Familiar or Familiar equivalent for a Binder [3.5]

Is there any way to get one for a single class binder? I'm looking for a small-ish creature that is at least somewhat intelligent.

Leadership is pretty much your only move here. Beguilers (race of squirrel dudes from Shining South) can be recruited both as a cohort and an Improved Familiar.

If you don't want Share Spells or anything fancy, just a little intelligent creature that hangs around you...ask your DM if you can go capture a low-end monster for the job. My immediate thought is to go into one of the nearby forests you'll find in most settings and look for a Petal (MMIII), since they have several qualities that would make them a good fit for this. Though notorious as a powerful LA+2 (cohort) race, getting a stock one from the forest won't actually change much unless your DM has allergies to good Hide modifiers.

Not really the same as a familiar, but there's always Wild Cohort.

Again, not really much like a traditional familiar, but there's also Item Familiar.

Maybe a Figurine of Wondrous Power as a Legacy Item?

If you were willing to dip into an arcane class and then go Anima mage, it would be a lot easier to pick up an actual familiar.