Best treatment for infant squirrel with Swollen Head from Fall

[Buddy's Mom]

I'm new to the board, but have used your valuable information extensively in the past. I've searched the board and couldn't find much information on the best treatment for an infant squirrel with a swollen head from a fall.

I am asking this information for future reference. This little baby unforunately has passed away, but I will most likely be in this situation again. This is the 3rd pinkie newborn that has fallen 30 ft from this particular tree onto our blacktop driveway in the last year. The other two survived the fall and did well. However, this was by far the smallest (15 grams), and had the most severe head injury. After a day, it's entire head was purple from the bruising. Because of how small it was, I didn't really realize that the head was swollen until after it died and the swelling went down. I just kept thinking the head looked underdeveloped and not properly formed (because this one was so small, I wondered if it was somehow a premie).

I did find a reference to Metacam as an anti-inflamatory but would appreciate as much information as possible to be prepared if this happens again with best treatment methods, dosages for small neonates, etc.

So you know what I did do: I had kept it in an "incubator" type situation with a small plastic cage half on a heating pad, the top covered with a wet cloth for moist air to keep it's body from drying out. When stiimulated to poo it had a dark colored poo which I am now assuming was possibly blood from internal bleeding. If this was internal bleeding, I'm assuming there is nothing you can do for internal bleeding.

Thank you for your help.

PS: The tree has a nice hole in one of the limbs that either one particular squirrel or squirrels find inviting as a nest. We already contacted a tree person and the hole can't be filled.

Buddy's Mom

[atlantasquirrelgirl]

Head injuries are tough to treat. The old standby is a steroid named Dexamethasone, but require an RX to get it. Others are trying alternative treatments. Best bet would be to try to insulate the fall if you can. Is there anything that you can put around the tree in the asphalt area to prevent a hard impact, like keeping a thick bed of leaves there, blankets, bubble-wrap, or anything else?

[Buddy's Mom]

Thank you for your help, I really appreciate it. How is Dex administered? Is it an injectible?

Now that we know a mother has taken up residence again we have put up a net in an area below the tree. It's an awkward spot because the tree is in a raised area with a rock wall about 3 ft higher than the drive way area. The drive way is narrow and in a small section right in front of our garage. The area that a baby squirrel could land is about 8 x 8 because of how high up in the tree the hole is so it's a little difficult to find something that would work for such a large area and give any real cushion to the fall. In addition, the mother squirrel took up residence in each instance without us noticing and then moved out shortly after losing a baby in the fall. I have to use binoculars to see the hole/nest and it already looks like the mom has moved out.

I was totally caught by surprise when I saw the baby laying there, but will now keep an eye out for the next month during the 2nd wave of baby season as well as next year starting in April.

This is truly devastating for me and I want to do everything I can to try to prevent it from happening or at least provide the best possibly care.

Buddy's Mom

[stosh2010]

I must commend you on your compassion and willingness to prevent future injuries. You will probably get more replies from other TSB memebers as the day goes on. My little KING---Rama Rota --( it means Broken Branch in Spanish) fell over 50 ft. as a 3 week old...bounced off of several leafy branches and landed in tall grass. He luckily survived and thrived.
He's now 19 months & 580 grams of Macho Energy...Ha.
WELCOME to T.S.B. ---a great place to BE....
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&VISIT the KING at :
http://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27141&page=309

[mpetys]

I'm just throwing this out there as an idea but is it possible to put a nest box in the tree with hopes that future mommas would use it instead of the hole? I look around my yard and worry every time we have a storm that babies will get blown out with their nests. I have requested my husband make a bunch of nest boxes to scatter throughout the property (2.5 acres) for that reason as well as providing my released squirrels safe and familiar homes.

Michele

[Buddy's Mom]

That's a good suggestion. I did attempt the nest box idea when the 2nd pinkie fell from the same tree several months ago. It was still cold here in Wisconsin so I even bought a radiant warming insert to put under the batting to help reflect their own body heat and keep it warmer for someone.

I had lots of takers go inside and eat because I stocked it with food to entice them to go inside, but no one stayed. I actually only took it back down about a month ago because I thought it probably wasn't the safest idea even if someone did make it a nest. It is very visible and I couldn't get it much higher than I could reach with a ladder. We have racoons and one was in a very nearby tree looking for food. I didn't want to encourage someone to make a nest in the nest box only to have a racoon reach in and grab the babies.

The tree is a Twin with a nice V in the middle, I could probably reattempt the nest box idea putting the opening facing the other tree with just enough room for a squirrel to go in and out.

Thank you for the reminder. Sometimes you forget about trying things you've attempted before in a new way.

Buddy's Mom