Hi everyone, I have a roughly 2 and a half year old male eastern grey named Earl that I raised from a baby at about 5 weeks old. My friend found him crossing a four lane highway and he could barely hold his eyes open. I initially intended to release him but he matured just in time for winter to come and I didn't want to send him out in the cold and I feel like I unintentionally domesticated him too much to feel comfortable releasing him. He's spent the last two years with me living a happy healthy life until just a couple hours ago.
I wheeled his cage onto the porch today to let him get some sun to help prevent MBD as I do every day but today I got wrapped up in a DIY project I was working on and began using my electric drill about 5 feet away on the porch. I normally move him back inside for tasks like this but he is pretty well accustomed to most loud noises and usually responds fairly calmly to them for a squirrel but something about the drill must have really bothered him because the second time I used it I heard him banging around in his cage and stopped immediately to see what he was doing.
He was going berserk bouncing off the walls and started making screeching noises like he was in a lot of pain and started kicking and jumping wildly. At first I thought he had gotten his toe stuck in something or had been bitten or stung by an insect of some sort. So I went to grab him to comfort him but stopped just when I realized he was ferociously biting his perching sticks. I started trying to comfort him with my voice and he crawled over to the edge of the cage, still kicking and jumping in pain and he tried to reach for me through the bars which broke my heart. So I grabbed a towel and opened*up the cage and picked him up and he's been sitting with me for the last four hours.
He appears to be doing much better now but also seems very tired and hard to rouse from sleep when he nods off. I know this could be normal exhaustion from whatever painful experience he just went through but I can't help but worry that this may be something like capture shock or capture myopathy, especially after reading PauK's sad post at the end of this thread https://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/...h-heart-attack about JD dying in a very similar manner the next day after a similar scare. I did see him excreting a large amount of saliva or fluid from his mouth or nose which I know is common for dogs having seizures as my Akita used to get them regularly. When he initially stopped kicking and jumping around he was panting uncontrollably and almost seemed to be having trouble holding*his head up and kept picking it up and letting it fall which really worried me. He seems much more alert and stable now and even just woke up to find my hand and lay on it as I am writing this, although I am still very concerned. I would appreciate any input you all have, thank you in advance!