New baby in with maggots - please help

[mpetys]

Hi all,

My mother in law got a baby squirrel that she said a cat was playing with. My husband brought him home and I found that he has maggots all over his legs which look like they have old wounds.

I need to know what to do. Step by Step. I do have one tablet of Ivermectin that I bought from Henrys Pets.

Michele in Tampa

[Nancy in New York]

I am going to copy and paste information that I have gotten off the board instead of giving you links...hopefully that will be more helpful...

i've had a range of maggots come in. at the first stage, the eggs don't move. they can be picked off like mini pieces of rice, and are often found in clusters at the base of the fur, and usually on babies who are either bleeding or soiled themselves.

if someone comes in with stage 1 maggots, it's important that they do NOT get the maggots wet, because this really accelerates the hatching.

when they start to move, i call that hatched. not sure if they actually break loose, but they're moving, that's all that matters! the priority for stage 2 maggots is to clear the orifices- there may be fifty maggots on the squirrel's back, but the five in it's mouth are what matter first.

stage 3 maggots are rarely seen on a living squirrel. they're basically stage 2 maggots that have gotten a little bigger, which means they've already started eating. most common outcome for squirrels with stage 3? euthanasia.

the three stages are what my mother and i use to make clear how far the infestation has gone. not sure if other rehabbers use that terminology.

[Nancy in New York]

I'm still copying and pasting...

#14 09-30-2007, 09:24 AM
Gabe
Licensed Rehabber, Central New York Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Central New York
Posts: 2,470

Re: Maggots

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Couple more things about maggots, they are not on warm bodies, but on cold and dying bodies. These babies are critical and need a skilled rehabber or vet. More rehabbers deal with maggots than vets do, as vets generally treat pets and they don't have maggots as often as wildlife in distress does.

Second, maggots excrete an acid onto healthy skin. The skin becomes reddened in that area and begins to break down, as it breaks down the maggots are able to "feed" in that area, entering the skin.
There are obvious signs of maggots to a trained professional. It is often difficult to explain, one simple one is a wet ear, that indicates there may be maggots in the ear canal.

Maggots are treatable if caught in a timely manner. Even maggots in the rectum with lots of intense treatment can be stopped. The important thing is early detection.

[Nancy in New York]

More information...

#14 09-30-2007, 09:24 AM
Gabe
Licensed Rehabber, Central New York Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Central New York
Posts: 2,470

Re: Maggots

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Couple more things about maggots, they are not on warm bodies, but on cold and dying bodies. These babies are critical and need a skilled rehabber or vet. More rehabbers deal with maggots than vets do, as vets generally treat pets and they don't have maggots as often as wildlife in distress does.

Second, maggots excrete an acid onto healthy skin. The skin becomes reddened in that area and begins to break down, as it breaks down the maggots are able to "feed" in that area, entering the skin.
There are obvious signs of maggots to a trained professional. It is often difficult to explain, one simple one is a wet ear, that indicates there may be maggots in the ear canal.

Maggots are treatable if caught in a timely manner. Even maggots in the rectum with lots of intense treatment can be stopped. The important thing is early detection.

[alex39]

Well I had one with maggots there were stage 3 i think from what Ive read above. There was 4 of them in red flesh moving and feeding. At first I was trying to pick em up when I saw them and I caught one. Then I pressed where I thought they were and they just went out the wounds. But you need to pick it up quick because once on the fur they want to go back in the flesh. Well I'm no expert at all but that is how I removed the maggots so take it for what it is...

[Kristal]

The ordinary fly maggots that we get in the north are not so terrible. In fact, they have therapeutic benefits because they eat dead and infected tissue while leaving healthy tissue alone. I saw a documentary where doctors are using them in some hospitals, presumably in countries without access to a lot of pharmaceuticals or medical equipment... Apparently, clean maggots do the same job as antibiotics for external infections. They actually cultivate them in a sterile environment in the hospital for that very purpose. Disgusting but true.

Weird trivia aside, I guess you have botfly down there, which is just plain evil, imho. Probably a fellow southerner will tell you what to look for in case that is what it is.

[Nancy in New York]

This was in a post by IR...

CAPSTAR is excellent for killing internal maggots and can be given to the smallest critters -- ivermectin is good, too but Capstar is a miracle worker in this department!! Good luck and please keep us posted!!

This is Gabe's response...

I agree with IR, Capstar works great for maggots, internal and external.
Good Luck with the little guy.

CritterQueen

Also, using a syringe with a slip tip to suck the maggots out gently can help to clean them out.

Beware, maggots in the anal opening are a very bad sign.

Thundersquirrel

and just a hint.....

as soon as you think you've found all the maggots and eggs....

you haven't!

i like to use a q-tip to gently brush against the baby's fur. look everywhere! it's a tedious process, and usually the baby starts to fuss before the end, but maggots can be, and often are, deadly.

This from CritterQueen
First and foremost, you MUST get ALL the maggots out. Don't cover the wound(s) or slather it in ointment until you are SURE you got all the maggots and that can take a few days for them all to surface. I would recommend getting some Capstar from the vet. Not sure how you use it, I never got that far with little Sarah's wounds, but I hear it can work miracles for maggots and eggs.

[alex39]

oh and you need to "flush the wound" with some bexadin once you removed the maggots. Few times a day I think. If you don't have some I was told you can use peroxyde. My squirrel had maggots in the same place the legs near the butt ! Is he making click noise ? Those maggots were big and had a dark head.

[alex39]

This was in a post by IR...
CritterQueen
Also, using a syringe with a slip tip to suck the maggots out gently can help to clean them out.

Hey I wish I would have thought about that ! I hate them maggots !

[Kristal]

Here is a link about it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maggot_therapy#Mechanisms_of_action

Of course those are sterile maggots. In the wild they must carry all kinds of icky bacteria.

[cole]

first pick off the maggots and eggs you see by hand, plastic tweezers are useful.
then mix a very low concentration of hydrogen peroxide with water and bathe the affected area.
i have had this problem with babies and treated it using this method very sucessfully :)

[island rehabber]

Michele I will PM you what I can find about the ivermectin dosage.

[mpetys]

Thank you all. I took off so many that we uncovered quite a few wounds. Probably from a cat. Baby was getting so stressed from us working on him, that I re-heated his rice buddy and held him on my chest on top of rice buddy. Fed him a bit. I now have him in his box with rice buddy on top of a heating pad. I just had to go take a shower!!!!

