Sammy The Squirrel

A few weeks ago I was out for a walk with my dogs when we stumbled upon a baby squirrel! At first I sight, I thought he was dead, but when I looked closer he was very much alive. As a kid I used to take in injured birds, but I've never rescued a squirrel before. Instinctively, I scooped him up, and brought him home with me. I decided to name him Sammy, as Skippy was already taken by my neighborhood's mischievous resident squirrel. Once I got Sammy inside, I noticed he was covered in fleas. Not like one or two, but at least 40 or 50. I tried combing them out, and then gave Sammy a bath in warm water. At this point, I wasn't sure if Sammy would make it, but I figured I'd try and make him comfortable  in his last few hours. 

After cleaning him up and giving him some warmth, I noticed Sammy's condition began to improve. With a glimmer of hope that he would survive, I began searching online and calling some friends with squirrel experience. From what I initially read, giving Sammy a bath wasn't the smartest idea, but at the time I thought it was the right decision. What concerned me more than anything was that Sammy wasn't moving very much. He just laid in my hand. Given how I found him and his current condition, I'm assuming Sammy fell out of a tree. After inspecting Sammy, I noticed that he had a cut lip and a little bruising on his left cheek. One of the website suggested feeding him pedialyte because he could be dehydrated. 

With a little warmth and some fluids in his system, Sammy began to move around. I was ecstatic! He began crawling up on my shoulder, and he burrowed under my hoodie when he got cold. From my research online, I was able to determine that Sammy was about 8 weeks old. Apparently, squirrels leave their nest between 8-12 weeks, so it seems like Sammy was somewhat unsuccessful with that first attempt. 

Since I still hadn't heard back from the squirrel rehabber I had contacted, I continued to follow the online advice. I tried feeding him some avocado, banana, blueberry, and raw cashew. He really liked his pedialyte. I couldn't give him too much at a time, or feed him by holding him on his back. If you feed baby squirrels too fast, or hold them in the wrong position, you can aspirate them. Meaning the liquids can get into their lungs and they can catch pneumonia, which can potentially be fatal. Since Sammy was able to eat solid foods, and eat on his own, I didn't run into that problem. That spooked me, so I was very careful about while feeding him. 

Boy did Sammy love his avocado! Not only are they soft and easy to eat, but they're high in fat and nutritionally delicious. My first day with Sammy, he spent the entire time curled up with me, but in fear of squishing him, or my cats getting to him, I made a little squirrel bed. I turned an old pet carrier, a cushion from one of my dog beds, and some old t-shirts into Sammy's bed. I covered the travel cage with extra blankets and hoped he would make it through the night. He did! When I woke up the next morning I found that Sammy had ripped a hole through the dog bed and made a little nest for himself. You can't get mad at baby squirrels, it's impossible. 

My second day with Sammy I tried to get him to move around. I wanted to see if that fall had affected him in any way. Seeing as he was still a wee little guy, he was more interested in burrowing in my sweater than climbing around. Sammy was able to climb up on my cat's scratching post, navigate his was down from the counter, and he could even climb down from a tree. Low and behold, Sammy had done a 180 from the half dead, flea ridden squirrel I had found the day before. 

I became very concerned that Sammy and I were getting too attached, and spending so much time with me might cause some problems with re-relasing him on my own. Squirrels need to be "wilded up" in order to be re-relased, and my TLC could have hindered on that. When I was finally able to speak with a rehabber, she said that one of the reasons Sammy was covered in fleas when I first found him was likely due to his mother dying. Due to that revelation, I decided it was best to hand him over to someone with the experience and means to care for him and re-release him back into the wild. He was doing very well with me, but if I couldn't reunite him with his family, he deserved to make a new one. As much as I love the little guy, that was the best move for him. 

So it was decided that the next day I would drive Sammy out to Coast and Canyon Wildlife Rescue in Pepperdine. They have over 60 squirrels in their care, so it would allow Sammy to make a lot of new friends. The next morning we had breakfast together. When I say together it was more like I gave Sammy some avocado and took hundreds of photos and videos of him eating it. It was bittersweet as it was one of our last moments together, but damn he was cute. 

We had a good cuddle and said our goodbyes, and with that, I dropped my little man off at Coast and Canyon. I wished him the best in all of his squirrel ventures. Coast and Canyon posts updates of all their animals on their facebook page, so I can see his progress. They work really hard and do a great job, so if you have the means, I highly suggest making a donation. They work tirelessly to help animals and they need every penny they can get. 

Coast and Canyon recently posted a photo of Sammy! They said he's sharing an incubator with some buddies and they're having a lot of fun in there. I'm so happy for my little man!

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Sammy The Squirrel