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Thread: 3-month old squirrel has not weaned, nutrition?

  1. #21
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    Default Re: 3-month old squirrel has not weaned, nutrition?

    Your baby will get some vitamin D from the sun if you place him outside on your enclosed patio in his cage. He doesn't need to be directly in the light and even sunlight through a window is okay as long as it doesn't have a coating that filters out the rays. It's much better if they get the needed nutrients through diet instead of supplementing.
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  2. #22
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    Default Re: 3-month old squirrel has not weaned, nutrition?

    Vitamin D toxicity - see my posts, especially #21, in the following thread.

    http://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/s...ocol-Revisions

    Don't have the time to do the math right now, but I don't think you're at toxic levels yet.

    Your symptoms might be neuro, maybe stemming from lead poisoning (see your chew toy thread), maybe due to lack of nutrition, maybe MBD. I don't know, but your best bet is just to follow what you've been told as this is THE resource for squirrels on the net. There may be some debate about certain topics (as you would see in the above thread) but about diet there is overall consensus.

  3. #23
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    Default Re: 3-month old squirrel has not weaned, nutrition?

    Btw, if you Google cholecalciferol and rodenticide, somewhere in there you will find what I found regarding the work done by pesticide companies in regard to D.

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    Default Re: 3-month old squirrel has not weaned, nutrition?

    Quote Originally Posted by farrelli View Post
    To clarify, seeing that I've seen it here a couple times, calcium does not convert to vitamin D. D and magnesium are required for calcium absorption. Without these on board, no calcium is absorbed.
    Once again, I am reminded that old dogs do take a while to learn new tricks. I do actually know that Calcium does not convert, but I operated so many years with this misconception. I apologize and will go back to my corner to try to drill it into my thick skull some more! The UV lamp helps the Vitamin D and Magnesium absorb and metabilize the calcium! Phew! Thank you Farrelli, for the reminder. Hopefully this is the last time I need it!

  5. #25
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    Default Re: 3-month old squirrel has not weaned, nutrition?

    If this squirrel was raised on scalded milk formula, you were very fortunate not to lose (kill) him. These pictures were taken by a rehabber in 2001, before Fox Valley and when Esbilac was the go to formula. This is why we say: STOP-NEVER FEED COW'S MILK TO SQUIRRELS!

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    Anne
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    Default Re: 3-month old squirrel has not weaned, nutrition?

    Quote Originally Posted by sdreamcatcher View Post


    The one thing that may have saved him is that you gave him half scalded milk and half esbilac. BUT you do NOT need to supplement vitamin D! It is in the esbilac. It is in the formula we are advising. It is in the blocks you just ordered (specifically formulated for squirrels).

    Yes he has seemingly thrived on what you have fed. But isn't he now "arching his back" and "lethargic"? Something isn't quite right to make you come here to begin with? Is this the first squirrel you have raised? How much does he weigh (grams) and how old is he?

    Stop supplementing. The only vitamin D issue I can see with him is overdosing; remember it is a fat soluble vitamin and extra gets stored; very good possibility that over the last three months that he appears to have been thriving this has been happening. Feed the goat's milk formula or esbilac with probiotics or the fv. Offer him blocks in between formula feedings. He will probably just dismantle them in the beginning; that is ok. Eventually he will eat them.

    I understand your need to question. BUT you came here because he was showing some disturbing symptoms that made you wonder if you are doing all you can for him. I have raised 8 babies; my first baby would not have made it if I hadn't followed the advice given here, by people who have raised literally hundreds (if not more). Mine are living wild now; healthy, chunky, happy little buggers because of this site.
    I think you've misread my post. For the first three months of his life he did not have Esbilac AT ALL, he had ONLY scalded milk. He is getting Esbilac NOW.

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    Default Re: 3-month old squirrel has not weaned, nutrition?

    Quote Originally Posted by Anne View Post
    If this squirrel was raised on scalded milk formula, you were very fortunate not to lose (kill) him. These pictures were taken by a rehabber in 2001, before Fox Valley and when Esbilac was the go to formula. This is why we say: STOP-NEVER FEED COW'S MILK TO SQUIRRELS!

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    Thank you, but as you can see from my pictures, whatever these poor little guys in your pics were fed is clearly not what my baby was fed. There is a big difference between "scalded milk" by itself, especially if it is lowfat or nonfat, and scalded whole milk or half and half with vitamins E and D and a spoon of plain yogurt added. This is why I am saying, to say "scalded milk will kill your squirrel, you MUST use whatever else" is not accurate and is misinformation. Additionally, Esbilac has had problems too - as I have seen from other posts on this board, and even in the warnings in replies to my original post, saying to ONLY use the Esbilac that has "probiotics added", because the prior formula, which is still on store shelves as I saw last night at PetCo, was actually harmful.

