What to Feed Newborn Squirrels: The Honest Answer

A cold newborn squirrel cannot digest anything, and the wrong formula kills. What to do in the first hour, and why a rehabilitator is the real answer.

By Zakaria September 21, 2026 5 min read Save to Pinterest

A hairless newborn squirrel, eyes still closed, lying cupped in a person's hand — Photo: audreyjm529, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr

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The honest answer is nothing, yet. A cold newborn squirrel cannot digest food, and feeding one before it is warm is the most common way a rescue kills the animal it was trying to save.

The short answer

Do not feed a newborn squirrel until it is warm and a rehabilitator has advised you — a cold kit cannot digest, and food given before warming sits undigested and kills it. The first hour is warmth, dark, quiet and a phone call. Cow's milk, goat's milk, human infant formula, almond milk and plain water from a dropper all cause fatal diarrhoea, dehydration or aspiration pneumonia. Reuniting with the mother is almost always the best outcome and handling does not cause rejection: warm the kit, place it in an open box at the base of the nest tree, and watch from indoors for two hours. Raising one yourself is illegal in most states and usually fails.

Warmth first, food much later. A cold kit cannot digest anything
No cow’s milk, goat’s milk, infant formula or water from a dropper
Reuniting beats rescuing. Handling does not cause rejection
Any cat contact = rehabilitator, injury visible or not
Raising one yourself is illegal in most states, and usually fatal

The first hour

Warm before anything else

A cold baby squirrel cannot digest. Food given to one that is not yet at body temperature sits in the gut, ferments, and kills the animal.

This is the single most important thing on this page, and it is the step nearly every improvised rescue skips.

Contain it. A small box, lined with a soft cloth — not looped towelling, which catches claws. A fleece or an old t-shirt
Warm it gently. A bottle of warm water wrapped in cloth, a rice sock warmed briefly, or a heat pad on low under one half of the box, so the kit can move away from it
Never direct heat on skin, and warm slowly over an hour or so
Dark, quiet, away from pets, children and noise. Handling is stress, and stress kills
Call a licensed wildlife rehabilitator. Now, while it warms
No food. No water. No milk.

Then: try to reunite

A mother squirrel is a far better carer than anyone reading this, and reuniting is almost always the right outcome.

Warm the kit first — she will not collect a cold one
Shallow open box at the base of the nest tree, in sight of where it fell
If the nest tree came down, fix the box to the trunk a few feet up, or to a neighbouring tree
Go inside. Keep cats and dogs in. Keep children away. She will not approach with people standing there
Watch from a window for two hours
Handling does not cause rejection. That is a myth, and it costs kits their mothers every spring

Do not feed these

What each one does

Given	Result
Cow’s or goat’s milk	Fatal diarrhoea, dehydration
Human infant formula	Same
Almond, oat, soy milk	Same
Water from a dropper	Aspiration pneumonia — into the lungs
Kitten milk replacer	Wrong composition; commonly causes scours
Anything, to a cold kit	Undigested, then fatal
Nuts, seeds, fruit	A newborn cannot eat solids at all

The only appropriate milk replacer is a specific puppy milk replacer formula, at a dilution a rehabilitator specifies for the animal’s age and weight — and even then it is a stopgap until the kit is in proper care.

If help is genuinely hours away

Once the kit is warm, and only then, a rehabilitator may direct you to give an oral electrolyte solution — unflavoured Pedialyte or equivalent — warmed to body temperature, in very small amounts, from a 1 ml syringe.

Drop by drop, onto the lips, never squirted into the mouth, with the kit held upright. Milk in the lungs is a death sentence and it happens in seconds.

Get that instruction from the rehabilitator, not from this page.

When it is definitely a rehabilitator job

Injured or bleeding
Caught by a cat or dog — always, whether or not there is a visible wound. Cat saliva bacteria kill a small mammal within a day or two
Cold, limp or unresponsive
Fly eggs — small white grains on the fur, usually in the ears, nose or groin. Urgent
No mother after two hours of quiet watching
Obviously newborn — hairless, eyes closed

Finding one: search for a licensed wildlife rehabilitator in your state, or call a vet, an animal shelter, a humane society or your state wildlife agency for a referral. Most will take a call out of hours for a wildlife emergency.

