Saving Patches aka Ms. Perfect The Squirrel

Approximately two weeks ago one of my neighbors handed me a baby squirrel that got lost at our apartment complex. I gave it some reiki energy healing as it fell asleep in my hand. It was so cute! Something told me that this lost little baby belonged to my favorite pal "Patches" the squirrel. So I carried the baby over to Patches and placed it on the ground (on a comfortable sweatshirt that my neighbor had given me). Patches sniffed the baby, rolled it around a bit and before you knew it Patches was climbing up the tree with her little one in her mouth! It was a very happy ending for Patches and her baby that day! Unfortunately, something went very wrong after that!

The next time I saw Patches she had developed a terrible skin rash and was losing fur! After seeing her in such a bad state I decided to provide her with some remote reiki distance healing. As I was sending her the healing energy I couldn't believe what I felt. I was in absolute awe of how amazing her energy was. She is a powerful little squirrel. Very magical! I just knew that she would be okay. But the next time I saw her she looked even worse. Her rash spread and she had lost even more fur! I provided her with yet another reiki distance healing session, but this time I became very worried from what I felt during the session. Her energy was terribly off and so I decided that reiki energy healing was not going to be sufficient. She needed a little more help than that!

So I talked to my mother who looked up some information online. She seemed to think that Patches had mange or mites. My mother found that ivermectin could be used to cure Patches. But where would I get ivermectin from and what is the dose? Would I need a prescription? And could I actually trust the information that my mom found online? So my mother advised me to call the ASPCA to get some help. I called the SPCA but they were unable to help me. The told me to call my local animal shelter. I tried calling my local animal shelter but no one ever picked up the phone. I finally had to hang up. So I knocked on one of my neighbor's doors.... A neighbor that is known to be very animal friendly! She has cats and she volunteers at some place called "The Gentle Barn"- a non profit animal rescue. Thank goodness my kind neighbor Rebecca opened up her door for me!

I immediately asked Rebecca if she had seen Patches lately and she told me that she hadn't seen her. So I opened up my phone and showed her a picture of Patches, who literally developed patches on her body! How ironic is that? Rebecca was shocked. She told me to contact Sharron at a place called "The Squirrel Mendor." She was sure that Sharron could help. So I called Sharron and left her a voice message. Then I texted her and attached photos of Patches. Sharron texted me back pretty quickly. She told me to purchase 1% injectable ivermectin. Luckily I found it on amazon! $39.99! My mother purchased it for me. She wanted to contribute to Patches recovery! Sharron told me to place a tiny drop of the ivermectin on a nut and feed it to Patches.

So I managed to run into Patches before her ivermectin arrived. I fed her some nuts, gave her some reiki energy and told her how much I loved her. I told her that everything was going to be okay. I told her that I purchased some medication for her and that it was coming in the mail. I also decided to rename her "Perfect" instead of "Patches." I feel that the name Patches may have energetically attracted/ contributed to her skin condition. FYI I never actually named her Patches. One of my neighbors did! So I explained to Patches that her new name is Perfect... Ms. Perfect! She didn't seem to mind her name change... She just wanted me to keep feeding her nuts! So I gave her as many nuts as she could eat... I spoiled her! She finally had to start hiding the nuts in the dirt. And when she got tired of that activity she just climbed up her tree and went home for the night!

So the ivermectin arrived but as soon as I opened the package I discovered that I needed a syringe. Oy! So I contacted Sharron and she told me that she forgot to tell me that I needed a 1cc syringe or a tuberculin syringe with needle! She told me to go to any pharmacy and explain the situation to them and that they should just hand me a needle. Well, it was Sunday and Cosco was closed so I called my vet. My vet told me that due to legalities they could not supply me with the needed syringe. They told me to call the Pasadena Humane Society. So I called the Pasadena Humane Society and they told me that they were unable to help me. They recommended that I call Petco. So I called Petco and they told me that they don't carry syringes. They recommended that I call my vet. Oy Oy Oy! Finally my friend looked on amazon and found a 25 pack of 23 gauge 1 inch syringes. I asked Sharron if this would work and she told me yes (thank the heavens). So once again my mother purchased the syringes for me for $14.11. Thanks mom!

As I waited for the syringes to arrive I went on facebook and created a post about Ms Perfect Patches so that the neighbors at my building would know what's going on. I wanted to make sure that no one else was giving her medication. Well, I don't think anyone else cares as much as I do about the squirrels so that seemed highly unlikely anyway...but I thought the neighbors should know... at least the neighbors that care about the squirrels. There's a bunch of neighbors who actually dislike the squirrels... including the guy under me who likes to shoot them with bb guns. Absolutely terrible! (I'm actually worried about one squirrel that I haven't seen in a while. I'm hoping my neighbor didn't injure this squirrel!)