  8. #28
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    Default Re: 3-month old squirrel has not weaned, nutrition?

    Okay everybody, thanks for your help.

    Farelli, thank you especially.

    I would like to remark that while the help is great and is much appreciated (and I am following the advice), many, MANY people did not actually read my posts, but reacted to just one sentence and gave me either bad advice, conflicting advice, or advice I can not use. That's okay - it's still help, but it was really hard to wade through it.

    What is not okay was implying that I do not care about my squirrel if I do not immediately follow advice that is, as above, conflicting or impossible (or attacking me because I asked questions). For instance, I can not put my squirrel in the sun in lieu of giving him Vitamin D. There is no direct sun in my yard or windows, and this was in a post, but instead of answering the Vitamin D issue, which is important and worrisome, more people replied telling me to put him in the sun.

    I'm very worried about the advice to give my squirrel Esbilac. This board has many posts recommending it, and even in this post, it says it's only okay if it's the kind that has probiotics - although the kind that does not looks almost identical and is still available on shelves at PetCo as of last night.

    Finally, I think it is very wrong to condemn and attack me for giving my squirrel the scalded milk recipe. I am worried about his health, but if anyone had read my posts all the way through, there are several possible reasons for this issue - too much Vitamin D being one, weakness from hunger because of his teeth growing too long and in the wrong place was another. The picture of the starving tiny squirrels was awful, but my squirrel OBVIOUSLY does not look like that and I think that was totally unnecessary. It was not "luck" that he didn't starve. It was because I added the Vitamins E and D and yogurt, and used half and half instead of some nonfat or lowfat or whatever was in the fridge. He has been very active and healthy for the most part.

    I am glad to now have the good advice, but I think it may be the last time I will ask for it here. There is good information here, but I felt like I was going to be lynched in several of the replies. And I still do not know how much Vitamin D is okay, and whether to stop or continue giving it to my little guy. I also still have no direct sun to put him in, LOL.

    Thank you again. I know everyone here cares about squirrels, including my squirrel, and wants to help. It would be nice if everyone would remember that the other person on the other side of the computer screen is a real person who is worried, who cares about their squirrel. I wish you all well.

    Kind regards,
    Deborah

  9. #29
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    Default Re: 3-month old squirrel has not weaned, nutrition?

    Deborah0302, it's hard not to snip at people. We've just seen it all a million times and everyone thinks they're special and deserves a ton of hand holding. That's very hard to do. We don't get paid for this and we all have real lives and real jobs. I work a min of 14 hours a day. There are a ton of people here all wanting help and not all of them can get the time and detail you demand. We're just trying to help squirrels here. If you think that TSB could be better, PLEASE, stay around and join the few of us who are continually frazzled trying to carve out a little time to save these little guys. If you have the time to handhold and such, again, PLEASE join us! We are few and we are overworked. If you can take some of the load off, perhaps we will have more time to be pleasant. Several people have complained as you have, but none of them ever seem to try to pitch in and make it better.

    Also, you have to remember that TSB is just random folks. Everyone has their own approach, and just like in any other online forum, there will be people far more brusk than others. That's just the way things are. Even if I had the time to be otherwise, my nature is to be very direct and no nonsense. For some people that works, for some not.

  10. #30
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    Default Re: 3-month old squirrel has not weaned, nutrition?

    The vitamin D answer is that you do not need to supplement it if you are following the healthy diet including either formula and/or rodent blocks. Particularly if you use HHBs from Henry's as Leigh did the science when developing them and they contain the calcium/vitamin D and other nutrients that is needed on a daily basis. Go to the nutrition formula and follow the pyramid and your baby will do fine!
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  11. #31
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    Default Re: 3-month old squirrel has not weaned, nutrition?

    Quote Originally Posted by deborah0302 View Post
    Okay everybody, thanks for your help.

    Farelli, thank you especially.

    I would like to remark that while the help is great and is much appreciated (and I am following the advice), many, MANY people did not actually read my posts, but reacted to just one sentence and gave me either bad advice, conflicting advice, or advice I can not use. That's okay - it's still help, but it was really hard to wade through it.