How old is it

Stage, and what it means

Age	Appearance	Independent?
Newborn	Hairless, pink, eyes closed, ~1 in	No — urgent
1–2 weeks	Fine fur, eyes closed	No
3–4 weeks	Furred, ears open, eyes opening	No
5 weeks	Fully furred, climbing	No
6–7 weeks	Out of the nest, exploring	Nearly — watch first
10–12 weeks	Weaned	Yes — leave it alone

A furred squirrel with open eyes, alert and moving, is probably fine. That is a fledgling stage, and the mother is closer than you think.

Why not to raise it yourself

Beyond being illegal in most US states without a permit:

Hand-raised squirrels have no fear of dogs, cats, cars or people, and released later they usually die quickly
Formula, dilution and weaning are exacting. Small errors cause metabolic bone disease — a squirrel with a fractured spine from calcium deficiency
They need to be raised in groups to develop normally
Release takes a staged process rehabilitators are set up for and households are not

The kindest thing available in the first hour is warmth, dark, quiet and a phone call. Everything else works against the animal.

Common questions

What should I feed a newborn squirrel?

Nothing, until it is warm and a rehabilitator has advised you. This is the part almost every guide gets wrong: a cold baby squirrel cannot digest anything, and feeding one before it is warmed to body temperature causes the food to sit undigested and kill it. The first hour is about warmth, quiet and a phone call, not food. Only if help is genuinely hours away, and only once the kit is warm, is rehydration with an oral electrolyte solution appropriate — not milk.

Can baby squirrels drink cow's milk?

No. Cow's milk, goat's milk, human infant formula, almond milk and water fed from a dropper all cause serious harm — typically fatal diarrhoea, dehydration and metabolic bone disease. The only appropriate milk replacer is a specific puppy milk replacer formula used at a dilution a rehabilitator will specify for the animal's age, and even that is a stopgap. More kits die from well-meant feeding in the first day than from the fall that brought them down.

How do I warm a baby squirrel?

Put it in a small box lined with a soft cloth — not towelling with loops, which catches claws — and place a source of gentle heat under one half of the box so the animal can move away from it. A bottle of warm water wrapped in a cloth, a sock of uncooked rice warmed briefly, or a heat pad on low under the box all work. Never apply direct heat to the skin, keep the box somewhere dark and quiet away from pets and noise, and warm it slowly over an hour or so.

Should I try to reunite a baby squirrel with its mother?

Yes, and it is almost always the best outcome, because a mother squirrel is a far better carer than any person. Warm the kit first, since she will not collect a cold one, then place it in a shallow open box at the base of the nest tree, go inside, keep pets and people away, and watch from a window for two hours. Handling does not cause rejection — that is a myth. Mothers routinely carry kits one at a time back to a nest or to an alternative one.

When does a baby squirrel need a rehabilitator rather than reuniting?

If it is injured, bleeding, has been caught by a cat or dog, is cold and unresponsive, is covered in fly eggs that look like grains of rice, or if the mother has not come after a couple of hours of quiet watching. Any cat contact needs professional care regardless of visible injury, because cat saliva bacteria kill small mammals within a day or two. Search for a licensed wildlife rehabilitator in your state, or call a vet, an animal shelter or your state wildlife agency for a referral.

Is it legal to raise a baby squirrel yourself?

In most US states, no — keeping native wildlife without a rehabilitation permit is prohibited, and the rules exist because hand-raising usually goes badly. A squirrel raised by a person has no fear of dogs, cats, cars or people, and released later it typically dies quickly. Rehabilitators raise kits in groups, with correct formula and weaning, and with a release process that gives the animal a genuine chance. It is the difference between the animal living and not.

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Two young squirrels peering out of a hole high in a tree trunk

Backyard Animals · Sep 21, 2026