Soooo…you can probably guess; the cat brought home a baby squirrel. Very baby. Almost hairless, eyes closed. But apparently pretty much unharmed beyond being in shock.
Obviously the thing to do is take him to an animal refuge where they can deal with babies. But we can’t do that tonight. Is there anything we can do? Beyond keeping him warm? I tried the water-with-an-eyedropper, no luck so far (but he seems to be sleeping). Is there any food that’s safe? I’m out of squirrel milk.
I’ve worked in wildlife rehabilitation, so, first off, the main thing is to keep the baby squirrel warm. If you have a heating pad, set it on low, make a nest out of a t-shirt and keep the baby enclosed in a box with the heating pad half on the nest, and half off. You can make a makeshift heating source by heating a bottle of water in the microwave. Just have it warm, not too hot, and have it stable, so it won’t roll over. The key is too not let the baby get cold.
Contact the nearest wildlife rehabber, links on the above site, ASAP. You may be able to get squirrel Mom to come get her baby, but cats carry a nasty bacteria that can kill. Squirrels are among the easiest wildlife babies to nurture, but do require proper care, formulas, and socialization to return to the wild. If you are in NC, I can help you immediately get help, e-mail me. Otherwise, go by the above links. If you are lost for help, e-mail me still, will do best to connect you through networks I know of.
Thank you elelle. Good information. We have him under a heat lamp…the kind used for plants. And he seems to be warm and comfortable (as far as I can tell).
I’m no where near NC but there’s a place here we can go to tomorrow.
Err…two questions…what about water? I was more concerned about that than food. And what about returning him to mom? I wouldn’t know how to start, I don’t know where he came from. Or is that a bad idea to begin with?
If the little guy survives and you decide to keep him, I hear they make affectionate pets. However, you will need a large cage so it can jump around freely - letting it run free in the house is not good as they will chew everything and hoard anything they find attractive.
But no, as atached as I’m already getting, I think I prefer to think of him out there leaping through tree branches. Or fighting Russian terrorists with a talking moose, whichever.
If you don’t let your cat out in the future, then you will probably save more than one squirrel as well as other wildlife. You might even end up saving your cat.
This will sound cruel to some folks but it is what we were told by animal rescue folks when we have had cats bring bring baby vermin (squirrels, rabbits, etc) home. First we were told that animals such as these are not on any endangered species listings. The cost of attempting to raise and rehabilitate such critters is expensive. And there are plenty of them to go around, one or 10 dying will hardly make a dent in the population of such animals. Then we were given a variety of methods to relieve the baby animal from it’s potential misery, they recommend a sharp axe to the neck. The folks also recommended keeping cats indoors to prevent such things from happening again as already been suggested.
betenoir,
I hope you were able to find a rehabber for your squirrel today. If not, here’s national directory of wildlife rehabbers: http://www.tc.umn.edu/~devo0028/contact.htm
Squirrels lend themselves to being pets when young, they are cute and personable and take to human bottle feeding, fairly easy to raise. As adults, though, they get wild, are hyperactive, and can inflict a hell of a painful bite. I’ve also seen some severely malnourished baby squirrels raised by well-meaning folks; they were in such sad shape it was heart-breaking. Squirrels should be alllowed to have their life in the wild. It’s also illegal to keep wildlife as pets.
Having done battle with squirrels in the past my first questions is where is the mother? They will fight tooth and nail for their young. If the cat didn’t kill it then she will be squawking up a storm looking for it. If you find the nest you could try tacking on a wood nest nearby to see what happens. The nest could be in a tree, an attic, or a chimney.
Thank you elelle. Good information. We have him under a heat lamp…the kind used for plants. And he seems to be warm and comfortable (as far as I can tell).