    What is not okay was implying that I do not care about my squirrel if I do not immediately follow advice that is, as above, conflicting or impossible (or attacking me because I asked questions). For instance, I can not put my squirrel in the sun in lieu of giving him Vitamin D. There is no direct sun in my yard or windows, and this was in a post, but instead of answering the Vitamin D issue, which is important and worrisome, more people replied telling me to put him in the sun.

    I'm very worried about the advice to give my squirrel Esbilac. This board has many posts recommending it, and even in this post, it says it's only okay if it's the kind that has probiotics - although the kind that does not looks almost identical and is still available on shelves at PetCo as of last night.

    Finally, I think it is very wrong to condemn and attack me for giving my squirrel the scalded milk recipe. I am worried about his health, but if anyone had read my posts all the way through, there are several possible reasons for this issue - too much Vitamin D being one, weakness from hunger because of his teeth growing too long and in the wrong place was another. The picture of the starving tiny squirrels was awful, but my squirrel OBVIOUSLY does not look like that and I think that was totally unnecessary. It was not "luck" that he didn't starve. It was because I added the Vitamins E and D and yogurt, and used half and half instead of some nonfat or lowfat or whatever was in the fridge. He has been very active and healthy for the most part.

    I am glad to now have the good advice, but I think it may be the last time I will ask for it here. There is good information here, but I felt like I was going to be lynched in several of the replies. And I still do not know how much Vitamin D is okay, and whether to stop or continue giving it to my little guy. I also still have no direct sun to put him in, LOL.

    Thank you again. I know everyone here cares about squirrels, including my squirrel, and wants to help. It would be nice if everyone would remember that the other person on the other side of the computer screen is a real person who is worried, who cares about their squirrel. I wish you all well.

    Kind regards,
    Deborah
    One thing you will find if you have more than two people chiming in is that they won't be in agreement 100% of the time.

    INDIRECT sunlight is fine as I posted earlier. Sunlight gets bounced around off of walls pretty well. Vitamin D is really more of a concern for flyers since they are nocturnal. A quality formula, blocks and diet is usually the best way to provide vitamins.

    As to the Esbilac issue. There has been a long history of problems with squirrels processing the OLD formula. The new one with probiotics seems to work very well. The old formula is still great for other animals which is why it's still available.

    I don't believe posting the pic of the scalded milk squirrels was meant to hurt you but instead to show just how lucky you have been. Yes it's graphic but it's amazing the difference diet will make on these creatures. It is very tough on us when we take in one that has been fed poor diet to get them turned around. I had one that was being fed a formula of condensed milk and Kaopectate. I honestly didn't expect her to live when I saw how emaciated she was on top of a head injury but she is living happily in my yard and raising her second litter.

    Yes, some posters tones are harsh and you just learn to brush it off. Some are meant that way and some are just rushed to try and help out in between feedings. Many of us have tried to help out others who just would not listen at all and it ended up costing the life of the squirrel and that upsets us a lot. The board has suffered a lot of losses this fall due to this issue and so we do often come off as overbearing but it's only because we care so much.

    I hope you stick around. We would love you to stay and share your squirrel's progress to becoming a healthy and happy squirrel. We love lots of pictures too! Sometimes looking at their cute faces can turn a bad day around.

    Whatever you decide to do we wish you both the best.
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  12. #32
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    Default Re: 3-month old squirrel has not weaned, nutrition?

    I am by no means an expert in this subject, however your concentration on how much Vitamin D is needed seems incidental. What I believe is needed is foods high in calcium and low in phosphorus. Phosphorus is needed,(for the body) however it also inhibits that body from obsorbing calcium. You need to provide foods with a higher ratio of calcium than then phosphorus. Collard Greens (fresh/uncooked) have a 14.5 mg/per 100g (calcium) to 1.0 mg/per 100g (phosphorus) ratio. Try a mix of Collard Greens and roasted almonds for a week. This will raise his calcium intake.
    Good luck.

  13. #33
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    Default Re: 3-month old squirrel has not weaned, nutrition?

    Most recent reply to my post:
    Quote Originally Posted by deborah0302 View Post
    I think you've misread my post. For the first three months of his life he did not have Esbilac AT ALL, he had ONLY scalded milk. He is getting Esbilac NOW.


    Original post:
    Quote Originally Posted by deborah0302 View Post
    Hi everybody,

    I found a baby squirrel in my parking lot at work 2 1/2 months ago. I consider him my luckiest find. Anyway, after a lot of reading around online, I wasn't sold on Esbilac and fed him scalded half and half with liquid Vitamins D and E, and a good spoonful of plain yogurt added in. Sprinkles did very well on this formula, and is now a young squirrel.
    Please clarify? Was it ONLY scalded milk, OR half of something and half of something else? It is wording like this that can confuse.