I will get him in a minute to try to feed some fluids first and then check him over again to see if there are any more maggots. I am going to totally change his begging also. I plan on taking him to my vet in the morning to get antibiotics and get his leg looked at. Baby seemed to drag the leg.

Wounds don't look fresh, maybe days old. Will find out more at vet. I hope he makes it through the night.

Oh, also, since I didn't have any Capstar on hand (will stock up tomorrow!), a rehabber recommended a drop of Revolution so that is what I did.

Thanks for all your help.

Michele in Tampa

[mpetys]

I am rehydrating this baby with fluids. He just took about 1.5 cc's. I will try again in a bit. Baby seems to find comfort with his rice buddy. When I take him out to give fluids, he gets very anxious until I take out a piece of warmed fleece to wrap him in. I re-heat his rice buddy as needed and he wants to climb on top of it to sleep.

I am praying he makes it until I can get him to the vet in the morning. He seems like a little fighter. He was taking his fluids just drop by drop. Then I asked him to please help me help him get better. He picked himself up and held his head up and took more fluid. Not just me forcing him, but he held onto the nipple and was actively trying to drink.

Michele in Tampa

[Kristal]

I am crossing fingers that this little one makes it.

[mpetys]

Well, thought I would give an update. Baby is hanging in there. Taking small amounts of fluid at a time. I let Baby rest in between fluids. So much cleaning to do. I just took him out to re-evaluate and see that the wounds are more than I thought. Quite a few puncture wounds; I mean pretty good sized holes. When I took him out, I saw maggots all over his bottom and legs. They were pouring out of two of the wounds. I was killing them as fast as I could catch them. You know, I had just bought some tweezers for when my other baby had botflies. Wouldn't you know it, I couldn't find them.

A suggestion to myself and to others who think there is even the possibility of someone bringing a baby squirrel to you: get a kit ready. I should have had the tweezers ready. I have read about Capstar: I should have already purchased it. I have 3 dogs and 7 cats. I know I have a flea comb or two around. I can't find them. That is an essential in a squirrel kit. I am sure there are more things. I mean, I was off to a good start, I do have plenty of formula, syringes and nipples.

Anyhow, back to this sweetheart. I removed as much as I could of the maggots, flushing out the wounds with hydrogen peroxide which would bring the maggots to the surface. Baby was very brave. Took fluids in between maggot killing. Oh, also peed!

Baby also cried when I was working around her legs. I could tell she was getting stressed so I decided to dry her up and let her get some rest. It was hard putting her back in her box, knowing that there was still work to be done. Honestly, I thought she might die from the stress.

I think my vet opens at 8am so I will be calling at 8am. They are only three miles away so hopefully, I will be there at 8:05am.

This baby just doesn't know how much he is loved. I hate maggots and here I am killing them with my bare hands. Of course, I apologized to Baby for the awful foul language I was using. Yes, I cursed each one as I squooshed it.

Hopefully, I will have good news later.

Michele in Tampa

[Jackie in Tampa]

sounds like he is a fighter...:Love_Icon

i have capstar and ABs.:grouphug
I am here if I can help.

[CritterMom]

Just an FYI - the Revolution is just as good as the Capstar, and that is the reason you are seeing them pour out of the wounds - the Revolution. It works REALLY fast.

Add something else to your emergency kit - a bottle of Bachs Rescue Remedy. Spray or rub a little on bare skin with good vascular activity - ears and paw pads, and a drop on the gums is the fastest. It will cool down a LOT of the stress...

Good luck this morning.

[Nancy in New York]

Oh yes, good luck with this little baby...and thank you for all that you are doing to help him...:Love_Icon

[Wonkawillie]

Wow!!!!! It sounds like the revolution is working! But remember, baby needs some formula soon for strength to fight this mess. I was happy to hear that he grabbed on for a drink!
UGGGGGGGG! Maggots are so gross.

[mpetys]

Just an FYI - the Revolution is just as good as the Capstar, and that is the reason you are seeing them pour out of the wounds - the Revolution. It works REALLY fast.

Add something else to your emergency kit - a bottle of Bachs Rescue Remedy. Spray or rub a little on bare skin with good vascular activity - ears and paw pads, and a drop on the gums is the fastest. It will cool down a LOT of the stress...

Good luck this morning.

Darn it! I have this on hand, just didn't think about it. Thanks for the reminder. I am going to get a container of some sort and create my squirrel rescue kit. Everything in its place, there in the container! Thanks again!

Michele in Tampa

[mpetys]

Just got back from vet. They didn't open until 9am not 8am. So I had an extra hour to wait til I could call. I called at 9am and they took me in at 9:30am. The vet gave him a Convenia injection and fluids. He said I did a pretty good job cleaning the maggots up. There were still a few that I could see up in a couple of the wounds so the vet injected those with silvadene. He said that the right leg, which the baby just drags, doesn't appear to be broken. There are two wounds on that leg so he thinks it is due to the swelling and infection. He said to let him know how the leg is doing by Monday and he may decide to do an x-ray.

My instructions are to keep the wounds clean and use the silvadene as needed to flush out those holes that had maggots in them. Another Convenia injection in two weeks. He did mention that there was a possibility that xrays may show damage that would require the leg to be amputated but we don't know that right now.

I was prepared for the worst. It looks like my little Davey just might make it after all. Oh, I named him Davey after David in David and Goliath. I just felt that this little guy had what seemed like a Goliath amount of problems but I felt like he could overcome them.

I will try to get some pictures later today. For now, I am letting Davey sleep with a refreshed rice buddy in his nice warm box on his nice warm heating pad. Doc said I could wait to give fluids for about 6 hours since he got the sub-q fluids. I will check him every 2 hours and see if he will take any formula. Right now he is getting some nice uninterrupted sleep.

Thank you all for the good wishes and thoughts and prayers.

Michele

[Nancy in New York]

Awe...what a little trooper you have there. It breaks your heart to know that he is going through so much...he couldn't be in better hands. Thank you for doing everything possible for this little one...amazing!:grouphug

[mpetys]

He is hanging in there. He took a little formula earlier. Very little. He tried though. I think I might thin it out a bit see if that helps. He has moved around quite a bit in his box. I place him next to rice buddy on the heating pad side and when I go check couple of hours later, he has moved off the rice buddy and is more in the middle. I don't think it was so much that he was getting too warm as it was that the rice buddy was cooling off. Since the rice buddy is on the heating pad side, I just have to turn the rice buddy over and the other side is nice and toasty. I put him back and he goes to sleep.

