I posted this 20 years ago in 2001 but it disappeared. Here it is again. It's not just about baby squirrels but baby bunnies, squirrels, skunks, raccoons, opossums, bats....
Wives' tale busted - Cow milk does NOT kill baby squirrels. I've heard this ridiculous wives' tale for the past 20 years. People on the Internet will show you photos of dead baby squirrels. They will tell you that cow milk killed the babies. Cow milk did not kill the babies. The babies were fed improperly or died of some other illness or injury.
The people telling you that cow milk kills squirrel babies will tell you to buy Petag's Esbilac puppy milk instead. Guess what the main ingredients are in Esbilac? You guessed it, cow milk. Below are the ingredients.
Esbilac Powder for Puppies Ingredients: Vegetable Oil, Casein (milk), Whey Protein Concentrate (milk), Dried Skimmed Milk (milk), Butter Fat (milk), Monocalcium Phosphate, Egg Yolk, Calcium Carbonate, L-arginine , DL-methionine, Sodium Silico Aluminate, Potassium Chloride, Choline Chloride, Lechithin, Monopotassium Phosphate, Magnesium Carbonate, Ferrous Sulfate, Salt, Dipotassium Phosphate, Calcium Pantothenate, Ascorbic Acid, Niacin Supplement, Magnesium Sulfate, Zinc Sulfate, Folic Acid, Vitamin E Supplement, Silicon Dioxide, Vitamin A Supplement, Riboflavin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Thiamine Hydrochloride, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Manganese Sulfate, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Copper Sulfate, Potassium Citrate, Potassium Iodide, Biotin.
The ingredients are listed in descending order by weight. Here oil is the main ingredient. Number two ingredient is "casein" which is from cow milk. Number three ingredient is "whey" which is from cow milk. Number four ingredient is "dried skimmed milk" which is from cow milk. Number five ingredient is "butter fat" which is the fat from cow milk. You can clearly see that cow milk is the main ingredient in animal and human baby formulas. (I just noticed they spelled "lecithin" wrong)
How did those babies in the photos die? They did not die from cow milk, that's for sure. They most likely died because they were not warmed or hydrated before being fed. They were not fed enough formula or were fed too much. The formula was not introduced slowly which caused diarrhea which caused death. They were aspirated because they were fed improperly. The milk was not warmed, mixed properly or was rancid. Baby died from some other illness or injury. In one photo I could tell the babies died from squirrel pox which has nothing to do with formula. It's a virus.
People have been feeding orphaned baby wildlife and humans cow milk probably since they first started milking cows and goats around 9,000 - 7,000 BC. If cow milk killed babies, we'd have a ton of dead human and animal babies. In the UK they feed endangered orphan red squirrels cow or goat milk with honey and sometimes add an egg. They don't feed commercial formulas most likely because they don't care for the additives, preservatives, coloring agents, anti-clumping chemicals...
Who is behind this wives' tale? I personally feel commercial formula producers are behind this ridiculous story. People who tell you that cow milk kills babies generally recommend Petag Esbilac or kitten formula KMR. Petag probably spread this rumor to sell more product and why not. Eight ounces of liquid Esbilac costs $2.78. A quart of cow milk (32 ounces) costs $2.60. Esbilac is four times as expensive as cow milk. They're making money telling this ridiculous story.
Two years ago I wrote this comparison chart of the various puppy, kitten formulas. As you can see Esbilac is the most expensive by far. They are the biggest selling puppy, kitten formula in the world. They seem to have a monopoly in the pet stores. http://www.animaladvocates.us/formulacomparison.pdf Make that had a monopoly. Things have changed.
Based on my years of experience I personally recommend Fox Valley. It is a much higher quality product, smells/tastes better and is cheaper. The only downfall is you have to order it online but it's well worth it.
Composition of Petag Esbilac verses average cow milk. When I sent samples of Esbilac to the lab the amount of protein, fat, fiber and calories were way off what was written on the package. As you can see based on the labels Esbilac has a little more calories, fat and protein than regular cow milk. If you look at a breakdown of the ingredients, they have the same vitamins and minerals.
Petag liquid Esbilac
protein 4.5% min
fat 6% min
water 85%
900 kcal/kg
Whole cow milk
protein 3.5% min
fat 3.4-4% min
water 87%
730 kcal/kg
I personally no longer use any Petag products because they do not recall their product when it's tainted or rancid. Legally FDA can't force them to recall their product. There have been at least three instances when their formula was killing babies and they refused to recall it. They kept selling the product even when they knew it was killing babies. I will never support a company that does that. More info on their tainted formula here http://www.animaladvocates.us/petagesbilac.htm
*Nowhere did I state that I feed cow milk to babies. I feed Fox Valley. I also have never told people to feed cow milk straight to babies. The point of the article was to show that cow milk does not kill babies. That is a myth. Most of the commercial formulas (Esbilac, KMR...) are made from cow milk. If you think cow milk kills babies, then you shouldn't use any commercial formulas as they are made out of cow milk.
Here's another wives tale. "Animal babies can't digest cow milk but they can digest goat milk. Cow milk has no nutrition."
The truth. Goat milk contain less lactose, 4.2% vs 5% for cow milk. All natural milk has lactose. Goat milk fat content is also much simpler for human, animal digestion than cow milk. The fat globules in goat milk are smaller and easier for our milk fat-dissolving enzyme — lipase— to break into smaller pieces as they pass through our gut. Goat milk may be easier for some humans and animals to digest.
Cow milk has similar nutrition as goat milk. "Nutritionally, goat milk and cow milk compare relatively well. Most vitamins and macronutrients are found in similar quantities. One cup of goat milk has 10 grams of fat compared to cow milk having eight grams of fat. This causes the goat milk to be higher in calories, about 19 more calories in that cup for a total of 168 calories. Being higher in fat, the goat milk is also higher in saturated fat, which we are cautioned to limit in our diets. In fact, that single cup of goat milk has one third of the saturated fat that you need in a day. However, goat milk has a little less sugar, 11 grams per cup versus cow milk having 12 grams per cup. Goat milk is higher in calcium, giving you 32 percent of your daily value in one cup while cow milk gives you 27 percent. Goat milk’s 9 grams of protein per cup is one gram higher than that of cow milk. Cow milk is higher in folate, selenium, and riboflavin as well as significantly higher in vitamin B12. Goat milk has more vitamin A, vitamin C (cow milk has none), vitamin B1, magnesium, and considerably more potassium. Both milks are roughly the same in their amount of vitamin D, cholesterol, and sodium. Overall, goat milk vs. cow milk are fairly equal nutritionally unless you are specifically looking for a higher or lower amount of any of these key nutrients. (Comparisons were made using whole cow milk via USDA nutritional values.)"
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