I’m just guessing but I think that the squirrel was actually looking for water. We have been suffering from serious drought in North Carolina; weeks went past without even a drop of rain. So, one day as I sat down at the dinner table and looked out of the window I spotted this squirrel (in my belief) looking for water around the plants. I have never seen him since but after he ran away, I found an old container, filled it with water and set it outside just in case he came back. But thankfully it has been raining for the past two days continuously so hopefully now the animals are no longer thirsty.