I can't help but keep checking on him just to make sure he is still breathing! When I lift his covers and see his abdomen rising up and down, it is such a relief.

My next trip in will be to offer fluids. Then the next hour I think I will try the diluted formula.

Michele in Tampa

[Nancy in New York]

How old did you say this little one is? Glad that he is still hanging in there...you are a good squirrel mama Michele...:Love_Icon

[skunkangel]

Capstar can be used TOPICALLY after it is crushed with water, use a lavage syringe to flush any wounds or hard to reach areas. Dosage doesn't matter when using it topically.

[mpetys]

How old did you say this little one is? Glad that he is still hanging in there...you are a good squirrel mama Michele...:Love_Icon

Hi Nancy,

I am calling it 5 weeks old as his eyes are fully open. He weighs 89 grams. I thought he looked tiny but in looking at my records for the other three that I have, the bigger one weighed 68 grams at 5 weeks. The next one weighed 83 grams when she was 5 weeks old and the baby boy who was so sickly with diarrhea (at three weeks) weighed 74 grams by the time he was 5 weeks old.

So maybe this little one is closer to 6 weeks. who knows?

Thanks Nancy for all your help last night. I really appreciate it.

Michele in Tampa

[Nancy in New York]

Hi Nancy,

I am calling it 5 weeks old as his eyes are fully open. He weighs 89 grams. I thought he looked tiny but in looking at my records for the other three that I have, the bigger one weighed 68 grams at 5 weeks. The next one weighed 83 grams when she was 5 weeks old and the baby boy who was so sickly with diarrhea (at three weeks) weighed 74 grams by the time he was 5 weeks old.

So maybe this little one is closer to 6 weeks. who knows?

Thanks Nancy for all your help last night. I really appreciate it.

Michele in Tampa

Awe precious little baby...Michele, I have never dealt with maggots. All I did was look up what had been done in the past...YOU did all the work sweetie...:bowdown :bowdown But thank you so much for mentioning it...my pleasure...:Love_Icon :Love_Icon

[mpetys]

Well, I have some good news and some bad. Good news is that Davey is getting an appetite. He took 2.5 cc of formula earlier and just took 2.5cc's of fluid.

Bad news is that as I was attempting to stimulate Davey to potty, his rectum opened up and at first I thought he was going to have a bowel movement; but unfortunately, what I saw was so disheartening. His rectum is full of maggots. They weren't evident before. I just spent 45 minutes with Davey holding him while I watched and waited for the maggots to take turns venturing out of the rectum whereby I would snatch and smash them. But there are so many more! And Davy was getting stressed so I put him back to bed for right now while I re-group. Here are my questions:

He had one drop of Revolution yesterday. At the vet today, I found that that is what he would have recommended. My question is do I just wait to see if it finished the job and kills these other maggots or can I give another drop right now? Does anyone have any information on that?

At the vet today, there were still maggots in two of the deep hole wounds. They flushed it/ filled it with silvadene. Vet said the silvadene would kill the maggots. Can silvadene be put up the rectum, just a small amount at the entrance perhaps?

I am kicking myself for not going out to buy a pair of tweezers today. I know I have several here at the house but cannot find any.

Okay, now the other possible bad news is I am concerned about his teeth. When I feed him, he does not suckle which I didn't expect him to. I basically put the tip of the nipple in his mouth with his mouth facing downward. He has to actually take in the fluid otherwise it just falls back out his mouth. I certainly don't want to risk aspirating this baby. Well, this evening, I was holding him with my fingers under his chin. I kept feeling this grinding and then was even hearing this sound. I checked his teeth and it looks to me like his bottom teeth may be too long. I will try to get good pictures tomorrow. Of course, this is the least of my worries, I am more concerned about the *&)*#*%$# maggots in his rectum.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Michele in Tampa

[island rehabber]

Michele did you get the Capstar by any chance? You could use it to get the rest of those f**krs in his poor body. It's safe to give every day.

[mpetys]

No, I did not get any Capstar. After I went to the vet and found that he recommended Revolution, I left it at that. That is, I assumed / hoped that this would do it.

I just looked online and it seems that Petco carries Capstar. I could get some tomorrow. Does that look like my best route. I know when I spoke to Jackie the other night, she went into detail about the dosage. I wrote it down but I didn't write down if it was oral or topical. I am thinking oral.

Thanks for your help.

Michele in Tampa

[CritterMom]

Oral.

[Jackie in Tampa]

No, I did not get any Capstar. After I went to the vet and found that he recommended Revolution, I left it at that. That is, I assumed / hoped that this would do it.

I just looked online and it seems that Petco carries Capstar. I could get some tomorrow. Does that look like my best route. I know when I spoke to Jackie the other night, she went into detail about the dosage. I wrote it down but I didn't write down if it was oral or topical. I am thinking oral.

Thanks for your help.

Michele in Tampa
yes oral on the Capstar...call me, keep trying til I pick up..
I have all here M...send Gene, or maybe I can meet half way:thumbsup
Keep that little butt clean, that's all...no meds needed on his bumm.

[jacey]

I had 3 babies come in a month ago with maggots so bad that one of their eyes was gone totally but by quickly giving capstar and ivermectin orally they all are fine today. One had hundreds of maggots in her eye and ears alone.I do not know about revolution.

[virgo062]

I just picked up this thread:grouphug Hang in their davy:grouphug

[island rehabber]

jacey -- that's good testimony to the fact that Capstar can be given even when other meds have been already administered. Apparently it is a very safe drug.

[Jackie in Tampa]

I am anti med jackie and after researching the heck outta Capstar...it is safe no matter what!
and it saves lives...
I too have used it several times recently...and a flea comb is da bomb too!:thumbsup
How's Davy doing? how's mpety doing?

[Skul]

If you have Revolution available.
If it is for the five to ten pound range, go ahead and use at least half a tube.
One drop is probably not going to do the job.
We have dosed this way for several of the very young squirrels that come our way.

