FINNEGAN THE SQUIRREL - NCCG.ORG Ning Network Archive 2008-10

Debby Cantlon, who plans to release Finnegan, the young squirrel, back into the wild,
bottle-fed the infant squirrel after it was brought to her house.

When Cantlon took in the tiny creature and began caring for him,
she found herself with an unlikely nurse's aide: her pregnant Papillion, Mademoiselle Giselle.

Finnegan was resting in a nest in a cage just days before Giselle was due to deliver her puppies.

Cantlon and her husband watched as the dog dragged the squirrel's cage twice to her own bedside before she gave birth.

Cantlon was concerned, yet ultimately decided to allow the squirrel out and the inter-species bonding began.

Finnegan rides a puppy mosh pit of sorts, burrowing in for warmth after feeding,
eventually working his way beneath his new litter mates.

Two days after giving birth, mama dog Giselle allowed Finnegan to nurse;
family photos and a videotape show her encouraging him to suckle alongside her litter of five pups.

Now, Finnegan mostly uses a bottle, but still snuggles with his 'siblings' in a mosh pit of puppies, rolling atop their bodies, and sinking in deeply for a nap.

Finnegan and his new litter mates, five Papillion puppies, get along together as if they were meant to.

Finnegan naps after feeding.

Finnegan makes himself at home with his new litter mates, nuzzling nose-to-nose for a nap after feeding.

MORAL OF THIS STORY:
Keep loving everyone,
even the squirrelly ones !

Reply by Steve & Kara on January 23, 2009 at 10:57am

I so love this story, I have heard it before but it never grows old.

Kara

Reply by Amanda on February 16, 2009 at 1:08pm

This is too cute I saw this in an email. I had a baby squirrel once that was found on the ground at my brothers church. I am a stay at home mom so they brought it to me to raise. I bottle fed him and he grew daily. I put his cage (dog carrier) on a board up in a tree. I would let him out daily and he would run up and play on me and run up the tree and back down to me. It was a wonderful experience.
We also had one when I was a young girl. My dad had rescued him off the highway. He had ran into a car tire and knocked himself out. We released him into the wild when my baby brother was born. Mom was worried he would scratch the baby.

Mandy

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