Injured squirrel/concussion?

[Rainbow3125]

My son brought home an adult male grey squirrel yesterday evening. He was very lethargic and shows signs of trauma to his face, but no where else on his body. I kept him in the bathtub with towels and blankets overnight hoping he would show some signs of improvement.

With the exception of getting out of the bathtub and "passing out" on the bathmat twice during the night, he shows very little sign of activity (he wakes up, wanders a foot or two at best and goes back to sleep).

It appears one of his front teeth is broken, there is some swelling around his mouth and nose, and a fine spray of blood comes from his nose when he sneezes.

About 1/2 hour ago, after reading forums, i got him to suck some sugar water off a peice of guaze wrapped around a small wooden dowel...alas I am out of q-tips at a bad time

That seemed to perk him up just long enough to take a few nibbles off an apple slice. Now he is sleeping again.

What else should I do for him to get him hydrated? we will be sending him back to the wild as soon as i am insured that the broken tooth does not impede him from feeding himself.

For right now, not knowing how he sustained his injury, I am concerned that he either has a cuncussion, or is dehydrated to a point that he is not at all active.

Also, how much sugar water should i give him before just offering plain water? I don't want to overdue the sugar.

[island rehabber]

This certainly sounds like a head trauma/concussion to me. This animal needs to be taken to a wildlife vet immediately if he is to have a chance....since you're in Florida there may be vets who will see him, as they're not illegal there. I would try ASAP to get him to a vet, or contact local rehabbers to get them to bring him to their wildife vet!

[Rainbow3125]

I will call the wildlife rescue people and see if they can pick him up as I dont have a car to take him anywhere. Several years ago a local rehabber picked up some baby possums, but it took a day to get them out here. Is there anything I can do until they come get him?

[island rehabber]

I will call the wildlife rescue people and see if they can pick him up as I dont have a car to take him anywhere. Several years ago a local rehabber picked up some baby possums, but it took a day to get them out here. Is there anything I can do until they come get him?

A warm, quiet, dark place to rest is the best you can do for him right now. I would try the rehabbers anyway, as they may be more responsive now. Best of luck with him...you and your son are very good people.

[Rainbow3125]

Thanks :) my sons grew up that way. Although my husband and I stopped breeding parrots when we became human parents, we did continue doing avian rehab for quite a while. So my sons now bring me anything injured, usualy toads, lizzards and birds.

He is curled up in the bathtub with lots of blankets and only a nightlight so he doesnt get disoriented and hurt himself in the dark.

Would any of the avian tricks for fast rehydration work? Specifically I found gatorade to be a godsend with my feathered friends, but i do not know if it is safe for squirrels. He is definately dehydrated as his skin does not fall back into place on a skin pinch test (got that one from working at a vet in college).

[Critter_Queen]

Pediatlyte is an appropriate rehydrating solution, do you have any of that? Gatorade will work in a pinch, but it's not the best because of all the sodium in it.

Lactated Ringer's solution from a vet is the very best, but pedialyte is second choice. Any way to get some of that??

Also, if he's injured he may have trouble staying warm on his own. Do you have a heating pad you can put on low (wrapped well enough that he won't touch the pad) in the tub under half of his blankets? Give him room to move off the heat if he wants, but still be in blankets.

I hope you can find a local rehabber or vet to help you out...

[susanw]

I don't know where you live in Florida, but if you are in the Orlando area I can give you the number of a rehabber. You also need to keep in mind that most rehabber's are busy taking care of the animals they have, before they can leave to pick up another animal. There is not alot of free time for them.

[Rainbow3125]

Farther south near the Palm Beach/Broward county line. My Avian vet has a vet in her office that deals with fuzzy wildlife :crazy :crazy.

Pedialyte is working wonders, the vets main concern now that he made it through 48 hours is getting him to start eating solids (not nuts, his top teeth are way to sensitive still and will probably need to be filed even, his lower teeth are ok)

When he heals up a bit more Broward County has a wildlife center that can reaclimate and reintroduce him into the wild :D My sons will be sorry to see him go, but they are both almost old enough to start volunteering at the wildlife center. Through this 1 injured little man, South Florida may soon gain a few junior rehabbers (there is always a bright side to everything)

:thankyou for all of your responses. This is a great online forum :Love_Icon

[island rehabber]

Raibow if he needs to take in solids but his teeth and mouth are sore, you could try making a thick formula out of very finely crushed rodent blocks (put them in a coffee grinder) and Esbilac puppy powder, mixed with warm water until it looks like oatmeal. It will give him some important nutrients and he'll probably like the taste, and it's soft. He might lap it from a dish if you offer it to him. Good luck with the little patient!

