The Story Of Stewie The Squirrel

The following story about a squirrel was shared with us by Acorn Acres Wildlife Rehabilitation of Pennsylvania.

This little one is 21-125, and her name is Stewie. She is nearly starved to death, even though her finder was feeding her every three hours around the clock for a week. Her finders tried hard, they followed instructions, they bought what was recommended — and then after a week things went very wrong.

Their little girl became lethargic and her breathing was labored. She was so hungry and weak she aspirated on formula, and now has pneumonia on top of starvation.

Her finders left here today with tears in their eyes after seeing a healthy squirrel of the same age. They truly didn’t know and they tried. They exhausted themselves trying, but they followed the advice of someone at a pet store. The advice they were given and the products they were told to buy are toxic to squirrels.

This beautiful little girl may not survive.

It took me nearly 11 years of training to gain the knowledge and hands-on experience necessary to properly raise these guys. Now, I do admit I took the long way, and it doesn’t usually take that long — three to five years is normal.

“Dr. Google” is wrong. Employees at pet stores are wrong. Your sister’s teacher’s best friend’s daughter is probably wrong, too. Imagine what little Stewie would look like now if all those hours spent feeding and cleaning her were invested into locating and transporting her to a rehabilitator, a week ago.

I am NOT chastising her finders at all. They honestly didn’t know. They tried. When they realized things were wrong, they found a rehabilitator and brought little Stewie in right away (like 30 minutes fast).

Stewie’s story is being shared now so if she dies it’s not in vain. Someone somewhere will read this and remember little Stewie. They will move heaven and earth locating a rehabilitator.

For now, Stewie is safe, warm, hydrated, has some proper food in her tummy, and is on antibiotics.

Stewie arrived weighing 28 grams (a little less than 1 ounce) and had her top and bottom teeth. After time in rehab, she now weighs almost 300 grams (about 10.6 ounces).

Stewie was started on EmerAid, then weaned her to formula. She had some tummy troubles, so we went back to an EmerAid/formula mix for about a week, then re-weaned to formula. She is now weaning to solids even though we’d love for her to stay on formula a little longer.

I strongly believe if it had not been for the use of EmerAid, our little Stewie would have a very different story…much shorter.