PLEASE HELP !

[Adriana]

Hello people ! Please help me ! My two little guys (10 weeks old) suddenly started to vomit and have diarrhea after I gave them approximately 20 ml (or more) of fox valley 20/50, maybe it was too much ? maybe I overfed them? I gave it in the bowl as I always fed them with syringe before. They’ve been on fox valley formula for around a week, I also add a pinch of calcium to the formula. I’ve noticed one of my boy vomited some time ago but it was only once and then everything was fine but now they act lethargic, sleep all the time, get up only when they want to poop which is runny and greenish and it all lasts about 4 hours. I don’t know what happened and why is that, i am afraid they are gonna die, I am devastated : ( please help.

[CritterMom]

Don't give anymore FV now, but you do need to get some hydration into them. Pedialyte would be good; homemade rehydration fluid would be fine as well. Warm it and feed them each a small amount and then watch to make sure they don't vomit again. If not, continue to give them the hydration the same way - a small amount at a time, spread out over a couple hours, and see if they don't start to perk up a bit. Vomiting and diarrhea can really dehydrate them quickly. It will also help flush the food from their system.

Now some questions.

1. Do you keep the Fox Valley powder in the freezer until you use it or has it been sitting out at room temperature. The powder WILL go rancid.

2. How long was the bowl of formula in with them? Did they chow down and you removed the empty bowl right away or did it sit there for a while?

Hold the babies chest up to your ear in a quiet room. Do you hear any clicking? It would be with every breath, not the normal mouth noises they make. It is possible that they aspirated themselves with the formula if they sucked a bunch up their noses? If any of these are a "yes" you need to start checking your medicine chest and talking to friends and neighbors for meds. Good drugs to find would be Cipro, very commonly given for UTIs, and Amoxicillin / Clavulanate sold as "Augmentin" to people and "Clavamox" for pets.

[Adriana]

Hi, thank you for your fast reply !

1.I store it in a room temperature.
2.I removed it right away after they finished eat.
3. While drinking the formula they made snort like noises but I can’t hear any clicking.

It was the first and the last time when I feed them from a bowl !
I need to tell I’ve noticed something strange in the formula after mixed it with water, there was a little green spots but it was the second or third feeding day so I thought it was normal.

[CritterMom]

Yeah. The formula is bad - it has gone rancid. Throw it away.

You need to put together a temporary formula for them. They are likely eating solids - blocks hopefully at this point, too. The recipe is:

Homemade Goat Milk Formula Plus (HGMF+)
3 tablespoons goat milk
3 tablespoons plain yogurt
2 tablespoons heavy cream*
½ egg yolk**

The first batch after their hydration, use just the goats milk and yogurt. If that goes down well and they are doing okay after a feeding or two, make a new batch and add in the heavy cream. Do the same thing with that - feed them 2 or 3 feedings to make sure they are tolerating it okay. The next time you make up the recipe, you can add the last ingredient the 1/2 egg yolk (yolk only; no white). Discard formula after 2 days in the fridge.

If you have a Trader Joes nearby, they sell fresh goats milk, heavy whipping cream, and a lovely full fat vanilla greek yogurt - their brand, so it is one stop shopping.

In the meantime, you should probably order another bag of 20/50 - if you haven't yet, you should be giving them the Henry's Healthy blocks and they also have FV: https://www.henryspets.com/fox-valley-day-one-formula-20-50-for-baby-squirrels/ and blocks: https://www.henryspets.com/diets/.

And keep EVERYTHING - formula powder AND blocks - in the freezer!

I always ask about this - I did the same thing to my first baby not knowing the powder would go bad...

[Rock Monkey]

I gave it in the bowl as I always fed them with syringe before.

When feeding from a bowl you have no control of the rate at which they feed. Young squirrels, particularly those competing with siblings are inclined to inhale their food, both literally and figuratively.

They can inhale when they should swallow and swallow when they should be inhaling. Both can cause serious problems.

When drinking from a bowl, furthermore, unless the liquid in the bowl is very shallow, their noses can become submerged in the liquid, which means they cannot breathe through their noses when they are eating.

