Once again I spent this afternoon researching blood values for squirrels. And like the last time and the time before that, I once again found there really isn’t much information available and what information there is was done many years ago and then primarily on the Eastern grey squirrel.
We all know just how useful a blood test can be to help diagnose a physical problem; when caring for squirrels this tool is no different. The dilemma comes when trying to determine the norms; while some things are relatively the same for all mammals, others vary by species and it is there we have little-to-no guidelines to use for proper diagnoses, particularly for the Eastern fox squirrel.
Since I have access to both a willing veterinarian and a ready source of fox squirrels, it has occurred to me more than once that I could have blood tests run myself and put the results into a reference table and eventually come up with normal ranges. The problem is that running a full blood panel isn’t cheap so that’s why I decided to hold this little fundraiser.
The initial goal is to raise $1,500. This will allow us to run a blood panel on a dozen squirrels; not as large a sample as we’d like but it will be better than what we have right now.
If you’d like to contribute to this cause, please click the button below.
If you prefer to donate via check, please make it payable to “A Squirrel’s Tale” and send it to P.O. Box 1708, Royal Oak, Michigan, 48070.
We will post our progress here.
Thank you on behalf of fox squirrels everywhere!