Yesterday I told John I needed to go to Tucson & try to find the formula for Skeeke. Since it was Sunday I called around to different pet stores & was amazed that they had it. Guess just because I haven't heard of it, doesn't mean it isn't available.
The 1st store I went to only had it in a very large can & it isn't cheap. So I decided to try another store & did find a smaller container. He's just a little bitty squirrel, it would take a lot of squirrels to use that much.
Got it home mixed it up & he turned his nose up at it.....!!!! Ungrateful little beastie, tried him again before bed, & he just turned his head away. After I went to bed I came up with a brilliant idea. When I carefully measured out the powder it was packed in the spoon. I had noticed it was rather thick, much thicker than Mother's milk would be. So I got out of bed, made a new batch, after fluffing up the powder before measuring. Seemed to make all the difference, he's eating it just fine now. According to the information I got off the internet regular tree squirrels will eat formula to the age of 10 weeks, don't know about rock squirrels, but would imagine it's about the same. Using the chart for tree squirrels, he seems to be about 6 weeks old.
I e-mailed the Arizona Desert Museum to see if they could help. Got back an e-mail 2 days later, telling me it's illegal to keep a wild animal, to turn it over to a wildlife rehabilitator. Great idea, unfortunately the rehabilitator didn't call back, so we'll just press on like we know what we're doing.
He's a little watermelon freak, loves the stuff. Cucumber, a big no, carrot on a scale of 1 to 10, maybe a 4. Necterine, mmmm not a biggie. Soaked dry cat food, pretty good. I'm not sure if cat food is OK, so not feeding it anymore.
We got up early this morning to feed & hit the road to Gilbert. Linda & John got here with Chester, just as we got thru feeding, so we loaded him, got Jenny loaded, & hit the road.
They made the trip just fine, so did Skeeke had to take him so I could feed him every 4 hours. They thought Jenny is doing just fine. Dr. Voss cut off some of the excess hoof & rebandaged her foot. I was anxious to see how the "real" experts do the bandaging, found out not much different than I do, although I did pick up a couple of good ideas. They were quite impressed with our Gorilla Tape, as opposed to duct tape to make a boot for the bottom of her foot, although they did agree that it's harder to work with & much stickier. I try to not let it get too hot, but I think it was probably 110 up there this afternoon, so it was pretty sticky.
The main thing we have to look for is the square opening in the front of her hoof collapsing as the hoof grows out. If that happens we'll have to take her back up for them to put a metal bridge across the opening to stabilize it.
Then it was Chester's turn. About 5-6 years ago he had surgery on an infection in his elbow area. Linda wanted to know what the problem was since he's started limping lately. They x-rayed & found osteoarthritis with some bone spurring going on. Recommended a good joint supplement. Might have to try a few before finding the best one for him. But Linda is a "helicopter Mom", so she'll keep looking until she finds what works for him.
Haven't heard how Mocha & Tucker are doing, guess I'll call tomorrow.
We got up early this morning to feed & hit the road to Gilbert. Linda & John got here with Chester, just as we got thru feeding, so we loaded him, got Jenny loaded, & hit the road.
They made the trip just fine, so did Skeeke had to take him so I could feed him every 4 hours. They thought Jenny is doing just fine. Dr. Voss cut off some of the excess hoof & rebandaged her foot. I was anxious to see how the "real" experts do the bandaging, found out not much different than I do, although I did pick up a couple of good ideas. They were quite impressed with our Gorilla Tape, as opposed to duct tape to make a boot for the bottom of her foot, although they did agree that it's harder to work with & much stickier. I try to not let it get too hot, but I think it was probably 110 up there this afternoon, so it was pretty sticky.
Dr. Voss trimming Jenny's foot, not sure what John is doing
Then it was Chester's turn. About 5-6 years ago he had surgery on an infection in his elbow area. Linda wanted to know what the problem was since he's started limping lately. They x-rayed & found osteoarthritis with some bone spurring going on. Recommended a good joint supplement. Might have to try a few before finding the best one for him. But Linda is a "helicopter Mom", so she'll keep looking until she finds what works for him.
Haven't heard how Mocha & Tucker are doing, guess I'll call tomorrow.
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