[mpetys]

Davey update (10/02) - First off, thanks for all the new replies. I don't think I mentioned in my original posting but I have been sick for the last 2 - 3 weeks. Flu/pneumonia/bronchitis - who knows. I had just finished a three day Z-pak antibiotics. When my mother in law called, I did not feel well enough to go with my husband to pick him up. She is about 30 - 45 minutes away. I knew that time was important but I just couldn't go. Anyhow, Davey has given me purpose but I think I am missing those long naps you take when you are feeling sick. So, that is my excuse for not updating yesterday!

I was going to go to Petco to see if they carry the Capstar but in the morning, I did not see any maggots at all. The rectum had closed up. Davey was eating more at each feeding. I was still giving him fluids in between as he seemed to take that more readily and more of it. At 2pm, he ate 3.5 cc's of formula. Right before he ate, I had changed all his bedding, inspecting for maggots or poop. Found no maggots but did find a piece of tiny dark poop. During his 2pm feeding, there was a tiny bit of runny poo in my hand. YEAH!! I didn't make it to Petco. It was all I could do to take care of Davey and the others. I just had to nap in between. I am offering Davy formula or fluids every two hours.

Generally, when he is done eating, he tries to pull away to go to another spot. This is difficult if I am holding him, so I will put a big piece of fleece on my chest, lean back and put him there. He goes potty. Well, he pees. No poop. But he had just dribble a bit of runny poo on me. With stimulation no poop, just indignation. This Davey is so brave. He has so much dignity. When he is done eating, he clamps his lips together and looks at me as if to say, "Please, I am done." When he crawls away to potty, he puts his head down and really concentrates. When he crawls away when done and I pick him up to stimulate, he gives me this look like, "Hey nice lady. I appreciate all you are doing for me, but please, I can still do that for myself!"

At this point, Davey is exhausted and just wants to curl up and sleep. I put him back in his box with his rice buddy and cover him up and he is sleeping.

At 10pm, after feeding, I was cleaning Davey and was going to put in the silvadene in the wounds as directed by the vet. Wounds look good and clean; however, when I put the silvadene in, basically inside the wound, covering wound up; maggots came to the opening, for air I guess. Much bigger now. I had found my tweezers earlier in the day so I got them out and went to work. I pulled out about 20 of those *&^*&^'s. That was a lot considering how big they were. Davey was so cooperative. A couple of times he got upset and I tried to soothe him. I put silvadene on each of the three major deep wounds, just enough to cover and draw out the *&&^(*&^^ maggots and then watched and waited until I didn't see anymore.

Davey was exhausted and stressed so I put him to bed.

Checked throughout the night with each feeding and saw no more maggots. Silvadene was still in/on wounds.

Will definitely check on the Capstar at local pet stores tomorrow. If they don't have it . . . JACKIE!!! :jump


Michele in Tampa

[Nancy in New York]

You are a saint. Not feeling well and doing so much for little Davey...what dedication you have for this little fellow....I sure am sending lots of prayers your way for a full recovery. He is such a fighter and you are giving him every opportunity...Poor little baby doll, but he couldn't be in better hands...:Love_Icon :grouphug :Love_Icon

[mpetys]

Hi all - ok just catching up with updates. This morning when I got him out of his box at 6am (I slept through his 4:30 feeding/check!), he was doing this tic where he had a slight jerk to his head. This only lasted for about 8 - 10 seconds and then he stopped. By that time, I had his formula to his mouth and he stopped the jerking to drink. The jerking was not major, just slight. He took 2.5cc's of formula. I used the normal mix of formula (2:1) and I put 4 cc's of that in a cup and then thinned it with 1 cc of water. That is what Davey likes!

As usual, when Davey is done, he clamps his lips shut and tries to move away. When feeding him, I hold him in a piece of fleece so when he tries to move away, he really squirms. I spread out a bigger piece of fleece on my chest so I could let him move around and he found a spot and concentrated to potty. When he moved away, I found a tiny yellow stain and a piece of yellow poo! Yeah Davey. (picture attached) I cleaned him up. He did not pee but that area was damp so I think he had just peed. When he potties, he does not lift his back end up so if he pees, it dribbles on himself. Oh there were several pieces of small dark poo in his box so that happened during the night.

Davey was exhausted. When he pulls himself away from where he pottied, he just wants to curl up and cover his eyes and sleep. He gives me this look like, "ok nice lady, you can take over." I turn his rice buddy over where it has been kept warm by the heating pad, put Davey on it and cover him up and he sleeps. Like an angel I must say.

Right leg is still dangling. I have to be careful when I bundle him in a piece of fleece to hold him that the leg is not in an awkward position.

Lets see. Davey has been doing some teeth grinding. I understand that could be from pain. I noticed that he does it when at the end of feeding, before he clamps his lips shut. Makes me think of when MonkeyButt would grind his teeth, not from pain but from being pissed of at me!! So hopefully, Davey is just trying to tell me quit shoving that darn syringe in my mouth - I am done.

8:30 feeding went great. No sign of maggots. I am going to make a shopping list for humans and squirrels and see if I can find that Capstar.

Thank you all for your help, suggestions, prayers, good wishes. I still have to get pictures of Davey. I did take one, the other day. I don't remember if I had posted it or not but will post it here. I will get more today. I still need to document all his wounds.

Oh, one more thing. I took all the squirrels out on the front porch yesterday. I had the three babies (Koala, Panda and Grizzley) in their cage, I took Davey out in his box and MonkeyButt was running around. I did this for one reason is that I needed to clean the desk where the three babies cage and Davey's box is kept. The three babies are so messy, they throw so much pieces of blocks, sugar snap pea pieces etc. out of their cage. Oh and poop too. I don't think they throw the poop so much as when they get to running and playing, it just goes flying! Anyhow, I was holding Davey, feeding him, letting him feel the warmth of the sun on him and MonkeyButt stretches down from my shoulder to see the baby. Now I didn't want him near him or touching him so I ran him off. He went to see the other three. I just wanted to comment on how loving MonkeyButt has been with new babies that have come into my home. He just loves to sit on my shoulder or on top of their cage to watch them. They used to growl at him but they are getting used to his presence. And Davey, when Davey is in his box which is a plastic tote with holes drilled in lid and near the top; if Davey is next to the side of the box which is kinda frosted, MonkeyButt will walk over there and just look at him. I guess I feel that I have spent so much time with Davey, that I just wanted to brag about MonkeyButt.

