MAY 2010 UPDATE: Milk Replacers Study

[island rehabber]

I am in LOVE with Heinrich!

[Cejemere]

Wow! What a beautiful squirrel! Such rich colors and those ears..omg!

[astra]

Such a beautiful squirrel!!!

[Suzie]

Hello again,

The Vox Valley Powder is very good ! I am happy! I 'm fed 6 Squirrels with this powder. They are "topfit" and two of they are now in freedom.
Thank you very much Leigh!

Here in germany was many Cans of Esbilac bad. A other Rehabber has the powder analyzed in the laboratory. Not enough fat.... and other things are not ok. (I forgot which other.)

Für diejenigen die Deutsch verstehen:

Ich bin Leigh sehr dankbar für ihre Hilfe. Das Vox Valley Pulver ist wirklich sehr gut. Hier in Deutschland mussten mehrere Dosen Esbilac aus unterschiedlichen Chargen zurückgesendet werden, da das Pulver schlecht war. Eine Dose roch sogar nach Dispersionsfarbe. Die Konsistenz ist zudem sehr schlecht geworden, das Pulver klumpt, es löst sich nur sehr schlecht auf. Auch ist mir und anderen Stationen aufgefallen , dass das Esbilac Pulver jedesmal eine andere Farbe hatte.

Eine andere Station hat das Esbilac hier in Deutschland in einem Labor analysieren lassen. Verschiedene Werte, vor allen Dingen der Fettgehalt, stimmten nicht mit den Angaben des Herstellers PetAG überein.

Nun werde ich auf jeden Fall bei Vox Valley bleiben, denn ich habe damit nun 6 Eichhörnchen aufgezogen, ihnen geht es super gut, sie sind putzmunter und topfit, zwei bereits ausgewildert, also in Freiheit.

Die amerikanischen Eichhörnchen Freunde hier im Forum, haben mit ihrer Information den Eichhörnchen-Babys in Deutschland sehr geholfen!

Liebe Grüße

Suzie

[CritterMom]

I am so glad you were able to get and use it.

How much will you charge to ship Heinrich to me? He is wonderful!

[Suzie]

Heinrich is outside (in Freedom) since May 5th
Sometimes he visit me!

[island rehabber]

Suzie that's wonderful news! If you can, we'd love to see a pic of the handsome Heinrich all grown up! Congratulations on a successful rehab & release -- it's what we live for around here.

[Mrs Skul]

Hi Suzie Welcome to TSB
OMG!!! Heinrich Is So BEAUTIFUL, What A Squirrel I am In LOVE !!!
You Need To Stay Around and Keep Posting Pictures and About The Life of Your Squirrels.
I so Wish we had those Beauties Here in TX.

[Suzie]

Hi Mrs Skul,

I would not destroy the thread here

But you can look on my website, to see the babies of this season.

www.eichhoernchen-findelkinder.de (look on: Findelkinder 2012)

I'm very happy with the Fox Valley Formula, but sometimes it is difficult to get it here in Germany.
Our customs officers are a little bit stupid.

They send the formula back to USA, because they think, there is squirrel-meat in the box, or dog -food

Sometimes it's all right... sometimes we have problems.
We hope of a german distribution directly, - someday - to buy this milk replacer without Problems.

"Die Hoffnung stirbt zuletzt!"

Greetings from Germany

[MO newbie]

What kind of sq is Heinrich? He is so awesome looking.

[Squirrel Wrangler]

Hmmm, a dead thread. Just thought I'd add what I have experienced with milk formulas...

I think almost everyone will agree that Fox Valley for furballs is the gold standard. If I had a dependable supply of this I'd look nowhere else. Our furballs have never had a problem with this product. Unfortunately, we cannot always guarantee a timely supply of it here in Canada when it's needed. How to fill the gaps?

I studied the ewildagain.org page on formulas and began some web research. Ultimately, I settled upon analysing Royal Canin 1st Age Babydog Milk vs. Fox Valley 32/40 which is our preferred standard. The protein/fat ratio was very similar with RC at 31/37. Fibre, moisture and ash were near identical. Trace nutrients were not identical in every case but similar. I did not see anything that might raise a flag so I bought some locally.

Now, admittedly, we have not fed pure RC to any squirrel babies yet but it has been used at a 50% mix with FV in our Boo Balls and it makes no difference -- they still fight over them.

This spring I'm quite willing to extend or replace, as necessary, Fox Valley with RC for formula. If we have any problems, I'll report back. I am reminded that some members have considered RC 1st Age BabyCat formula to be the best substitute. Perhaps it is. In a cursory review of the formula I noticed only a higher Taurine content, which is necessary for cats but perhaps not for furballs. I think, at this point, it is time for the usual disclaimer...

What has worked for us may not for you. YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary). Consider this info and decide on your own. Always remember that your furball's well being come first.

-Squirrel Wrangler (Jerome's father)

[island rehabber]

Squirrel Wrangler.

I'm so glad you brought this up as baby season approaches! During baby season last year I received a message about this very subject from my pal Flo, a NYC licensed rehabber and TSB member. Flo is originally from France and does a lot of communicating and translating of squirrel rehab info for rescuers in both France and Canada. The problem of not being able to get FV, or get in a timely fashion as you mentioned, is always critical in both places and so she suggested the Royal Canin. I have begun to see RC products on shelves here in the US as well. It's great to know that this is a high-quality product that can be used alone or blended for baby squirrels, and UNlike FV, can be quickly picked up from a store.

[island rehabber]

I completely agree with you.
I am No nutritionist by any means, so I don't fully understand
the ramifications of too much copper/not enough copper in the formula.

The ramifications are that in comparison to other formulae, the ONLY thing a particular expert could come up with about Fox Valley that wasn't perfect is that "the copper might be a bit low." The owner of Fox Valley Nutrition, Nick Vlamis, did not agree but tweaked the formula a bit to adjust the copper anyway. Truth is, copper is so plentiful on the earth that it is everywhere. There is no danger of "low copper" to a squirrel's health when being raised on Fox Valley formula.

[Rex's Parents]

Hello all!

We are new to the board, but wanted to add our 2 cents on the Esbilac issue. In September of 2011, we had 2 babies (they were 2 weeks apart, but we got each when they were about 4 weeks old) and after reading about feeding (we had never even seen a squirrel close up before), started them both on 2 parts Hot Water, 1 part Esbilac, and 1 part Heavy Cream. We would let this sit for an hour before feeding to the little ones, and both THRIVED on this mixture. The oldest one (Roxie) was doing great at the time we turned her over to a rehabber, when she was about 4 months old, and the younger one (Rex) is still doing great (he has had seizures when he was younger, which is why I think his Squirrel Mommy cleared him out of the nest, so he will never be able to go into the wild and is our love) and at 7 months old, is eating natural foods (We are going to start him on HHB, since we found out about it from this board, this week) and getting into everything, as a squirrel is bound to do. We stand behind this Esbilac mixture, since we had very positive results. Hope this helps!