So at first I decided to describe Ms. Perfect Patches condition on facebook, but then I got worried that the fearful idiot neighbors would think we have some kind of squirrel covid epidemic going on. I didn't want to put Perfect's life in danger. So I removed the entire description and just said that she wasn't feeling well but that I was going to treat her condition. I received positive feedback from some of my compassionate animal friendly neighbors. I even received a kind message from the neighbor that named Patches... "Hi Jennie! Thank you so much for taking care of Patches! We no longer live in the Village but we are the ones who named her and started feeding her when she was just a scraggly little thing several years back. She made friends with our cat and came through our kitty door every day to get nuts and would even crawl up on our laps to be fed. But she was always very polite! We have since moved out of Los Angeles, and if we could have taken her with us, we would have! But we think of her often and are so happy to hear she has had babies and that there are wonderful people at the Village looking out for her." That made me feel good. You know...I was the apartment complex villain for a while... I was the bad guy for feeding the squirrels! Perhaps my reputation may change now and I can be the kind caring neighbor who helps the squirrels. I don't know... and to be quite honest I don't even care! I don't do good deeds for recognition. I do the right thing because it's the right thing to do!

So the syringes arrived this past Monday. I got my good friend to help me administer one drop of ivermectin to a piece of a walnut. I asked him to place the drop in a crevice in the nut so it would stay on the nut. Well, to my astonishment the drop actually absorbed into the nut (or dried?)! It didn't roll off of it. Perfect! I was a little concerned about that. I decided to store this special medicinal nut in one of my cat's old empty supplement containers that would protect the ivermectin nut from the light. It was late afternoon and I decided to go downstairs with the nut to see if I could find Patches but she was no where in site.

I spoke with Joe who works in the leasing office to find out Ms. Perfect Patches schedule. He actually feeds her peanuts everyday. He told me that Patches is outside on the grass by the townhouses everyday around 8:45am. Joe also offered to help with Patches which was very kind of him. I decided to place the medicated nut, which I also energized with reiki energy, into the refrigerator to keep it cool. Ivermectin is supposed to be stored in a cool dark place. That evening I sent Patches even more reiki energy healing and I asked the universe/ spirit to keep her safe and protected (especially from my nasty neighbors who do not like squirrels and may try to hurt her.) I felt an immense energy of protection around her. She was already very protected! What a special squirrel!

The next day I went outside to find Ms. Perfect at approximately 8:45am. I looked all around and spotted her on top of the townhouses scratching herself. She was the only squirrel outside! I called her name and made a little noise that I make to get her attention. I told her I had nuts for her... but she wouldn't move! She looked suspicious! She was on to me! Joe came out to feed her some nuts as well. He was calling her with his noise but she wouldn't budge. Joe thought that was odd. She always comes when he calls her. So I decided to send her some reiki energy healing and explain to her that she needed to come down from the townhouses to get her medicated nut. She immediately stopped everything she was doing and just started staring at me. She was picking up my telepathic energetic message. After a moment of staring at me she made her way to the nearby tree and came down to get her nut! Wow! Even Joe was amazed!

So Ms. Perfect Patches "the magical squirrel" ate her entire medicated nut! Hurray! Thank the heavens! At this point I thought I was done and would just have to wait two weeks to see if Ms. Perfect the squirrel got better... However... after giving Ms. Perfect her medicated nut Sharron asked me if Ms. Perfect was scratching. I answered yes. So Sharron recommended that I purchase CAPSTAR (nitenpyram) Oral Flea Treatment for Small Dogs (2-25 lbs). She told me to take 1/4 of a pill and place it in a syringe... Then add enough water for it to dissolve and administer the paste onto a nut! With tax I ended up paying $40.50. I then made a $50 donation to The Squirrel Mendor. Sharron has been so amazingly helpful... Answering all of my texts so promptly! So at this point I am now just waiting for the CAPSTAR's to arrive! I have a great feeling that everything is going to work out exceptionally well for Ms. Perfect! I will keep you updated! To be continued...

UPDATE Sept 16th, 2022: Ms. Perfect Patches is starting to look better! I fed her a nut with capstar on it today. I will continue keeping an eye on her! Stay tuned!

UPDATE Sept 20th, 2022: Ms. Perfect Patches is looking exceptional! Her skin rash has cleared up, she has her grey pigment back and all of her missing fur is starting to grow back in! I almost didn't recognize her when she came up to me😀!

Jennie H is a Reiki Master Energy Healer, Co-Founder of Self Saviorz Society California Non-Profit 501(c)(3), Poet, Author and Entertainer with goals to help raise the vibration and consciousness of humanity!