Michele in Tampa

[mpetys]

I had 3 babies come in a month ago with maggots so bad that one of their eyes was gone totally but by quickly giving capstar and ivermectin orally they all are fine today. One had hundreds of maggots in her eye and ears alone.I do not know about revolution.

Oh wow. I never saw any in ears, eyes or mouth. Do you have a thread on these three babies? If so, let me know, I would love to follow it. I forget that not everyone is into squirrels and therefore squirrel problems.

I am trying to read everything I can especially others that have cared for squirrels in this situation. I found myself going into full detail about Davey's problems (MAGGOTS) with my sister an a friend. Later I thought, that they may not have wanted that much detail!

Michele in Tampa

[Kristal]

YAY! *claps happily* I am so glad that the little one is pulling through. You are a saint, Michelle :)

[Mrs Skul]

:wave123 Hi Michele
That Poor Poor Baby! He might still have some live maggots in side him. :eek:
Have you given the cap star yet? I have been reading hit and miss. Sorry if that has been mention.:shakehead
Did you put more revolution on him? :thinking Early this morning you had put 1 drop on him. That is not enough to kill them all! :nono
I just put the whole tub of 5 to 10 LB on a baby, I got in last night with a broken pelvis!
If he keeps grinding his teeth, or ticking please treat again for the maggots.
:thumbsup You are doing a wonderful job with him. He is so lucky to have found you.:thumbsup
Good luck with this little love bug. :grouphug

[mpetys]

Ok update on Davey and wound pictures. Not the greatest pictures but best I could get. Davey has done well today. Eating 3cc's at a time. I thought he was done trying to potty and started taking pictures. Oooops! Caught him with a soft poop.

When Davey is done eating, he insists on crawling by himself to a new spot on his fleece to potty. He is a very independent little guy. His right leg just drags behind him. When done, he just wants to sleep.

Here is first photo. I don't know how to put captions under the photos so I will attach a couple per post so I can tell what the photo is without being confusing with so many photos.

The first is a picture of Davey. This one shows his face. What a darling. The second one shows the hole above his tail. To the lower right is a hole beside the base of his tail. The white stuff is silvadene.

Michele in Tampa

[mpetys]

Ok, the first picture is the hole beside the base of the tail. The second picture is a scrape on his head.

Michele in Tampa

[mpetys]

Ok the first picture is a hole in his right leg. The second photo shows the two wounds if you look close enough you can see them both.

Michele in Tampa

[mpetys]

Ok last two pictures. The first one I was taking and Davey was going potty! The moisture is from the silvadene that had been in him and seeped out. Constantly having to clean seepage. The second picture is an area behind his right ear that has a slight scrape. I wonder if he fell from a tree first before the cat attack?

Michele in Tampa

[mpetys]

:wave123 Hi Michele
That Poor Poor Baby! He might still have some live maggots in side him. :eek:
Have you given the cap star yet? I have been reading hit and miss. Sorry if that has been mention.:shakehead
Did you put more revolution on him? :thinking Early this morning you had put 1 drop on him. That is not enough to kill them all! :nono
I just put the whole tub of 5 to 10 LB on a baby, I got in last night with a broken pelvis!
If he keeps grinding his teeth, or ticking please treat again for the maggots.
:thumbsup You are doing a wonderful job with him. He is so lucky to have found you.:thumbsup
Good luck with this little love bug. :grouphug

Hi. I haven't seen any maggots today but I did go to Petco to get some Capstar. Just so everyone knows, I paid $34.99 for it. I forgot to print out the page from their website. It is on sale for $27.97 if you buy it online, but they will match the price IF you bring in a printout from their website. I didn't have time to go home and make a printout to bring back and am still slightly irritated that they couldn't look it up on their computer as a customer service. But they had the Capstar so that is what counts. I had called our emergency vet clinic the other day and they did not carry it. I found out we have another emergency clinic and they do carry it and sell it for $25.00 per pill! Yikes! I gave Davey 1/8 of the tablet and plan on administering another 1/8 tablet tomorrow just to make sure we get them all.

I do have a question for everyone though. When this capstar starts killing them, will that cause them to run out of the wounds on their own. Or do they die inside the squirrel? If they die inside, how do we get them out or know that we have gotten them all out?

Oh my goodness, a broken pelvis! Take care of yourself; or better yet, let someone else take care of you! I have no idea what is involved with recovery from a broken pelvis but I hope you have a smooth recovery with no complications!

Michele in Tampa

[Kristal]

Ok last two pictures. The first one I was taking and Davey was going potty! The moisture is from the silvadene that had been in him and seeped out. Constantly having to clean seepage. The second picture is an area behind his right ear that has a slight scrape. I wonder if he fell from a tree first before the cat attack?

Michele in Tampa

That looks like his tail in the middle of the second photo. Do you mean that the silvadene is seeping out from inside his anus/intestine?

[Kristal]

You mentioned that you were thinking of administering silvadine internally. Just in case that is what happened, I did a quick search. It is not safe to ingest, and if one does ingest it by accident, the manufacturer advises that they go to emergency services immediately.

Here is a brief article on a case study of a person who managed to ingest a toxic amount of silver by using the cream topically, which is to say on the skin as is directed by the manufacturer. One does absorb through the skin, too, but not as quickly as through the digestive system. So that is how this person got so sick with silver toxicity:

http://dermatology.cdlib.org/144/ped_derm/arygyria/browning.html

Kind of scary stuff. Anything that goes into the intestine is digested into the body just as if it were swallowed, but you can multiply that by 5 or so in the case of intoxicants or poisons since anything put right into the colon is not going to get processed by the liver and kidneys which normally filter out toxic materials... insofar as they are able to do so.

So... just be careful about that. It is possible to kill with kindness, too. Please don't use the silvadine internally on this poor little guy :(

[Jackie in Tampa]

could have sworn we discussed the possibility of maggots dying internally...and ABs being needed...
didn't we?
of course i will recommend baytril, i may even use smz-tmp for this...so either ...i have both M if you need some!
go davy go!:Love_Icon
:bowdown thanks michelle...i just knew you were awesome!

[mpetys]

That looks like his tail in the middle of the second photo. Do you mean that the silvadene is seeping out from inside his anus/intestine?

Hi Kristal,

Yes, that is his tail in the middle of the second photo. The photo was taken with him laying on his back. That was actual him pooping. I had just fed him. The Silvadene is seeping out of the wound on his back, besides his tail and his leg wounds. I imagine with him laying on his tummy when it seeps out, it is all running downward.