    IF it was half scalded and half something else, (yogurt and/or supplemets and/or ?), then my last reply still stands. The reason he doesn't look like the pictures of babies fed 100% scalded milk is because it was half his formula. He does still look small to me, but without a weight and age, I can't tell for sure. You have had him 2 1/2 months; how old was he when you found him?

    The vitamin D question was answered several times by several people. Getting him on the proper esbilac (with probiotics), OR fox valley (formulated just for squirrel babies), OR the goat's milk formula (a Godsend to those who can't get the fox valley), will provide Sprinkles the vitamin D he needs, so no more supplementing is needed. Once he weans himself and is eating blocks, again, those have been formulated with the proper levels of vitamin D. As was said earlier, the older esbilac is still on the shelves because esbilac is normally for puppies. For a long time it was the go to for squirrels as well, then they changed the way it was processed and it caused problems in baby squirrels. Now some have come on saying the latest formulation (with the probiotics) IS once again working for baby squirrels. My understanding is this latest esbilac came out this spring or summer.

    EVERY newbie gets conflicting advice. My first thread with Butchie (and later Joey) is FULL of such advice!! I didn't take it personally; I did question some points but I stayed with what the majority said. I was lucky in that I was a member here before finding these two sweeties and had done some reading back in 2008 when I joined (and yes, I thought the esbilac was still ok). I DID feel overwhelmed; I did NOT feel attacked. I felt people who had raised 30-40 babies at a time knew more then me and I still feel that (I have only raised 8).

    Take all advice this way; the majority of people here are helping you in between feeding who knows how many little ones, raising their own families, and/or working regular jobs. Yes, much info gets skimmed over. A seasoned rehabber sees the words "scalded milk" and reacts, knowing how bad that is for them. Keep asking what is not answered, read all replies you get back (the multi quote feature is a wonderful thing), and remember this is a constant learning process .

    You say he is now getting esbilac, and I think I did see you ordered blocks as well? How is he doing? Are you still supplementing? The esbilac does contain a D3 supplement. Do you have a weight for him? His weight in grams determines how much formula he needs; the recommendation is 5% - 7% of his body weight. Others here can explain this better.


    You came here for the love of Sprinkles. This is a good site; people wouldn't say what they say if they didn't care what happens to him. There were some babies lost very recently from bad advice followed and new people not wanting to follow proper diets; these deaths were heartbreaking for all involved and could have been avoided. It's obvious Sprinkles is loved; just know that now that you are here you are not the only one who loves him. He has his own fan club now

    And yes!! More pictures!!
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  14. #34
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    Default Re: 3-month old squirrel has not weaned, nutrition?

    Maybe it was the lack of capitalization that threw some but I read it to say that she had been feeding scalded Half & Half (half milk & half cream like many use for coffee) and then adding the vitamins and yogurt.
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  15. #35
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    Default Re: 3-month old squirrel has not weaned, nutrition?

    deborah0302,

    I did not post that picture to hurt you. Indeed you were very fortunate that your squirrel as a tiny baby did not look like that, and did not suffer a terrible slow death from scalded milk (or what ever mix). I have had way too many die in my hands that came to me too late to undo the harm that was done to them. I just lost one this very morning as a matter of fact. The finder just kept arguing with me that "so and so web site said it was wonderful and the thing to give them." I in no way wanted to imply that you didn't care about or want the best for your baby.

    I don't believe posting the pic of the scalded milk squirrels was meant to hurt you but instead to show just how lucky you have been. Yes it's graphic but it's amazing the difference diet will make on these creatures. It is very tough on us when we take in one that has been fed poor diet to get them turned around.


    The picture of your baby looked like a happy, healthy squirrel. I commend you for the job you have done.

    I have had one squirrel who was 6/7 months old that refused to wean for me and was still only taking in formula twice a day. Every squirrel is different. On day she just changed and started eating her vegetables, etc.

    On prepared formula, it is not necessary to supplement vitamin D. Definitely not needed if on Henry's blocks everyday. Natural sunlight is not always available every day, the blocks have what is needed to overcome that obstacle, the really huge rehabs use hours of nature lighting fixtures-too costly for most of us.

