URGENT PLEASE READ: Don't Use Dog Pads as Cage Liners!

[island rehabber]

TSB friends, I have permission from a very experienced rehabber on another list to reprint her words here. It may save the lives of your baby squirrels tonight, if you are using a certain type of dog "wee-wee pad" for a cage liner. I personally know of two rehabbers who do, and I'm sure there are many others because they fit perfectly and are very functional. BUT, as she says:

This year we have also had
a horrific time with the early Fall squirrels. We have had over 65 come in
in the last month or so and have about 20 left.
Many have been cat/dog caught, many came in after the winds & rain from
Lee, and I know many have either been abandoned by Moms due to the draught,
or malnourished as the Moms are not that healthy because of not getting
enough food for themselves - much less to make milk to feed babies.
Some are dying within a couple of days - injured, pneumonia from being
down & found in water, etc. , but some are living for weeks - eating well - by
next feeding they are dead or close to it.
All had normal squirrel protocol on admission.
I've had them on F. V., switched to Esbilac - no difference. All have been
in incubators, or when older - in heated cages.

I have found out what I think has killed many - I did it.

This is a word to everyone on this list :

We use human neonate-incubators just like in the hospitals - which are
great.

We were given a whole case of the paper pads for incontinence that people
use on their beds to save the sheets from becoming wet - the pads are
greenish on one side and the white absorbent padded cloth/paper on the other.
We use these in the incubators on top of the bedding to keep from having to
change it so often.

Some one donated a large 100+ package of the Pee-pee pads for dogs - to
use in the house for sm. dogs/puppies to go on when it is inconvenient to go
outside. They look very similar (except smaller) to the human bed pads,
except they have a blue backing instead of being green.

In the everyday routine - I have been using the dog pads - the same way I
have been using the pads made for people (easier to use because they fit
perfectly in the incubator - do not need to be cut as the larger people pads
do).
I never bothered to look at the package. The dog pads have an
"attractant" in it (supposed to get the puppy to use it quicker). Nothing on
the
package has said what the attractant is. I figured it was made for puppies -
couldn't have anything harmful.
I never even thought about it. I blamed formula, scrubbed & sterilized the
incubators, necropsies, you name it - I did it.

The one thing I did not do - is check what was NOT printed on the package.
I, finally, contacted the distributor of the pads and they e-mailed the
MSDS & ingredients sheet.

The "attractant" is lethal - to breath, contact to skin, etc. The puppy
PeePee Pads have been killing every squirrel baby that came into contact
with them. The babies laid on it, breathed it in, the heat from the
incubator probably enhanced the chemical that was emitted.

My stupidity cost the lives of so many babies that were put in my hands to
save.

PLEASE - don't get so complacent that you don't check, each and every
time, when a new or different item (be it formula, donated items, cleaning
supplies, whatever) is used, especially on donated bedding - what was it washed
in, fabric softener. If you don't know - rewash before using just in
case. Cleaning supplies - read the precautionary statements. If there is
something written that you don't know what it is - google it. Or, as I did too
late - contact the maker.
Also, check where it was made. These puppy pads were made in China for a
U.S. Company. China is not required to put everything on the label, but
the U.S. Company MUST have a MSDS sheet on everything that goes into the
making of the product.

I'm sorry this is so long - but please don't do what I did. It is hard
enough to lose one that is in your care when you don't know why - but it is
nothing like the grief you have when it was your own fault.

Suzy
HECKHAVEN WILDLIFE REHABILITATION CENTER
Lake Charles, Louisiana
Federal and State - Rehab, Possession, and Education permits
25+ years (and stopped counting) - Mammals, Raptors, Waterfowl, and Exotics