Sparky the Squirrel

This past weekend we had an unexpected visitor in our home. It all started at Jennifer and Joe's house. We were over there for dinner with them and Mimi and Boppie and as we sat around talking Joe heard something on their front porch. He quickly let us know that there was a baby squirrel on the porch. We all took a look and when someone opened the front door, the squirrel decided he'd like to come in!

We didn't allow him to come in the house but I, against my better judgement, picked him up in my arms. He seemed quite content there and enjoyed being stroked by all. We decided to make him a little house out of a shoe box because he was obviously too young to take care of himself. We offered cat food, water and old washcloths for him in the box. He seemed content at first but then kept coming out of the box toward us as if to say, "I'd rather be with you!"

We were getting ready to leave and Jason and I decided to take him with us to see what we might be able to do for him, Jennifer and Joe couldn't do anymore for him with Finn scheduled to be born soon and 2 cats in the house.

We took the newly named "Sparky" home and set him up in our bathroom in the cat carrier. I looked up on the Internet what was needed to take care of him and found out he was probably about 8-10 weeks old and a lot of other info on how to care for him. We tried all that was suggested from a heating pad on low to keep him warm to Gatorade to help rehydrated him.

It was apparent the next morning that, well, Sparky wasn't going to last. He had been very tired from the time we got him but him status had only gone downhill from getting him. Sparky ended up passing away on Sunday about 3:30pm while I held him in my hands. It just goes to prove that God has created each creature special and what a large amount of specialized care each one takes.