A Tiny Rescued Baby Red Squirrel Who Is Lactose Intolerant Grows Big Enough to Play With His Toys

Aimee of FourWands Wildlife in New Hampshire tells the wonderful story of Rocky, a resilient red squirrel who was rescued as a tiny baby and weighed no more than a AA battery. Despite Aimee's best efforts, Rocky could not thrive. After consulting a friend, Aimee realized that Rocky might be lactose intolerant and started him on a modified formula.

I spoke to a friend of mine who is a doctor. Have you ever seen a lactose intolerant human infant? what would that look like? And she said I would imagine something like what he looks like. She said you may be on to something, so I ...literally got the car and took off to the store and then when I gave him the following feeding, with the modified formula his weight ticked up a 10 grams.

Rocky responded very well and started gaining weight immediately, growing larger and larger until he was able to play with the toys that previously were too big for him.

I think for Rocky to have been born lactose intolerant, rescued, and then have the issue diagnosed before it killed him, he is the luckiest squirrel I'll ever meet. He gets gifts almost daily. People have sent him toys and he loves the toys that he gets sent.

While Aimee has cared for Rocky since the day of his rescue, she knows that she has to release him back into the wild. However that doesn't mean she won't miss him.

I want to do what's right for him so I expect to be able to release him. He'll go into a release cage and he'll get used to seeing other squirrels and predators and cars and experiencing the weather and when he's ready he probably just won't come back. I'm going to miss him because he really is just a special little boy but if his heart is in the trees that's where he belongs.