that you stay closely involved with TSB as recommendations or problems develop. We are all in the same boat with this one.

glad to hear i’m not the only one worried!!! and that i didn’t go ahead with the esbilac... i am definitely going to stay on the goats milk recipe for now... i’ll mix up a new batch according to the henry’s recipe.... so scary about the esbilac tho... who knows how many rehabbers out there still use it because they aren’t on this board??? so sad......

[SammysMom]

I have to say that I would really advise using fv 20/50 either along with the gm recipe or by itself maybe with some powdered egg yolks added to up the protein. The goat milk formula just doesn't have enough nutrition for those first weeks when so much physical development is taking place. Below you can see the two formulas put into the calculator. The calcium is far too low and the calcium:phosphorous ratio is just horrible in the gm formula.

[cleolovelee]

I have to say that I would really advise using fv 20/50 either along with the gm recipe or by itself maybe with some powdered egg yolks added to up the protein. The goat milk formula just doesn't have enough nutrition for those first weeks when so much physical development is taking place. Below you can see the two formulas put into the calculator. The calcium is far too low and the calcium:phosphorous ratio is just horrible in the gm formula.

she’s been on the gm formula from henry’s pets since this weekend, and honestly, i just don’t think she’s digesting it well... she’s not pooping nearly as much as i’d like for to... she was doing better on just gm and yogurt... since adding the heavy cream and egg yolk, she’s just different.... so should i go ahead and switch to the fv with added egg powder?? also, where does one purchase powdered egg yolk??

[cleolovelee]

just an update... i went ahead and started mixing in some of the FV to the GM recipe from Henry’s.... i have omitted the heavy cream tho... i think it stops her up a bit... she’s tolerating the added FV well, and her poops are regular and have a better consistency... i think she’s doing much better with the new recipe... she’s even starting to grow some fuzz on her little nose!! SO UNBELIEVABLY PRECIOUS!!!!

[Mel1959]

Just for future reference. I purchased powdered egg yolk online. I never searched stores or health food stores to see if it might be available locally, though. :dono:dono