Bump/lump on tail

[PBluejay2]

My squirrel Sassy seems to have a sort of bulb on the very end of his tail. It's not very large, but when I stroke his tail when petting him, it's noticeable. I don't remember the one other squirrel I had having a similar lump, and I would have noticed it because he liked to get massaged from the tip of his nose to the end of his tail. I assumed tails narrow down to a tip/point. Anyway, it's not a furball or anything, seems to be part of his spine/tail. Is this normal?

[squirrelfriend]

The tails do narrow as they get to the end. Squirrels do get bumps in the tail if they break or fracture it. is it bent at that point in the tail? If it is a break in the tail it would probably heal fine but I would still keep an eye on it. keep us posted.

[Gabe]

Or, it could be an old injury? Perhaps a bit of his tail was broken off at the end and this is scar tissue. Did you just get the squirrel? Have you had it and this is something new?

[Squerly]

What kind of squirrel is Sassy? My squirrel had several "boney" bumps on his tail too but he was a flying squirrel.

[PBluejay2]

Thanks for the responses. Sassy is an Eastern Grey. I received him when he was around ten or twelve weeks old, so I don't know if he was injured before that. The bump/lump doesn't seem to affect him, but, and this might be my imagination, when I stroke his tail down to the end and touch the bum he jerks his tail away rather quickly like it might be sensitive. I just wanted to confirm it wasn't a sign of disease or something I didn't know about.

[Gabe]

I had three squirrels this fall that had their tails caught off at various lenghts so that their owner could tell them apart. Yeah, I know, sick. But let me tell you, the ends of their tails, although scabbed and healing were extremely sensitive. There are alot of nerve endings in those tails.

[muffinsquirrel]

I hope the ex 'owner' has also had a few things cut off, so we will be able to tell him or her apart from real humans!

muffinsquirrel

[DubShack]

I once had a cat that had this. We never knew what it was, but she did jerk her tail when we pet her like that. We got her as a kitten at the animal shelter, but as far as we knew she had the defect since birth.