What to do if I find an orphaned baby squirrel?

Life is precious as it can come in all shapes and sizes, and even in the shape of defenseless and tiny baby squirrel, for there is no greater reward than a feeling of joy after we have saved a life of a creature and got the chance to see and experience the beauty into which it develops. The sudden task of having to take care for an orphaned baby squirrel which you found may seem daunting at first, but there are several guidelines which you should follow in order to provide the best care and upbringing until the squirrel is ready to be released back into the wild.



Firstly, you should check around and make sure that it is truly orphaned, in case that its nest has been raided or that the mother abandoned it. Pick up the squirrel and wrap it in warm cloth in case that it’s very young and still has its eyes closed, in this condition it would quickly die without any care. Check for any obvious signs of injury, any traces or blood or open wounds would be an alarm for more immediate action to be taken, in which case veterinarian care is required.

If the baby squirrel has no obvious injuries but it is only abandoned, the next course of action should be to provide it with a warm box with layers of cloth to sleep it, as it requires warmth at this early stage of life. After that, and before you start feeding her any milk, it should be rehydrated, if this is not done properly, and the baby gets fed while dehydrated, it might die because of the inability of its stomach to process the protein from milk. For this purpose, you can use a rehydration solution made for human babies, search for an electrolyte balanced solution in your local pharmacy.

Next step is to properly feed the little squirrel, since her mother is gone, it should be fed with a milk replacement formula which can also be obtained from your local vet shop. A combination of the formula with a rehydration solution provides for the best source of nourishment in the early periods of the young baby squirrel. In addition, the food should be given via feeding syringe, with a slow flow of liquid poured into the mouth of the baby.

Lastly, squirrels are not made to be pets, once the baby reaches adulthood, it should be released, but until then, it will require constant care and attention as well as a lot of playing around, using children toys is a good way to keep it amused. One last thing would be to keep it from over-exposure to humans, because that type of behavior might hinder its natural instincts on which it will have to rely to survive later on.

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