Strange Behavior - 8 1/2 wk old still not walking

[Autumn_Dawn]

I have a 8 1/2 wk old single baby gray squirrel. His nest fell when he was close to 2 wks old, the mother did not reclaim them and the sibling squirrels died by the second night, most likely from injuries due to the fall. My single squirrel has been well for some time. He is now eating up to 12 ml of Esbilac formula four times a day, he dislikes rodent block so I grind it up into a fine powder and add it to his formula, which he likes just fine. I've just started to introduce apples and banana, he is also teething on pieces of bark and pine cone (both thoroughly washed). He also gets at least a 1/2 hour in the sun during the afternoon each day. He seems happy and active and loves taking his baths. He has good urination and pellet hard- dark feces. The only problem we encountered was when one of my children tripped over his heating pad cord and the cage tumbled a few times and hit the wall with him in it. There are no broken bones and he was scared but unharmed. With this said, I have not been able to figure out why he is still unable to walk. He scoots, flops, and can climb but he cannot walk or sit up on his own. By this age he should be doing these things. He gets the proper amount of Vitamin D either through the Esbilac (D3), rodent block and sunlight so I want to say this is probably not MBD, but I cant be sure. If this was a head trauma from the cage tumble wouldn't there be other problems as well. I'm not sure what the problem is so I was hoping someone may have encountered something similar and could tell me what the problem is and how to possibly fix it. I love him dearly and want him to grow into a happy healthy squirrel. This inability to walk is causing me great concern.

[astra]

:Welcome Well, first of, welcome!

As for his inability to walk... there can be various reasons. however, just from what you've already told, it might be that he sustained some trauma during that cage fall. Some of the most common problems can be:
1. he had head trauma, resulted in neurological problems that often manifest themselves in their inability to maintain balance, hence no sitting up and walking. Balance issues can be of various degrees of severity, from total inability to maintain any upright position, to just some of the positions: only sitting up, or only walking, or only climbing etc, or any combination of those.

2. he might have injured his back. When the back is broken, paralysis results. However, with milder back injuries they might become handicapped in other ways, again, such as limited mobility, inability to sit up etc

3. he might have injured his back legs, could be muscle damage or even nerve damage, however slightly. That could also affect his mobility, especially, sitting up.

Of course, I don't have years of rehab experience, so my knowledge is limited.
I am sure, someone with more experience will be on here very soon - please keep checking your thread for updates often.

But, from what it sounds like, whatever injury is causing him his physical limitations, most likely, it resulted from that fall.

However, depending on the severity of neurological and other problems that affect their mobility, there are a lot of instances when they regain enough of it and recover enough to be released.
There are various supplements that people have been using for their squirrels, that seem to be helping.

But if he doesn't recover, he cannot be released and will stay with you as a non-releasable squirrel.

Could you post his photos?
Could you post his videos? - this might be especially helpful for the experienced rehabbers to give suggestions. Try to capture every way he can move, in various situations etc.
If he cannot sit up, how does he eat?...

[squirrelfriend]

Try adding more sunshine time to his day. When they are growing they need lots. You can also add dark leafy greens to his diet such as kale and dandilion greens.

Did he always have trouble walking? Does he have feeling in his back legs at all? How about his tail?

Can you post a video of his actions so that it will be easier to diagnose him?

Did he have any bruising or scabs on his hip, spine or leg regions when you found him?

[squirrelfriend]

Have you felt along his spine, hips and legs to see if there are any irregularities? Both sides should match. This is a way to detect breaks.

[mugzeezma]

Have you felt along his spine, hips and legs to see if there are any irregularities? Both sides should match. This is a way to detect breaks.

Also feel down his spine to see if it is evenly spaced and smooth (except for vertebral bumps) with no dips or jogs to one side or the other.

1)How has he always held his tail?

2)Can he curl it over his back?

3)Can he kick and move his hind legs?

4)How long ago did the indecent with the cage occur?

5)Does he have any kind of head tilt?

Anything you can answer here will help us...MBD seems unlikely
More likely it's an injury.

[mpetys]

At what age did the cage incident happen? Was he ever able to walk or stand on his own? Even before their eyes open at 4-1/2 to 5 weeks old, they are standing and trying to walk, wobbly as it may be.

Michele