When I found the maggots in his rectum, all I could think of was getting them out right away, at least as much as I could. I knew that my vet had said that the silvadene would kill the maggots in the wounds that he treated earlier that day. I posted here on the board for advice and I did a search and found instances where silvadene was used in the rectum on other animals. I also contacted a licensed wildlife rehabilitator who said that I could put silvadene in the rectum.

So, while I now realize that I could have just used vaseline to cover the rectum opening to force the maggots to surface, I did use the Silvadene; not up inside his rectum but I did put a little amount to cover the opening which forced the maggots to poke their heads out so I could grab them. I would then move the silvadene around to cover the opening again to force them to reveal themselves.

At the time, I wasn't using the silvadene as a medication so much as something to cover the opening of the rectum. His rectum was, however, wide open so I know some of the silvadene went inside. On his other wounds, my intention was to inject the silvadene up into the wound openings.

I did call my vet today to tell them what I did and to ask if that was okay. I also asked if silvadene could be administered internally in the rectum. I was assured that this would have been okay as well.

I appreciate everyone's advice, suggestions and questions. :thankyou

Michele in Tampa

[mpetys]

could have sworn we discussed the possibility of maggots dying internally...and ABs being needed...
didn't we?
of course i will recommend baytril, i may even use smz-tmp for this...so either ...i have both M if you need some!
go davy go!:Love_Icon
:bowdown thanks michelle...i just knew you were awesome!

Jackie! I am sure we discussed that! :D I was asking lots of questions and you were giving me lots of information; I don't think I retained most of it and I was taking notes. Davey did get antibiotics in the form of Convenia. This, apparently, is my vets preferred antibiotic as he used this on Koala when she had the botflies! One thing the vet said that he liked about it was that it was good for 2 weeks; no daily dosing.

I appreciate your standing offer of meds and help if needed. I think, for me, right now, as I am faced with a new squirrel situation (bot flies, cat wounds, maggots), my first instinct is to get to the vet as I have no first hand knowledge or experience. But now I do!! I am gaining confidence in caring for these babies with "situations". I know in the future that I won't need to go to the vet for botflies for example unless it is horribly bad. I also know that I will not always be able to afford to pay for vet care for wild squirrels in the future. I appreciate the guidance you and others are giving me. I am amazed that I am getting such a great "free" education here!

Michele in Tampa

[lilidukes]

Hi Michelle, I would just like to say what a fabulous job your doing with Davey. As gruesome as this must be for you I hope that if I ever have to face a challenge like this I can handle it as well as you have.:thumbsup I have started classes to be able to get babies come spring. All my prior babies have found me and I have a 15 month old grey female who chose to stay with me. Your experience with Davey has been very educational for me. Maybe you could after this all settles down give us a list of essential items for dealing with maggots. I myself would rather have the items and not need them. I could feel your frustration over the tweezers. My house is like that too. I'm thinking a kit put up for this would be the thing to do.

:grouphug for Davey. Wishing you both the very best. :grouphug

[mpetys]

Hi Michelle, I would just like to say what a fabulous job your doing with Davey. As gruesome as this must be for you I hope that if I ever have to face a challenge like this I can handle it as well as you have.:thumbsup I have started classes to be able to get babies come spring. All my prior babies have found me and I have a 15 month old grey female who chose to stay with me. Your experience with Davey has been very educational for me. Maybe you could after this all settles down give us a list of essential items for dealing with maggots. I myself would rather have the items and not need them. I could feel your frustration over the tweezers. My house is like that too. I'm thinking a kit put up for this would be the thing to do.

:grouphug for Davey. Wishing you both the very best. :grouphug

oh, you are so right about the frustration over tweezers. Now get this. I don't have regular tweezers (eyebrow); I'm a kinda low maintenance kinda gal. Don't use them. I have embroidery tweezers though. I have several pair. But back in August when I got my other three babies and one of them had botflies, I couldn't find them then either. I went and bought three different pair from Joanne's Fabrics. Some have more of a flat (grabbing) area to them; some have more of a bend or angle to them. I also bought a pair of pointy eyebrow tweezers at the grocery store. That was just over a month ago and those three were the ones that I was looking for. Luckily I found that one pair of unopened embroidery tweezers.

My husband just mentioned to me last night that I need to get a little plastic tote to put all this stuff in. I suggest that even if you have tweezers, vaseline, q-tips or whatever for yourself, that you actually have a separate one for the squirrels. Had I had my little squirrel kit, then I would have seen the vaseline and wouldn't have stressed so much over whether I could use the silvadene in the rectum or not; I would have just used the vaseline.

I like your suggestion of a kind of follow up when Davey pulls through and is a normal, healthy squirrel. A list of must haves; a list of what I learned that I wish I knew going into it kinda thing. That would be a good idea for everyone who posts about different issues with their squirrels.

Do you have a thread about your 15 month old female? If so, let me know. I have an 8 month old male and love to read about others who have kept squirrels. You learn so much about what to expect.

Thanks for the good wishes. What kind of classes are you taking? Is it to become a licensed rehabber yourself or to work under one? Sounds fascinating!

Michele in Tampa

[Kristal]

Well, it is interesting that it is not considered safe for people to ingest, and yet it is for animals?:thinking Well, animals cannot sue, so I guess we have lower standards for them. Still, if your vet says that it is fine to do it over the short term, I am sure it is. Fantastic job on keeping Davey with us for so long. I am amazed, but then animals can be so surprising like that. My main worry has been taxing the little guys system with all the bacteria he must be fighting. But every day he lives his chances get better and better. Nice job, Mpetys :D:Love_Icon :Love_Icon

[mpetys]

Thought I would post a Davey update. I had a nice post all entered in after his 2am feeding but unfortunately, I was on the internet on my cell phone and must have hit a wrong key and "poof" it all disappeared. Gave up. So hear goes.

Davey is still with us and getting stronger I believe. He sucks on the nipple now, using his left paw to hold it there! He is up to 4 to 5 cc's at feeding time. Sometimes, he will just take 2.5 to 3 cc's. But let's see, the last four feedings he took 4, 5, 4, and then this morning at 6:30 am he just took 4 cc's!

Davey is more alert during feedings. When he is done though, he will try to squirm and pull away from his fleece "burrito". He wants to go potty. He is very independent.

