2 Week Old Squirrel Brought in with Probable Internal Bleeding...

[elizalalala]

In the world of wildlife rehabilitation it seems like we are spread between the well-meaning public working out of their homes with low income, donations, and the little know-how they can scrounge together, and large scale centers with intensive training and vets on staff. Kind of the difference between makeshift clinics in 3rd world countries and high tech university hospitals.

Unfortunately, I fall under the first category, and so I am hoping for some advice on a new squirrel that just came in 2 days ago. I've had it about 36 hours now.

We have very little vet resources, and mostly the one that works with us will only do free euthanasia. I'd like to give him a chance before I resort to that, especially since he is currently behaving like a healthy young male squirrel. He roots to search for food, latches and sucks admirably, eats heartily, and sleeps with the little REM type twitches baby squirrels have. His gums are dark pink, he poops and pees well... but his poop is still dark. Last night it was still as black as it is when they come from their mama, and today it has turned brown. If I smear it between tissue it is bile-colored and not blood colored, but it isn't golden the way it should be. Also, the purple in his tummy and on his sides makes me fear he has some intense bruising and possible internal bleeding.

I am not able to take him in for surgery, x-rays, or ultrasounds. I wish I was. Is there anything I can do other than watch and wait? Has anyone ever had an untreated case of intense bruising heal on its own? I'm just covering my bases to make sure there isn't more I can do, and also looking for a little hope. Here's some images of the injuries (this is from last night, there is noticeably less purple in his abdomen today):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcVLjaedrKE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qT4r406nBs

In these photos you can click on the image for a larger version. The bruising is on his stomach and creeps up his sides (below rib cage & above hind legs.):

http://eeliza1.photosite.com/~photos/tn/4616774_1024.ts1159155434815.jpg
http://eeliza1.photosite.com/~photos/tn/4616984_1024.ts1159155993245.jpg
http://eeliza1.photosite.com/~photos/tn/4617103_1024.ts1159156365511.jpg
http://eeliza1.photosite.com/~photos/tn/4616832_1024.ts1159155654900.jpg
http://eeliza1.photosite.com/~photos/tn/4617079_1024.ts1159156275501.jpg
http://preview.eeliza1.photosite.com/~photos/tn/4617122_1024.ts1159156437856.jpg

That last photo is his poop 24 hours after he was brought in, (after he'd had 2 pedialyte feedings, one diluted 50/50 pedialyte/formula feeding, and more than 3 regular formula feedings.) I am sorry there isn't a clear photo of his belly, but I've been trying to handle him as little as possible and I was already uncomfortable with how much I jostled him to show his bruising on the video/photos I made.

I want to know
-is he likely to live?
-is there anything else I can be doing for him?
-has anyone else ever experienced this (especially if it is a success story)

Thanks!

[Critter_Queen]

I don't know if there is anything you can be doing for him other than trying to keep him quiet and calm (I would place him in an area no more than 12x12" and load it with old t-shirts and a heating source at the bottom) so the bruising doesn't get worse. Hopefully it's nothing internal that can't heal on it's own...it's does look nasty.

I think his poops look fine for now. I personally think that if it's solid, not banana colored or white, and is regular...it's ok.

I would try feeding him just a tad less than you normally would at each feeding to keep his belly from getting too stretched...hopefully this will also help with the swelling.

I would call your vet and ask if there is an anti-inflammatory you can give him. I don't know if you can give anything thats OTC for that or not...

I got Weezel at just a few days old. He's 9 weeks old now. He came to me with a big black/purple bump on his head. It took at least three weeks for the swelling and bruising to go away, but it did. Hopefully your little guy will be better with just a little rest and a good, attentive foster mom. :thumbsup

Keep us posted!

[Critter_Queen]

I also wanted to add that you should be prepared to tell the vet the squirrels exact weight in grams in order to dose the anti-inflammatory accurately.

Good luck!!

[Momma Squirrel]

Just out of curiosity, do you have any back ground on the little one, where was it found, did it sustain a fall, etc.???

[elizalalala]

A friend of mine's neighbor brought the squirrel to her, and she in turn brought the squirrel to me. My friend's neighbor told my friend, who told me, that the squirrel was found under a tree and that she (the neighbor) picked him up before her dog got him. This was all word of mouth for me at this point, but seems consistent with the injuries. There are a few tiny ant bites (not fire ants, just regular ants) and the rest is bruising. I don't think he'd even been out of the tree for more than a couple hours judging by how active he was and that he wasn't very dehydrated. I'm going to guess that he hit some branches on his way out of the tree, or that simply the impact with the ground caused the bruising. I'm also wondering if the bleeding is inside the intestinal tract since his poop continues to be brown instead of golden. I'm not sure what "banana colored" means, since that sounds ideal when you are feeding squirrels Esbilac formula. We look for "golden nuggets" as poop when that is what they are eating. Maybe with different food you look for another color in poop. When they are drinking squirrel milk the poop comes out jet black.