    The older Esbilac is still available on store shelves, mainly because it is too expensive to toss it out just because it has been updated by the manufacturer, and because most people purchasing it use it to feed puppies.

    Some people have found the food pyramid a bit confusing. Just mix together some romaine lettuce and other salad greens and veggies, some peeled apples or other fruit in moderation and he should do fine. Limit nuts and fruits as treats and he will remain healthy.

    I was in a hurry earlier today and thought the advice you would get on into the day would be helpful and answer your questions. Sorry if that was not the out come. Usually, I am one of the peace keeper/ smoothers here on the board--very PC as it were. Just had my head pushed under too much BS and arguing earlier this morning.
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  16. #36
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    Default Re: 3-month old squirrel has not weaned, nutrition?

    Hi everybody -

    I'm back and apologize for my upset response. I know everyone meant well, and several posts truly were helpful. I would just like to reinforce that it's more helpful to read answers that aren't a knee-jerk response, and when someone has a sick squirrel, they can be pretty sensitive and easily confused by conflicting answers.

    I have an update that I hope will help others.

    Following the advice from several of the responses, I mixed in the probiotic Esbilac with the scalded milk formula (scalded milk, vitamins, and yogurt) as follows: Mixed up the Esbilac formula as per the packaging, then mixed that with the formula so that it was 1/5 of the total formula, and 4/5 were the scalded milk.

    Maybe because it was foreign to his diet, my squirrel immediately developed extremely liquid diarrhea. A considerable amount of reading suggested that this is very common with Esbilac. His seizures also immediately become more frequent and serious.

    He had to get hydrated, but didn't really know how to drink. Fortunately, after I left water all over the counter several times a day, he got the hang of it. As soon as he re-hydrated, he immediately weaned and started eating his squirrel blocks. The diarrhea, however, took several weeks to resolve.

    Vitamin D was not part of the issue as I had begun to think. Here is some information about Vitamin D, the result of a considerable amount of searching around on sites where rodenticides (spit!) were discussed:

    "Animal data indicates signs of toxicity can occur with ingestion of 0.5 mg/kg (20,000 IU/kg )".

    This suggests a squirrel would need to ingest about 40 complete human liquid Vitamin D pills of 500 IU each to show signs of toxicity. It also suggests that the assertion that human levels of Vitamin D in a human Calcium supplement will be harmful to a squirrel is incorrect.

    In summary, here's what I think happened: The scalded milk formula needed to be supplemented with water (separately, not mixed in) for my squirrel to be hydrated enough to continue digesting correctly (I think this is why he began refusing formula and getting weak) and to transition to being able to digest solid food. Once he was hydrated, he immediately started eating solid food. I'm attaching a picture of him tackling his first rodent block (I was so relieved, I took about 20 identical pictures!)

    Also, while the scalded milk formula definitely did work well for my squirrel (and until the hydration issue kicked in, produced a healthy and happy squirrel) my squirrel is very small. This could be because he is a runt, but more likely it is because of the formula. This is ok in my case, since his malformed palate means he can not be released, because his teeth have to be trimmed by a human (me).

    I'm attaching a picture of Sprinkles in his squirrel trap - which I made after reading the lovely posts from Richard Ricky Ricardo Brady's mom. There are soon to be many more such traps about the house. He really loves them and checks them often. In the picture, the trapped squirrel is feasting on a tiny bit of ginger snap. He is in the squirrel trap now, after helpfully leaping all over my keyboard and making some interesting typos which I hope I have corrected.

    Hope this helps somebody, and thank you again.
    Deborah

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  17. #37
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    Default Re: 3-month old squirrel has not weaned, nutrition?

    Are you now following the nutrition guide we pointed you to?

    The reaction to the scalded milk was predictable and why we warned you against it. Cow milk is very difficult to digest, even for humans. Diarrhea is the common result. In time, some can learn to handle it, but there is absolutely no point for doing that when better solutions are commonplace.

    Where is your info about D from? Elsewhere on this site I posed what I had found from two or three companies who did the research on D as a rodenticide and their determinations were for far lesser amounts causing illness and death.

  18. #38
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    United States
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    Default Re: 3-month old squirrel has not weaned, nutrition?

    Your comment suggests you have mis-read what I wrote. My squirrel was doing very well on the scalded milk formula until he developed dehydration, which was after being on the formula for 3 months. His reaction was to 1/5 of the Esbilac added to the formula. It is the Esbilac which gave him immediate, very severe liquid diarrhea and compromised him so far that I thought I would lose him the day after I started him on it. I do not agree, based on my own experience, that Esbilac is a better solution.

