It may have lost its mother hours before and
have a very
full bladder!
To toilet small badgers, hold securely with the forelegs off the ground
and gently stroke the urino-genital
area in a
downwards motion with a small piece
of damp facial tissue or pure
cotton wool. It may take
a minute or so to
get a result t first but be fairly persistent and make
sure the orphan expels a reasonable amount of urine and/or faeces.
Place the cub in a
warm incubator or cage with a warm heat pad fitted inside and soft
towels or woolen cloths.
If the eyes are shut use a plastic front to the incubator or
cover the cage front with a towel to make sure it
retains the heat.
A fairly large soft toy can be added as a surrogate mother.
Do not attempt to give a feed until the cub feels warm and responds to
touch.
The first
feed
First feed should consist of warm Lectade or similar tissue fluid
replacement
drink.
This is given diluted as per directions on the packet and fed via a
small syringe and tiny teat
or baby bottle with 'newborn' teat.
Always use cooled previously boiled water and sterilized teats and
bottles.
Subsequent feeds should consist of Esbilac formula. Feed
very slowly and carefully.
Make a record of the times of
feeds and amounts taken,
remembering to
record “Lectade given for first feed”.
If very young they should be fed 2 hourly, if furry but still blind
2½ -3
hourly.
Badgers with eyes shut will have to be fed up until midnight and then
from 6am
the following morning.
When caring and feeding for these little creatures throughout the day
and into
the evening, special attention should be paid to;-
Feed and toilet at regular intervals: 2 hourly initially, moving to
longer
intervals as dictated by the patients.
When they are unwilling to wake up and feed, extend the gap
between feeds
by ½ hour.
Always use previously sterilised equipment.
Toileting
Always use a soft piece of facial tissue dampened with saliva.
The urinogenital area should be very lightly stroked or tickled and the
movement continued until all urination and defecation has ceased.
They do not always defecate but they should pass water every time they
are
toileted.
Do remember to close the incubator’s front panel when feeding; the
temperature
inside soon drops and babies get cold quickly.
Do be patient when feeding these helpless babies.
Concentrate on the job in hand, watch their mouths carefully and stop
feeding
immediately if they stop sucking.
If they choke, milk will go into their lungs and they may become sick
and die.
Use clean woollen gloves when feeding bald babies, their temperature
drops quickly
if your hands are cold. Ideally, they should be fed
above a warm heatpad or hot water bottle, to maintain their body
temperature.
Concentrate on holding them safely.
If the milk is already made up, give the container a good shake before
every
feed as it can settle and the last feed is a thick sludgy mix.
Before you remove a baby from an incubator for a feed, make sure you
have got
everything you need for that feed ready prepared and within easy reach;
i.e. Feed chart, feeding utensils, woolly glove, facial tissues
and
warmed milk feed.
Sterilizing
equipment
To sterilise feeding utensils successfully they should be kept in pots
filled
with sterilising solution to cover the contents.
There should be one clean feeding utensil in the pot for each baby.
After use they must be taken apart and thoroughly washed in hot soapy
water,
rinsed and placed back into the sterilising pot.
Do not put the small teats or cannulas loose in the sink, they
disappear down
the plug hole.
Do remember to fill in a feeding chart for every feed; you need to know
how
much they eat and if they produced urine and faeces.
If they do not urinate before or after each feed this is serious, and
can cause
their death