Foundling

[pasithea]

Last night while Peggy and I were out for a walk, I saw a small furry black lump shivering by the sidewalk. It was cold out and the sun was just about to set. Looked around for a nest but found none and this little one was too cold to stay there by itself so I scooped her up and tucked her in my coat pocket to get her warm. Took her home and got her some warm milk, did a quick read online to see what you're supposed to feed baby squirrels, then rushed off to the pet store to get some esbilic formula for puppies and a syringe.

Mixed the esbilic with heavy cream and water and she desperately drank about 7CCs. I inspected her and aside from a few fleas, there seems to be nothing wrong with her. Probably between 5 and 6 weeks old. Fully furred, eyes are open, incisors are fairly developed. No broken limbs or wounds as best I could tell.

Anyhow, I put her back in her towel and she curled up and went to sleep. I built a little wire cage out of some garden mesh and transfered her to it for the night, then e-mailed a local shelter that specializes in squirrels and got myself to bed.

Fed the squirrel again this morning. She drank about another 6.5CCs and still seems to be doing well. Squirrel lady called me back this morning and has a proper facility for taking care of her, so I'm going to take her to the shelter after work this evening.

I'm trying not to just completely gush about how cute she is! One shouldn't get attached to wild animals. Think about it. Squirrels are really cute but no one keeps them as pets. There's a reason for that.

Anyhow, on the positive side, this whole thing distracted me from worying about my hair and work. :) So far that's going okay. :) (I work Wed-Sat so this is my first day at work with the new colour)

Comments

[skyglider.livejournal.com]

I had to look after a baby raccoon once. A coworker handed the little thing to me because he saw it curled up beside one of the roadways in a park we worked at. Had to feed it, make it go to the bathroom, the whole thing. It was so precious. Then we took it to a local shelter to be brought up. From what I understand it survived. :)

Hard not to get attached to wild animals when they're little and cute like that.

[voidheart.livejournal.com]

Ah, you have fallen victim to the mammalian urges. Ever wonder why all babies in the mammal kingdom have big eyes, fluffy fur (cept dolphins and other oddballs of course), and make you want to gush and cuddle? Natural selection ... the animals looking like your own young you didn't eat, and biological programming to have huge eyes (in proportion to the skull), characteristic "infant" features, etc. activate parental and not predatory urges.

Other than that, sounds like the squirrel girl rescued some kin, and it does sound cute as hell lol. Good job =) Feel free to get attached, there's nothing wrong with that. Just means you'll have a lovely memory of the squirrel, and know its safe and happy in a sanctuary for her kind.

[shizouka.livejournal.com]

Good for you for doing that...

I once found a young dog in the creek out behind our house after a pretty nasty storm... the little thing camped out in my lap the rest of the night and would cry loudly whenever moved... We were able to get it to a shelter the next day.

Yay for squirrels!

[captpackrat.livejournal.com]

Yay! :)

[shatterstripes.livejournal.com]

aaaw, I'm gonna miss seeing her grow up! Wah!

[dv-girl.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I know. She's really adorable and I'd love to keep her but everything I've read says squirrels become crazy and unpredictable around 9 weeks old. The shelter will have other squirrels for her to interact with so she can socialize normally and grow up to be a free and wild thing.

Update

[centauress.livejournal.com]

She'd fed, and said it's sleeptime again, at 2:30pm.

I think she got about 5ccs of the 10ccs I prepared; we spilled alot 'cause the syringe decided to stop being airtight.

I fixed her a second helping, but I think it got too cold, because after initially being interested, she said nap-time.

She and Hazel peered at each other for awhile, and I think she was cold. I made sure she had the towel over her as she curled up to nap again.

Oddly enough, once the squirrel decided it was time to sleep, and I told Hazel that, Hazel just hopped off the table and went to sit in the sunbeam, apparently no longer worried. Weird.

[doctorpinkerton.livejournal.com]

My family raised a squirrel for a couple years. He was quite friendly but played rough... liked to run up and down us, probably believing us to be big friendly walking trees. It's worth noting that he was more mature when we found him than yours. We finally released him into the wild. He survived but would occasionally appear at the window during a storm begging to be let back into the warm dry house... on good days, he'd occasionally come up and say hello when we were outside.

[chirik.livejournal.com]

Oooooh, squirrels!

Probably best that you're not trying to keep him, but oh I know how tempting that must be.

[jackfurlong.livejournal.com]

Actually, many folks keep them as pets. I was fortunate enough to have a southern flying squirrel as a pet for a year and a half. He was a cute little stinker, and I named him Rocky, of course (what do you expect from a Jay Ward fan?)