Hi guys,
The little girl made it until about 6:30 Friday night and then died during a major seizure. Poor thing. But in this case I think it was for the best, she was surely suffering terribly all day long...
I need to vent about my wildlife vet. She was supposed to call me Friday night at 6:00 so we could get together at her office and she could help these little squirrels. Well, 6:30 rolls around and I call and leave her a message. No call back all night. Frail female dies of seizures in the meantime. (my mentor suggested that the seizures were probably due to a calcium deficiency) I'm getting sicker by the day (head/chest ickies) and while I was sleeping yesterday afternoon my wildlife vet calls. I didn't hear my cell phone. She didn't leave a message or anything. Got the missed call an hour after she called. Called her back and she says "sorry, I forgot to call you last night."
Whatever. Then I go on to ask what she has going for the day so we can get together so she can see the last two surviving babes from this litter. She's already home and isn't interested in coming back in to see them. Fine. Whatever. Gleaned what little information I could get from her over the phone and said good-bye. I am so freaking MAD!! WHY volunteer to do this AND NOT WANT TO HELP?? I mean, I work and do this rehab stuff, too...it's not like I don't know how inconvenient it is, ya know?? I need a new vet. Got two in mind. Planning to bribe them with free animal care over weekends and holidays and a continuing supply of veterinary publications and articles to assist him in helping my critters.
So, back to the remaining two squirrels. Male is doing well in my opinion. Female is not so good. My mentor said that due to the calcium deficiency I need to ramp them up to full-strength formula as fast as their tummies will let me. But the female's tummy just won't take it. Added .5 cc of Kaopectate to each of her feedings and that seems to be helping. That was about the only good piece of info I got from the vet. That Kaopectate isn't toxic even in large doses...but at 108 grams, half a cc every four hours should work. And it does seem to be helping a little so far. I've also added ground rodent block and heavy whipping cream to their formula for added calcium and fat.
Tried to load a few pics, but my home computer and dial-up connection are just too slow. Hopefully I'll be able to post some tomorrow.
Thanks for thinking of us!