Sunday morning, I was cleaning his bottom where he had seepage from the wounds. It had covered his little rectum opening; it wasn't hard but rubbery. Cleaned up easily with warm water but as I pulled it away, I found poop on the other side waiting to come out. That is, he had pooped during the night but it couldn't come out. So, I am trying to make an effort to check him in between feedings to wipe his bottom. It was the same this morning.

Just a side note. I have found with my other three babies and with Davey, that I like to use little pieces of fleece fabric dipped in hot water to use to stimulate them to potty and for cleaning. I say hot water cause it cools quickly to warm. When I used warm water, it cooled quickly to cold! Anyhow, it is so soft and smooth and I just throw them in the was with the rest of their fleece blankets to wash.

I have realized that Davey seems to have better use of his left front arm. That is the one that he uses to "hold" the nipple. His right arm sometimes has a jerky movement and on the occasion that he has tried to use it with the syringe/nipple, the fingers are not opening up. Is this a sign of possible injury to that paw/arm?

He is still dragging the back leg. I will try to get video today. If the leg is set in a normal position, then when he moves forward, it moves too. But it usually ends up stretched out behind him dragging. I am holding off on vet doing any x-rays right now. I have heard so much about how they have this ability to heal from leg injuries, even breaks that I am holding out hope for Davey to get use of his leg. Also, it was brought to my attention, concern about having him under anesthesia in his weakend condition. So we wait and watch and hope and pray.

When I am feeding Davey, I wrap him in a small piece of fleece to help keep him still. Kinda looks like an ice cream cone with the fleece being the cone and his head and arms being the ice cream. I have to make sure that the bad leg is in a good position. He lets me know if it is not so I imagine there must be some pain. The most important thing was to make sure he felt supported. He looks so darned cute. I love feeding him as he looks at me wondering, I am sure, "who are you" as he slowly is learning to put his trust in me.

He hears my other three playing and sometimes I will hold him up to their cage just so he sees them. He seems to enjoy looking at them. They all come to where he is and look at him the way a 2 year old toddler will see a baby in a stroller at the mall and get excited and point and exclaim, "Baby!"

I plan on giving him a sponge bath today. Warm towels and clean one area at a time. Will use flea comb to help with any seepage on fur.

Well I guess that is all we have right now. Up until this point, I was afraid I might lose him; I was even considering that losing him was a possibility. Now, I feel we have turned a corner and I don't have that fear of losing him. Now I just worry about his leg.

Davey and I thank everyone for their help, prayers and best wishes. We feel it!

Michele in Tampa

[Kristal]

CM CM CM CM CM CM

[mpetys]

Davey ate 4cc's at his 10 am feeding. He ate about 3.5 cc's and let me know he wanted to go potty. I spread a piece of fleece and he found a spot and when he was done, I wrapped him up and asked him to pretty please, let's make it 4 cc's and he did. He finished the fourth one and then his eyelids were getting droopy. Didn't even try for more. Put him in his box and he went to sleep.

Hubby thinks I am nuts for taking pictures of poop (and pee) but I am so encouraged by Davey. Here is a pic of his latest efforts!

Also, the little stinker gives me a little warning growl when I attempt to clean his face and paws after eating. Such a little thing, so brave!

Oh, I just noticed the hair on his fleece! It is probably dog hair or cat hair off of me! I usually use Bounce in the dryer to knock cat and dog hair off clothes, blankets, sheets etc. but am out of the scent free kind and didn't want to use the scented kind around the babies. I noticed with my last load that the hair was sticking to the fleece!

Michele in Tampa

[island rehabber]

Nice normal poopies -- go Davey!! :thumbsup
Yeah fleece does catch and hold hair, unfortunately. In my case it's my own, which is always shedding and it's a wonder I still have a bunch of it on my head. I am forever picking my long hairs out of my babies' fleece :shakehead

[lilidukes]

oh, you are so right about the frustration over tweezers. Now get this. I don't have regular tweezers (eyebrow); I'm a kinda low maintenance kinda gal. Don't use them. I have embroidery tweezers though. I have several pair. But back in August when I got my other three babies and one of them had botflies, I couldn't find them then either. I went and bought three different pair from Joanne's Fabrics. Some have more of a flat (grabbing) area to them; some have more of a bend or angle to them. I also bought a pair of pointy eyebrow tweezers at the grocery store. That was just over a month ago and those three were the ones that I was looking for. Luckily I found that one pair of unopened embroidery tweezers.

My husband just mentioned to me last night that I need to get a little plastic tote to put all this stuff in. I suggest that even if you have tweezers, vaseline, q-tips or whatever for yourself, that you actually have a separate one for the squirrels. Had I had my little squirrel kit, then I would have seen the vaseline and wouldn't have stressed so much over whether I could use the silvadene in the rectum or not; I would have just used the vaseline.

I like your suggestion of a kind of follow up when Davey pulls through and is a normal, healthy squirrel. A list of must haves; a list of what I learned that I wish I knew going into it kinda thing. That would be a good idea for everyone who posts about different issues with their squirrels.

Do you have a thread about your 15 month old female? If so, let me know. I have an 8 month old male and love to read about others who have kept squirrels. You learn so much about what to expect.

Thanks for the good wishes. What kind of classes are you taking? Is it to become a licensed rehabber yourself or to work under one? Sounds fascinating!

Michele in Tampa


For the time being I will be working under Greenville Rehab caring for babies in my home. But I'm thinking this is really something I want to do on a long time bases. I do believe I would like to become licensed. My family is finally starting to realize that if I'm going to truly be nuts it might as well be with squirrels. My sons new house has acres of woods around it and has said I could release my younguns there.:wahoo Can't wait to see him with squirrels following him around. First time he held my Ella she immediately pooped on him. oops! But the good news is he is such a perfectionist that my release cages will probably be plush condos.:jump

I have a two threads one under introduce yourself and another one called foot problem. We are headed off the the vet in the am:eek: she has an enlarged toenail it's huge now and another one starting to look the same.:thinking

Maybe we should start a thread together called bragging on our babies. lol

Glad to hear Davey's still doing so good warm thoughts for the both of you.:grouphug

[mpetys]

Davey update - well he ate 4 cc's this morning and nibbled on half a pecan! No, I am not trying to introduce foods to him. I know he needs to stay on formula as much and as long as possible. I have been using this half a pecan to kind of guage where Davey is at. He has always just looked at it or smelled it and them looked at me as if to say, "ok, its a pecan, what do you want me to do with it?"

