Posting a little update on Miss Cheeky as it’s been a while. Life got a bit crazy these last couple of weeks, so it’s been tough to post...
Cheeky is five weeks now and continues to do well. She’s 96gr and puts on roughly 4gr every day. She’s still on the Royal Canin puppy milk with added full fat vanilla flavoured Greek yoghurt plus single cream. I’ve changed the ratios a bit, so now I make 3 teaspoons formula (plus 6 teaspoons water), with 1 teaspoon yoghurt and 1 teaspoon cream. She gets that every 4 hours and now takes about 5.5ml/6ml per feed.
She’s still not wild about getting fed and it still takes me at least 30 minutes to get 6ml in her, but it’s better than it was. She toilets well and is getting a lot more active. She’s trying to walk and climb a lot more which is super cute. Her eyes are still closed but I’m hoping they’ll open this week. We’re going away for a week on Sunday so I really hope I don’t miss it! I’m hopeful that she can stay with the vet for that week, to be confirmed tomorrow. Alternatively, our babysitter said they can take her too. They’re fab with animals.
Just need to make sure I feel 100% about whoever takes her as I would feel incredibly guilty if her care slipped while I was on holiday. It’s not been easy finding someone, but I’m confident I’ll have a good plan in place by tomorrow. Because I’ll need time to prep for the handover etc. So much more complicated than with our dog, lol!
Her leg seems to be healing really well and the bump she had near her right joint is barely noticeable now. It doesn’t seem to impact her movements, but I’ll get her checked again tomorrow. Hat tip to CritterMom for reminding me how lucky I am to have our vet and for suggesting to bring them some baked goods. We got the lovely nurse who has been helping us a few bags of luxury biscuits to share with colleagues and they were very well received.
Now that Cheeky is getting close to being able to take solids I have been doing a lot of research to see if I might be able to find a UK equivalent to the Henry’s blocks. And as many UK members before me have found, I too have failed so ended up calling Henry’s last week to see if they thought the blocks would stay good in transit. They did, so I risked it and got it on express delivery ($73 delivery charge, ouch!). Ordered on Thursday and they arrived today. They look good to me and I cannot see any sign of mould. I got a bag of picky, a healthy and a hazelnut. I also got a bag of Fox Valley 20/50, the Ultraboost and the probiotic.
I have a few questions in relation to introducing her to solids:
1. Because we are going away for a week, is it better if I hold off on introducing her to the blocks until we come back? She’ll be 7 weeks by then. Or could I start her this week already, even though she hasn’t opened her eyes yet? I’m assuming that the eyes opening is a key milestone in relation to introducing solids, but want to make sure. Would appreciate a steer on this.
2. I just put the blocks in the freezer as they were. With that little sachet to keep them dry still in it. Should I remove that?
3. Would you recommend that I start to change her to the Fox Valley before we go away? I’ve just been thinking that for the week that we are away it will be easier to either keep her on the Royal Canin with added FV probiotic and ultraboost OR change her over completely to FV 20/50 with the probiotic and ultraboost. I just think messing around with yoghurt and cream is a bit too much to ask for whoever looks after her that week.
I got her two new cages as well; the larger one I showed before from Ebay which should hopefully come this week and then today I picked up a smaller one for the week away. An almost new hamster cage that looks really good and I’m soaking at the moment. She should be comfortable in that. The hamster cage came with a water bottle and I was wondering if you think I should replace that, just in case. She wouldn't be able to use it yet for now as it's high-up in the cage. But want to make sure she has a water bottle in case I start her on the blocks this week.
Below a few pictures from this morning after her feed. I just can’t get over how quickly she’s developing; how much fur she has now, how big her ears, tail and feet are getting. She’s just cuteness overload and I’m so pleased she is still with us and doing well! I feel a lot better prepared now for the next phase but could not have done that without the incredible advice from this community or the lovely people over at Henry’s who were very excited to hear about this little squirrel in the UK, who is named after a Beatrix Potter character.
These blocks look ok right?