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[Graphic][1] Aneesa Malik qualified as a veterinary nurse from Warwickshire College in 2008. Her main interests include veterinary ethics and welfare, emergency and critical care patients, end of life care and exotics. #### The dilemma Your veterinary practice has been presented with an orphaned grey squirrel that was found by a member of the public. On examination, you estimate the squirrel to be four weeks old – it weighs 60 g and its eyes are not yet open. It has no visible injuries and is well hydrated. The squirrel has a good chance of being successfully hand-reared to adulthood and could subsequently be released back into the wild. The wildlife rescue centre that you have taken squirrels to in the past is experienced in hand-rearing grey squirrels and has an almost 100 per cent success rate with squirrels of this age surviving until they are old enough to be released. However, they recently had their licence to release grey squirrels revoked, in accordance with the Invasive Alien Species (Enforcement and Permitting) Order (2019). What should you do next? Grey squirrels can be syringe-fed a kitten milk replacement every two hours, toileted, and kept warm until their weaning age – between 10 to 12 weeks – before then being gradually introduced to a natural diet. Juveniles can be transitioned gradually to … [1]: /embed/inline-graphic-1.gif

[Graphic][1] Aneesa Malik qualified as a veterinary nurse from Warwickshire College in 2008. Her main interests include ethics and welfare, emergency and critical care patients, end of life care, and exotics. #### The dilemma It is a busy morning in the clinic and the vet asks you, the practice nurse, to weigh a pet shop-owned Syrian hamster who, for the past two months, has been suffering from intermittent diarrhoea and conjunctivitis. The vet decides that it is best to calculate another course of antibiotics and send it back to the store. During your examination, the patient feels cold, is skin tenting, facially grimacing, reactive to abdominal palpation and her back end is stained and wet. She is bradycardic, hypothermic and has lost 13 per cent bodyweight since her last visit. You believe that the patient is sick and requires urgent attention. The vet has limited skills, interest and knowledge with exotic species, and, in addition to this, the practice is understaffed and ill-equipped for such cases. You explain to him that the … [1]: /embed/inline-graphic-1.gif