Find some of the listed antibiotics as quickly as you can. Aspiration pneumonia can act very quickly and be deadly. Their ability to get enough oxygen becomes impaired. Once the symptoms get very noticeable it is often too late to reverse.

For a healthy squirrel breathing is a quiet, unremarkable, not noteworthy event.

Keep them upright which should help if there is fluid in the lungs. Keep them warm, maybe even snuggle with them, but the antibiotics are your best chance as Critter Mom has indicated if they have or develop pneumonia.

[stepnstone]

Yeah. The formula is bad - it has gone rancid. Throw it away.

You need to put together a temporary formula for them. They are likely eating solids - blocks hopefully at this point, too. The recipe is:

Homemade Goat Milk Formula Plus (HGMF+)
3 tablespoons goat milk
3 tablespoons plain yogurt
2 tablespoons heavy cream*
½ egg yolk**

The first batch after their hydration, use just the goats milk and yogurt. If that goes down well and they are doing okay after a feeding or two, make a new batch and add in the heavy cream. Do the same thing with that - feed them 2 or 3 feedings to make sure they are tolerating it okay. The next time you make up the recipe, you can add the last ingredient the 1/2 egg yolk (yolk only; no white). Discard formula after 2 days in the fridge.

If you have a Trader Joes nearby, they sell fresh goats milk, heavy whipping cream, and a lovely full fat vanilla greek yogurt - their brand, so it is one stop shopping.

In the meantime, you should probably order another bag of 20/50 - if you haven't yet, you should be giving them the Henry's Healthy blocks and they also have FV: https://www.henryspets.com/fox-valley-day-one-formula-20-50-for-baby-squirrels/ and blocks: https://www.henryspets.com/diets/.

And keep EVERYTHING - formula powder AND blocks - in the freezer!

I always ask about this - I did the same thing to my first baby not knowing the powder would go bad...


:goodpost

[Adriana]

Thank you all for your help and advice ! My babies are getting better ! They are more active and their appetite’s back. They ate goats milk mixed with natural yogurt today and fresh veggies but still don’t want to eat rat food (unfortunately here where I live there’s no squirrel block/rodent block). I threw away fox valley formula and I am not sure I am gonna order it again, last time when I’ve ordered it it’s passed over 2 weeks till I finally got it. What do you guys advice me to do?

[CritterMom]

Oh good heavens! I feel like a complete idiot. You are from the country of Poland! There are a bunch of towns with that name in the US - I guess that because one of them is just north of me I just assumed you were here in the US. DUH..... :embar

If need be, go ahead and keep them on the goats milk formula - with all of the ingredients if you can. They appear to be tolerating it well. By the way, you can make up small batches and freeze them. What we really need is to try to find you some good quality rodent blocks, since of course ordering from the US would come with ridiculous freight costs. Have you checked Ebay? Here in the US, many foods that are only available in huge quantities are purchased and repackaged and sold there in smaller amounts for pets.

I am so glad they feel better.

[Rock Monkey]

Thank you all for your help and advice ! My babies are getting better ! They are more active and their appetite’s back.

That is awesome. Great news!

This is a list of some foods that are good for squirrels. Just as important is to pay attention to those items that are bad for squirrels.

https://www.henryspets.com/healthy-diet-for-pet-squirrels/

You ought to be able to find most of the vegetable items at your local market. The hard items such as winter squash and sweet potato will be easier to digest if cooked. Experiment and see what they like, sometimes they might not eat a particular food right away because it is new to them but may eat it subsequently.

What variety of squirrel are they?

[Adriana]

Hello guys !
I haven’t been here lately because the last few days were very busy for me.
My babies are doing fine ! Two of them have finally started to eat rat food but the third one still refuces to eat it, he’s loosing his hair on the neck and it looks very bad. I was searching for a good quality rodent block over the internet but I didn’t find anything with reasonable shipping costs. I’ve heard the good alternative for squirrel/rodent blocks is rat food, that’s what I did, I bought pets at home rat nuggets, for all life stages (nutrition and analysis down below) tell me please if it’s good for them, besides.. they love to eat lettuce the most but also eat cabbage, brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower : )
They are eastern gray squirrels.