Well this morning when I was feeding him, after the second syring, I needed to warm his formula up so while we were waiting, I got a pecan half out and held it up in front of him. He sniffed and reached out with his left paw for hi. I held it while he nibbled! Yeah Davey!

Anyhow, I felt like it was a step forward.

I have been feeling so optimistic about Daveys recovery until this morning. I had realized that he favors the left paw in holding the syringe (or trying to help out!). I just thought that the right side just may still have some swelling or bruising. After eating, I put a big piece of fleece on a bed and put him on it. I was surprised at what I saw. He is now kind of dragging the right arm. Before, he was using it. He would push up with both arms and then kinda drag/move his rear end. Now he moves in a circle on a curve since the good arm and leg are on the left and the hurt limbs are on the right.

So now I will just keep an eye on him for any changes. he is so brave. It would be so great if we humans could be blessed with the determination a little squirrel has. Davey just accepts how things are and faces each day, day by day.

I did take a video with my cell phone and on my phone it is dark and grainy. If I can figure out how to get it on my computer, I will try to post it somewhere so ya'll can see where he is at in his recovery right now. I have talked to several people who encourage me with wonderful tales of recovery or adaptation to being a non releasable.

Michele in Tampa

[mpetys]

Davey update - I took a closer look at the swelling that Davey had and the hole had scabbed over. As I was lightly pressing, some yucky, stinky creamy white stuff started oozing out. I got some warm water and started washing over the scabbed area, trying to remove the scab. As I was doing so, more and more "stuff" was coming out. I got most of the scab off, had to cut 3/4 of it off as it was adhered to raw skin and I was afraid to do too much more. Anyhow, the hole was HUGE. i got out as much of the stuff as possible and was going to flush it out when I realized that I really didn't know what the heck I was doing.

So I called Dr. Duke and asked them to see him. We went in and at first Dr. Duke said they would flush his wounds out and send me home with stuff to flush over the weekend and then bring him back in on Monday to stitch up the big hole. He took Davey in the back and when he came back out, he said "change of plans"! They went ahead and flushed him, cleaned him, lasered off dead tissue and sewed his opening up. He also gave him another antibiotic injection. He said it looked like he has neurological damage but we won't know right now to what extent. He said to let Davey exercise, move around to build up strength and hope that any damage might be repaired. Attached is a picture of Davey. He was such a trooper.

It was time to eat when we got home, so I fed him. This time, instead of holding his pecan for him, I put him in his box and put the pecan in front of him. He had to maneuver his little body around until he could use his left hand to kinda push the pecan against his right arm and he nibbled. He did it on his own! I was so proud of him. I felt bad for not holding him and holding his pecan for him but I saw that Davey doesn't NEED me to do that for him. He NEEDS me to keep letting him try to do things for himself.

I am just so amazed how an animal, a baby at that, has this kind of fortitude.

Michele in Tampa

[astra]

I am just so amazed how an animal, a baby at that, has this kind of fortitude.

Michele in Tampa
:thumbsup so am I, always!

[lilidukes]

Michele, I think your Davey's angel:grouphug

[Pierre]

Yes, Davey is so so lucky to have you!! :Love_Icon :Love_Icon :Love_Icon

[Nancy in New York]

Davey update - I took a closer look at the swelling that Davey had and the hole had scabbed over. As I was lightly pressing, some yucky, stinky creamy white stuff started oozing out. I got some warm water and started washing over the scabbed area, trying to remove the scab. As I was doing so, more and more "stuff" was coming out. I got most of the scab off, had to cut 3/4 of it off as it was adhered to raw skin and I was afraid to do too much more. Anyhow, the hole was HUGE. i got out as much of the stuff as possible and was going to flush it out when I realized that I really didn't know what the heck I was doing.

So I called Dr. Duke and asked them to see him. We went in and at first Dr. Duke said they would flush his wounds out and send me home with stuff to flush over the weekend and then bring him back in on Monday to stitch up the big hole. He took Davey in the back and when he came back out, he said "change of plans"! They went ahead and flushed him, cleaned him, lasered off dead tissue and sewed his opening up. He also gave him another antibiotic injection. He said it looked like he has neurological damage but we won't know right now to what extent. He said to let Davey exercise, move around to build up strength and hope that any damage might be repaired. Attached is a picture of Davey. He was such a trooper.

It was time to eat when we got home, so I fed him. This time, instead of holding his pecan for him, I put him in his box and put the pecan in front of him. He had to maneuver his little body around until he could use his left hand to kinda push the pecan against his right arm and he nibbled. He did it on his own! I was so proud of him. I felt bad for not holding him and holding his pecan for him but I saw that Davey doesn't NEED me to do that for him. He NEEDS me to keep letting him try to do things for himself.

I am just so amazed how an animal, a baby at that, has this kind of fortitude.

Michele in Tampa


What can I say...you are one amazing woman Michele. You have been through so much with this little one I tell ya...I don't know who has more fortitude you or little Davey! But I will tell you this, the commitment that you are showing to this little squirrel and all that you have done for him blows me away...You ARE his angel...and an amazing one at that!!!!:Love_Icon :grouphug :Love_Icon

[Kristal]

That was an abscess, just in case you are still wondering. Icky and yucky stuff :yuck :yuck :yuck :yuck I'll bet it is all going to heal up nicely now. You should be proud of what you have done for this little guy. You have helped him beat some pretty impressive odds and survive. He has still got a tough road ahead, but I believe that he is going to be ok so long as you are in his life ;)

[prncsbabs1]

Just got caught up on Davey's thread....poor baby. Hope he is feeling better soon....he is in great hands :grouphug

[mpetys]

Below is a link to a video I took on October 6th of Davey's movements.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAXYYY9atqk

Also below is a picture taken on October 3rd. I will update more tomorrow. He is improving and I have more video!

Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers for this little guy.

Michele in Tampa

[Lanatwo]

Oh my goodness, the video of him moving around just broke my heart! What a sweet little trooper! Thank you so much for rescuing and loving him! He was so blessed to fall into your hands. I am sending positive energy your way, I hope he makes a speedy recovery and even if he is NR I am sure he will be your little baby forever! :)

[Kristal]

Oh my goodness, the video of him moving around just broke my heart!

Wow, mine too. What a survivor!