Placement needed for six month old fox squirrel in Ohio
Hi everyone!
Me: I am 18 and living near Cleveland, Ohio. I work at a Veterinarian's office, though he cannot see Koba because he is not licensed to treat wild animals. I have applied for my category 1 rehabilitation permit.
Name: Koba
Species: Fox Squirrel
Age: Six months (est D.O.B 10/14/14)
How did you acquire him: I found him in the street when he was four weeks old. He was cold but not very dehydrated.
Formula used: I raised him on esbilac for two dogs while my fox valley came.
Cage: He is in a HUGE ferret cage with homemade hammocks and tunnels and lots of toys. He is out of the cage 4-8 hours every day. He has a "dirt box" to play in and bury stuff in. I use store bought topsoil with no pesticides or additives or anything like that. He also has a large cat tree.
Medications?: Sentry for kittens given at 5 weeks. Only given three drops. Given Vibactra (natural baytril) for pneumonia at 4 weeks and continued for one week. Pneumonia cleared up immediately.
Personality: He is very playful and a very good squirrel. He uses a litter box and doesn't have any accidents in the cage, though some outside of the cage. He is very tame and knows his name. He plays regularly and is starting to get a little rough, but knows when he is too rough. He has never bitten hard enough to draw blood. I clip his nails bi-weekly.
Food? Homemade squirrel blocks (http://squirrelrefuge.org/squirrelblock.html). He gets some fruit and veggies almost every day, sunflowers seeds once in a while, in shell nuts (he can't open them yet, he just likes to play with them).
Issue: Kobe started this thing about six weeks ago where he will grab my fingers and shove them in the back of his mouth and freeze up and just hold them there. I figured he was just teething and it was comforting. However, four weeks ago, after holding my finger, (he went off to do his own thing) he started pawing at his mouth and licking the roof of his mouth like was was choking. He was still upright, but completely fixated. He urinated and defecated also. At the time, I didn't know this was a seizure. Afterwards, he acted a little jumpy but within a half hour he was back to his normal self. He had three of these and they usually last about 15-45 seconds. He is eating and drinking normally.
However, on December 1st, he had one on the floor. He was not chewing on my finger this time and it was completely unexpected. This one was different though. He didn't paw at his mouth. He urinated and defecated on himself as usual, but he had his legs stretched out in front of him and appeared physically calm, but was licking (almost like when you give a dog peanut butter on the roof of his mouth) and he began foaming at the mouth. He would occasionally twitch his front leg. I petted him to try to keep him calm and make sure he remained upright. About two and a half minutes of this, he sat himself up and was twitching all over kind of. He then jumped at me (not aggressively, though I moved back because I know animals are unaware during seizures and may bite unknowingly) and he began to move about panicked. This lasted five minutes before i picked him up in a towel and held him until he was no longer jerking so he didn't hurt himself. I have this all on video (except the first thirty seconds or so.)
Once he calmed down a little, he was more clingy than usual and very, very exhausted and warm. He crawled into my lap and lay there while I stroked him (which is unlike him) and I put him in his bed to rest. About an hour and a half later he was back to his normal self and eating, drinking, and playing. I contacted every vet I could but none would help me. I am hoping it is caused by hypocalcemia and gave him about 600mg of tums and gave him a couple cuttlebones to gnaw on. I'm giving him 350mg of tums every other day since. I also gave him a rescue remedy pearl on the 2nd and the 3rd because he was still a little nervous and jumpy. They are seeming to help.
Link to his seizure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTk3...jGiDbeY8PUkgOA
Koba is VERY tame! He doesn't mind dogs and really likes cats. I planned on keeping him, but he is starting to get antsy in my room. He paces a lot on the windowsill and wants to be let outside. But I live on a main five way street and there are too many dogs and cats around. Also, his seizures are an issue. Since switching his diet to Henry's blocks, he hasn't had any seizures. But it's too soon to tell if they're gone for good. i would prefer he go to a home with an indoor and outdoor enclosure. He is very tame and cannot be deprived of attention. If rehomed, he will come with his large cage, large cat tree, a couple fleece cage sets, 2-3 litterboxes, his dig box (soil), his shred box (toilet paper) a month's worth of blocks, any other treats I have including in shell nuts, his tree (it's a wimpy braided ficus that's beyond dead but he likes chewing it) and his favorite stuffed animals and a parrot toy for chewing. While I wouldn't want money or Koba, I would like to get some money in turn for his items. His cage was $100 and his cat tree was just short of $100. He has probably $50-$75 worth of toys and I don't know the value of his cage sets since I make them. If you have other squirrels, I make a couple cage sets for your other squirrels as well to go with him. I am willing to drive up to three hours from Cleveland, Ohio to meet you as my car cannot handle much more. I would request pictures of your current pets, your vet information (I would like to call them for a reference.) Koba is such a sweet boy and I wish I could keep him more than anything, but I am going to be moving out of my parents house to an apartment soon and I did plan on taking him, but think he'd be so unhappy. He'll play with docile cats and probably small dogs (ours are 70lbs and 100lbs.) If you would be interested in taking Koba, please PM me and I will respond with my personal email and or phone number.
I have over 500 pictures and videos of him on my phone, so please, ask for more and I'll send them to your phone!
*I was not sure where to post this, so admins, please, feel free to move it where it should go.*
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Originally Posted by CritterMom
Hi xcirelly, I know you can feel guilty that Koba doesn't have a mate,(Yet 
), and there are many Animal specie's that Will not Thrive without a mate. But You are Koba' mate, and Hopefully for His entire Life. After all, you are the only one who will Give the Life and Love to Koba that you Know He deserves.
He's just my beloved rare ethiopian angora ferret LOL