There is considerably less purple in his belly than yesterday, and he is still just as active and eager to eat... so I am hopeful even though it seems impossible for a squirrel this size to deal with internal bleeding of any kind. But, you'd think if he was seriously injured he'd be acting weak and not continuing to grow. Maybe it is a small enough injury that he can heal.

Thanks for all the great responses so far. He is in fact on a heating pad in a small container with a thin flannel baby blanket. I crumpled it up a good bit so he'd have something touching him on all sides since I don't have a squirrel of a similar age to put with him for snuggling yet. The rest of my squirrels are 7-8 weeks and older (one of them has completely healed from a broken leg and is going to be releasable... yay!) I use tshirts too, but they don't fit in this particular container.

[elizalalala]

As an update, he had an almost golden poop this evening (after a string of darker brown ones.) They are pretty firm, too... the way they are supposed to be. The paler brown/gold poop had some darker brown marbling, but it looked a lot better than the previous ones he's had. I'm hoping it keeps getting better from there.

He really hates for me to help him excrete, he wiggles and curls his legs and tail up so that it gets in the way. Is that normal in a younger baby? My 3 week and up squirrels seemed to relax and enjoy pooping and peeing when I helped them.

I just picked up a new 3-4 week old baby (a female my daughter named Maple) to keep Mulberry company, although right now I'm only putting them together when they are sitting on the heating pad on my lap. She seems to be a "nurser" and I don't want to cause him any more problems than he already has, especially since his abdomen region is already so angry and bruised. It will be nice when he gets a bit older though for him to have a big sister (note my optimistic "when".) :)

[Secret Squirrel]

Hi elizalalala,
It's good new that Mulberry's poop is getting lighter. We all do the poop dance of joy when we see the proper poo color and texture!! It's the window into the lower GI tract!!! The only true way to see what the gut is doing.
It looks like he has good use of his back legs from the video. I was concerned about having a spine trauma. I agree with CQ about limiting his mobility till he heals...and your smart for getting a bunk buddy for him. Also smart for keeping him isolated for a while, but a stuffed animal may comfort him during the lonely times. Keep us posted on him. :peace

[elizalalala]

I'm concerned about this bunk buddy, though. I thought when I got her she seemed to have long fur for her size... her size is about 3-4 weeks. However, now that I look closer it looks like both her head and hind legs seem a little mature for her body size, she sits up unsteady and her upper incisors are already erupted (the lower one is pretty long.) She is also pretty bony in places. I think this is the squirrel my mentor was treating for parasites, so perhaps she is stunted. I'm going to call her tomorrow to talk to her about it some more, we had a somewhat abrupt passing of the torch in a store parking lot this evening and I didn't want to take her out at the time because the air was chilly. Most of my mentor and I's conversation revolved around Mulberry rather than Maple (new squirrel.) I think I may have a 5 week old squirrel who is just tiny on my hands. Maybe I'm wrong, I'm pretty inexperienced. But she doesn't look much like the last 3-4 week old I had, and she really seems disproportionate. Her milestones are for 5-6 week old squirrels on my papers. Maybe all squirrels vary a little the way humans do, though. I can't count how many times I've heard people worry over their baby not doing a "milestone" when they are supposed to, or bragging when they do something earlier than normal.

[rygel1hardt]

If she has her eyes open and can sit up she is probably older than five weeks. Stacey


QuUOTE=elizalalala]I'm concerned about this bunk buddy, though. I thought when I got her she seemed to have long fur for her size... her size is about 3-4 weeks. However, now that I look closer it looks like both her head and hind legs seem a little mature for her body size, she sits up unsteady and her upper incisors are already erupted (the lower one is pretty long.) She is also pretty bony in places. I think this is the squirrel my mentor was treating for parasites, so perhaps she is stunted. I'm going to call her tomorrow to talk to her about it some more, we had a somewhat abrupt passing of the torch in a store parking lot this evening and I didn't want to take her out at the time because the air was chilly. Most of my mentor and I's conversation revolved around Mulberry rather than Maple (new squirrel.) I think I may have a 5 week old squirrel who is just tiny on my hands. Maybe I'm wrong, I'm pretty inexperienced. But she doesn't look much like the last 3-4 week old I had, and she really seems disproportionate. Her milestones are for 5-6 week old squirrels on my papers. Maybe all squirrels vary a little the way humans do, though. I can't count how many times I've heard people worry over their baby not doing a "milestone" when they are supposed to, or bragging when they do something earlier than normal.[/QUOTE]

[elizalalala]

Wow... and does she ever have some dark, goopy diarrhea. Darn. I hope she gets better, too!

[elizalalala]

If she has her eyes open and can sit up she is probably older than five weeks. Stacey

She doesn't have her eyes open, but she does sit up unsteady and crawl very actively. I'm about to go post movies and photos of her in a non-emergency forum. I don't think she seems critical.

[msbc07]

I know this is old but how did it turn out? Did he live? I got a female about 2 weeks old with exactly the same problem. Blue bruising in belly. Stools are still dark but unfortunately she does have a small drop of red blood when she starts urinating. The blue in her belly seems to be slowly getting bigger. Just wondering if yours was able to recover?