    The Vitamin D information came from here: http://www.marshallprotocol.com/forum39/11446.html. I'll look at your links too.

    Yes, my squirrel is now receiving nutrition according to the nutrition guide on this site.

  19. #39
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
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    In the country :)
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    Default Re: 3-month old squirrel has not weaned, nutrition?

    Deborah0302 and Sprinkles although you've been here I'm late to the party Sprinkles is adorable...I love his profile shots...his wittle nose is soooo cute I'm glad he likes his blocks my squirrel was almost 2 yrs old when I came here...she wasn't having any difficulty I was just looking for other "squirrelnuts" and boy did I find them and it was so nice to know I'm not the only "obsessed squirrel lover" anyway I did change Baby's diet after the advice I received here...Baby loves her picky blocks and I love the fact that it takes a lot of the burden off me "nutritionally" Please post more pics of Sprinkles and share his sweet personality and welcome again! Ohh and thank you for taking this baby under your wing and saving his life
    Make the world a better place...one animal at a time



    The Peace of Wild Things
    BY WENDELL BERRY
    When despair for the world grows in me
    and I wake in the night at the least sound
    in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
    I go and lie down where the wood drake
    rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
    I come into the peace of wild things
    who do not tax their lives with forethought
    of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
    And I feel above me the day-blind stars
    waiting with their light. For a time
    I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

  20. #40
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    Aug 2012
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    Default Re: 3-month old squirrel has not weaned, nutrition?

    Hi Deborah0302,
    First I want to tell you how absolutely adorably Sprinkles is
    Secondly I think that I know how you feel having a girl in my house that OWNS my heart. I remember when I first joined TSB. I was frantically trying to find out what I needed to do right then to help her. I felt overwhelmed and in way over my head BEFORE I ever posted one word. Once the responses starting coming in I felt even more confused and overwhelmed because it did feel like there was conflicting advice.
    Honestly, there was more than one occasion where I was wanting a specific answer and felt like no one was listening. I felt FRUSTRATED to say the least.
    Here is what I have learned from my experience with this board.
    Sometimes a post feels brusque or like they didn't read everything I wrote because that is what happened. As Farrelli mentioned and I have learned everyone has hectic lives and those that are answering are often quickly trying to get information out before they have to do the next feeding/cleaning/medication/hydration and so on.
    You and I have but one little cutie that we care for, some of our members have dozens that they are caring for who need them. Some are struggling to bring back a baby from the brink because a finder, however well meaning, simply did not know enough to care for a squirrel or that found outdated protocol on the web. Personally, I cannot imagine how frustrating that must feel when your the one with all of these sick babies and you can't get the bad information off of the internet. Most of the people who are on TSB are here solely because they truly love squirrels and want to help the species. They try to save them all one baby at a time.
    Sometimes, however I was so stressed out and worried that I couldn't actually understand exactly what someone was trying to say to me. I was focused with tunnel vision and wanted my question answered and couldn't understand why they were going off topic so to speak. I want to understand the why's of everything as well, I don't like it when no one can give me specific reasons. This is only compounded when I am worried or stressed, it becomes of paramount importance to me.
    Sometimes, there is mis-communication and conflicting thoughts/ideas we are all humans and therefore it's bound to happen.
    Mostly however what I have found is that TSB collectively holds it's breath trying to wish a squirrel well, many checking every spare moment that they can just to help as many as they can. Member's can be seen posting in the middle of the night because they thought of something to help a squirrel and had to go and post it right away. Or they can't sleep because they are right there with you worrying, pacing, puzzling it out in their brains, trying to think of ANYTHING that might help. Each and everyone of us has made mistakes, some of us have unintentionally caused harm or lost a baby because of mistakes and we all try to pass that knowledge on.
    Each and everyone of us has had at least one special squirrel who ran away with a piece of our heart.
    TSB is like a close knit family or neighborhood, you may not always see eye to eye on much other than your love for a squirrel and wanting to keep them happy and healthy.
    I haven't found anything like it elsewhere on the web, and I for one appreciate knowing that I am not alone in my complete devotion to my girl. It's wonderful to me that soooo many people love her and want what's best for her here on TSB, that they truly, truly appreciate how much I love her.
    I can tell that you are absolutely dedicated and devoted to Sprinkles, he has your heart in his wee little paw. In time I hope that you will come to learn that your not alone with your love for him.
    Hoping that you are both doing well,
    PennyCash

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