[Critter_Queen]

You could offer grapes, soft pears, kale, pumpkin seeds (try to stay away from sunflower seeds), plain or multi-grain cheerios (not a ton of them as they are fortified for humans), sugar snap peas...

I'm glad he made it through the night again...please keep us posted.

Also, you shouldn't feed him pedialyte only if you can help it. If he won't take solids, you need to start him on a liquid diet of some sort...slowing working the pedialyte out of the feedings. How much are you giving him, how often and with what utensil? If he's very large, he can get upwards of 15-20 cc per feeding. The best thing to use is a syringe with a nipple on the end, but in a pinch eyedroppers and bottles can be used. Do you have a way to get any powdered Esbilac? That would be a good liquid diet if he refuses solids. I could overnight some to you if there isn't anyone in your area that can bring you some.

[Liza]

HI- I don't know if this will be helpful, but this summer I was allowed the privlege of ministering to a severly injured adult grey.. He was zapped by a power line, and was burned as well as paralyzed. He only lived a few weeks, but did enjoy (?) a comfortable, safe end-of-life experience. His mouth was also badly injured (burned), so we had to come up with innovative ways to get nutrition into him. His favorite was babyfood broccoli/carrot (toddler texture...not totally smooth, but no solid chunks, either) mixed with a tiny bit of creamy peanut butter, and enough puppy formula to make it the consistancy of a smoothie. I put it in a small dish and he would lap it up like it was ambrosia!!! I also gave him scraped apple -sort of like raw applesauce- just scrape the surface of the apple with a spoon.. it is time consuming, but seemed to very soothing to him and it would perk up his appetite when offered as a "first course". If it were my call, I would try the smoothie method, and gradually make it more chunky (by adding soft or steamed veggies, gradually working back to raw) until you see he is able to manage the solid pieces. Something else I would offer is banana- since it is not a natural food for squirrels, it probably doesn't have a whole lot of nutrition for them, but it is smooshy enough to be manageable by a sore mouth, yet solid enough for him to hold onto..

We will be praying for this poor guy... and how cool that your kids want to get involved in rehabbing! Mine too! My younger boys (11 and 9) and my daughter 4, just love our muffers and are learning a deep respect and love for wildlife and conservation from the experience of raising and releasing them in a gentle, respectful manner. My son's love to watch Animal Cops on tv- and they say thats what they want to be when they grow up!

Liza, mom to 8 human kids and 3 squirrel kids currently at home:D

[Rainbow3125]

Right now he currently is lapping Pedialyte from a baby bulb syringe that he seems to have gotten quite used to. I offer it about once an hour, so i have not tracked exactly how much he is taking in at a time yet.

I was just coming back to these boards to see what good soft stuff I could give him as he seems uncomfortable even nibbling an apple. He has shunned cheerios entirely. I have pumkin seeds here from halloween, but he also seems disinterested in those.

So far from reading these boards I have asked my husband to get me the following on the way home from work:

Baby food: Squash and Carrots
Grapes
Sweet potatoes (I cook these first, right?)
Corn on the cob

I like the idea of a smoothie, it reminds me of the interesting mushy mixes i have made for many a wild injured bird (delete esbilac, add insects with most of them)

I will ask my husband to add esbilac to the list, i was initialy worried it might cause digestive upset in an adult, but will have it on hand if the veggies and fruit don't work out.

:jump I am sooo happy to see him getting active. He now refuses to stay in a dark place, and has some time to explore the living room until my kids get home from school.

If things keep going this well I think he can go to the pre-release program at the wildlife center by this time next week.

Any other suggestions on what foods to offer are greatly appreciated :D

[susanw]

So glad he is doing better! From my experience, most rehabber's could not keep taking care of all the animals without volunteers, so it's great to hear that some people are going to start doing it!:thumbsup

[Somebody's Mother]

you are so wonderful and so are your kids. thanks for caring for the furry one!:thumbsup

[rippie-n-lilgirlsmom]

Hi, the sweet potato should be raw but before the hard foods try the esbillac, he can live on that a while till he gets some strength back, it has everything in it he needs. Once you get the esbillac you might be able to stop the pedialite. The veggies will be hard to chew, I'd go soft for a while. You are so kind to help this little one. They are such sweet little creatures. We love pictures here if thats a possibility for you. :thumbsup :Welcome

[Gabe]

Sweet potatoes are good raw, you can use canned or cooked for variety. Oatmeal mixed with esbilac will work, you can mix that with the baby food to make it less wet and messy.