PETS AT HOME RAT NUGGETS:
Composition: Wheat, Maize, Wheatfeed, Oatfeed, Chicken Meal, Beet Pulp, Soya Bean Meal *, Meat and Bone Meal, Poultry Fat, Short Chain Fructooligosaccharides (0.2%), Salts, Minerals.*Produced from genetically modified soya..

Technological Additives: Technological Additives /kg: Tocopherol Rich Extracts of Natural Origin 100mg.; Sensory Additives: ; Nutritional Additives: Nutritional Additives: Vitamins /Kg: Vitamin A (retinyl acetate) (E672) 25,000 IU, Vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) (E6761) 2,000 IU, Vitamin E (dl Alpha tocopherol acetate) (3a700) 125 mg, Copper (Copper Sulphate Pentahydrate) (E4) 28 mg, Iodine (Calcium Iodate Anhydrous) (E2) 2.34 mg, Selenium (Sodium Selenite) (E8) 0.22 mg, Iron (Ferrous Sulphate Monohydrate) (E1) 133 mg, Manganese (Manganous Oxide) (E5) 16 mg, Zinc (Zinc oxide) (E6) 139 mg..

Analytical Constituents: Protein 16%, Crude Fibres 4%, Crude Oils and Fats 5%, Crude Ash 5%, Moisture 10%.

[Chirps]

Hi! Nice to meet you and glad they are doing better! I can't answer your question about the quality of the rat food you are able to get, but just had to ask-- You have Eastern gray squirrels in POLAND??? I only heard about them invading the UK.

[Rock Monkey]

Hello guys !
I haven’t been here lately because the last few days were very busy for me.
My babies are doing fine ! Two of them have finally started to eat rat food but the third one still refuces to eat it, he’s loosing his hair on the neck and it looks very bad. I was searching for a good quality rodent block over the internet but I didn’t find anything with reasonable shipping costs. I’ve heard the good alternative for squirrel/rodent blocks is rat food, that’s what I did, I bought pets at home rat nuggets, for all life stages (nutrition and analysis down below) tell me please if it’s good for them, besides.. they love to eat lettuce the most but also eat cabbage, brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower : )
They are eastern gray squirrels.


I am glad to hear that they are doing well.

I am a little concerned about wheat being the first ingredient of the rat block. Generally, grains are not on the recommended diet lists for rehabbed squirrels that I have seen for Eastern Grays. It seems to cause some amount of constipation. I had this experience when I fed some wheat kernels. I had even sauteed them briefly to be sure to kill any organisms and they smelled wonderful and she loved them but, well, they clogged her up. I saw this come and go on several occasions as I added in to her diet and then subsequently removed it on multiple occasions.

If they are Eastern Grays they will probably love avocado. It has a lot of healthy fat and lots of calories which growing squirrels need. Try also cooking some sweet potato, you can add a little honey to provoke interest if need be. They also like winter squash and both the squash and sweet potato have a good calcium and potassium balance. Also, try some plain, whole milk Greek yogurt if yogurt isn't already part of their diet.

If you can take them outside in a cage they can get the direct sunlight they need to create vitamin D which is needed to process the calcium in their diet. If they are not in a cage they will likely bolt out of fear of something. Squirrels don't just sit around on the ground, it makes them feel very vulnerable. So they run for a more protected location but yours are too young to be released. Odds will be better if they are older when they are released.

[Rock Monkey]

If they can get the direct sunlight this will help tremendously with them maintaining a healthy mineral balance. That is one of the reasons rehabbed squirrels are fed block. The block almost always has some added vitamins to compensate for the lack of sun received by most rehabbed squirrels. Note, most humans vitamins with D3 is too potent for squirrels and can cause harm.

[Mel1959]

If they can get the direct sunlight this will help tremendously with them maintaining a healthy mineral balance. That is one of the reasons rehabbed squirrels are fed block. The block almost always has some added vitamins to compensate for the lack of sun received by most rehabbed squirrels. Note, most humans vitamins with D3 is too potent for squirrels and can cause harm.

Do not place them in direct sunlight without providing a place for them to retreat from the sunlight. Squirrels can overheat and suffer heatstroke.