Stock Your Medicine Cabinet For Rehabilitation

Every winter I clean out my wildlife rehabilitation medicine cabinet. I take inventory of what I have and what I will need for the coming year. You can easily stock up on supplies and equipment to meet your center’s needs or purchase supplies for your local rehabilitator.

This article will help you know what to buy to stock up on medical and first aid supplies for your wildlife rehab.

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WHERE DO I BUY MEDICAL SUPPLIES?

You will gather your medical supplies from a variety of places. I order many of my supplies online with Amazon. Supplies can come from your local drug store or Walmart.

Veterinarian/Farm supply companies such as Tractor Supply and Jeffers Pet Supplies carry many over-the-counter animal medicines and first aid supplies.

Specialty stores such as Chris’s Squirrels and More and Henry’s Pets offer products for rehabbers.

Prescription items such as Lactated Ringers Fluids will need to come from your vet.

Interested in becoming a licensed wildlife rehabilitator? Learn how in our article.

Medicine cabinet for wildlife rehabilitation

YOUR MEDICINE CABINET

You need to have a dedicated area to store supplies. This may be shelves, a closet, or kitchen style cabinets. I recommend that your storage place has doors and also the ability to be locked.

I use an old food heating unit that came from a hospital kitchen remodel. It meets all my criteria and has shelves that can be pulled out or moved around. The only thing I don’t like about it is that it is quite deep and I tend to lose things in the back.

Organize and label your supplies. Trust me when that baby comes in that is severely dehydrated or a turtle with a very broken shell, you will want to be able to move fast and know where everything is located. I use plastic totes inside my cabinet to store like items and keep things clean.

LISTS OF SUPPLIES

I will list things in stages - from common inexpensive things to those you may need to work up to.

COMMON HOUSEHOLD ITEMS

These are things you probably have around your house and even in your own medicine cabinet. They cost under $10.00 new

To get you started you can also buy a pet first aid kit.

Tweezers

Bandage scissors

Q-Tips

Alcohol

Hydrogen Peroxide

Witch Hazel (or grow your own)

Iodine

Saline eye solution

Eyedropper

Antibiotic cream, antifungal agent, and anticoccidial

Matches for burning ticks or you can stick them in alcohol

Bandages of various sizes such as vet wrap, gauze wraps, and squares, bandage tape

You will need a variety of gauze pads in various sizes

Adhesive tape

Disposable gloves

Rectal pet thermometer (several for various species)

Free download! Click below to get a free digital download of my “Top 20 Products” Checklist for your medicine cabinet.

MAKING SOME INVESTMENTS

These are items you will want but are a little bit pricier. They cost between $10.00 and $40.00 new.

Stethoscope

Hair clippers with #40 blades (used to clip hair away from a wound). You don’t need a fancy set just something simple.

Gram Scale - A gram scale is used to weigh a smaller baby on intake. Grams ( from the metric system) are what are used most widely to determine fluids, meds, and formula amounts. For fawns or larger babies, I just use a human scale and weigh just me and then me holding the baby. Then subtract.

Standard scales in ounces can also be used and then you can easily do the conversion on Google. I have a very nice farmer’s market scale that I use to weigh babies on.

I Like this gram scale because it has a nice bowl on top to keep babes secure.

Syringes and Needles - these should be on your priority list since they are both very important. You will use syringes for feedings as well as delivering fluids and medicines. Common needle sizes to have on hand are 25, 22, 20. You will need a variety of needles in different sizes. It seems backward but the smaller the number the bigger the needle.

Wormer - you will need several different kinds for different species of wildlife and different species of worms. A good all-around one that’s not too expensive is pyrantel pamoate.

Don’t buy the cheap wormers at your local bargain store. During tests, these often end up being of poor quality with little acting drugs.

You will go through a lot of wormer so invest in the good stuff

Talk with your vet about what prescription wormers and flea meds you may be able to keep in stock.

I also keep Capstar (non-prescription) in stock. It works well on fleas and also kills maggots

Chlorhexidine is a bacterial disinfectant. Great for cleaning wounds. I also use it to soak turtles who have been hit by cars.

Heating pads - part of your medical care will be to get the animal warm. Often their body temperature has dropped due to not having a mom, shock, or illness. Getting them warm will be a priority. Heating pads often have an automatic shut-off. This is to protect humans.

You don’t want automatic shut off! You need constant heat. Look for a good quality heating pad made for pets as they don’t usually have auto shut off and do have stronger cords.

THINGS TO SAVE FOR OR TO HAVE DONATED

These things are nice if you have them but can be more expensive and cost over $40.00 new.

Stock up on Wormer - Fenbendazole (safeguard) is great stuff but it’s pricey.

Incubator - having an incubator to keep babies warm can be a real blessing. They surround the animal with consistent heat and are more thorough than a heating mat. The better ones have digital displays and settings, alarms, and a fan to circulate air. Brinsea makes small ones that are used in the pet industry that run in the $400-$600 range.

Baby Warm is a crowdfunding site that helps rehabbers get an incubator. It’s not a donation! You are required to help raise the funds on your social media and website platforms. They assist by putting your information on their website.

They use the Brinsea TLC 40 Incubator which retails on Amazon for $579.00.

HOW TO GET SUPPLIES

It’s easy to make a list but the next part is getting the actual products. Obviously, you can go to the store and buy all the things you need. However, costs do add up fast and you may not have enough money in your budget. Here are some ideas to get you started.

1. Make an Amazon Wishlist - anyone can make a public wishlist and then share it to social media and/or in an email newsletter. Many people use Amazon and it’s easy and convenient for them to just add something from your list to their cart.

2. Chris’s Squirrels and More also does a wishlist and makes it so you can share it on social media. Personally, I love her store but I find it hard to convince my followers to shop there as it’s not familiar to them.

3. Donations from followers- tell people what you need, post needs on your social media, and see what you receive.

4. Donations from corporations or companies. You can also ask for donations from businesses. I will be honest and tell you that most businesses will want you to be a non-profit. However, places such as your local doctor or vet’s office may be willing to give you expired products.

   Things such as syringes, latex gloves, and wormer all have expiration dates. A doctor or veterinarian can’t use them after expiration but you can because your work on wildlife is typically “off label”.

TAKE AWAY

A well-stocked medicine and first aid supply cabinet are very important for every rehabber. Having what you need and being able to reach it quickly can be the difference between life and death.

Author, Ame Vanorio, is a licensed wildlife rehabilitator and the director of Fox Run Environmental Education Center.