Just wondering

[Peanuts mom]

Well, I'm sad to say that Peanut just took a chunk out of me :shakehead
Not just one really but a couple! My sweet little pinky all grown-up, the one that comes home every single night to eat and sleep in his box.... not sure what happened but wondering if I should worry about my health:dono !?
He got me real good on my index finger, felt like it went to the bone, I was shocked! Bleed a good bit too! I cleaned, put cream on it but it does hurt like a dickens! He goes out during the day, comes home at night to sleep, play, eat, cuddle and was just fine! I had let him out already and saw that he came back so I went to see what gives, he never comes right back and when I opened the door he was making these strange sounds, almost like he was choking! He looked like he was about to jump on me like he always does to come and I reached for him and ....BAM :nono ! He was all over me, the first one not too bad but as I went to let go he really dug in on my other hand! I'm sad to say I kind flung him off my hand, he was fine but I feel bad now but lord it hurt bad!
I did see, a few minutes after that, a female come to the top of his cage and eat his food, could he have been upset about her being near? Or perhaps and here is what I think, did he smell our new baby on me? I had just fed him when Peanut came back but..... he has smelt him before!
In any case, my finger is swollen and hurts so..... still love my Peanut :Love_Icon of course and can't wait to see what he does when he comes home but.... should I go see someone or just ice it and wait:thinking
? Anyone out there, sure there have been more then a few bits amongst us......

[stepnstone]

Squirrel bites can be very painful depending on the bite, you don't have to worry about your health. As long as you clean it proper and use a good anti-botic cream on it, keep it clean so it don't get infected you will be fine. Ice for swelling is good.

[SammysMom]

I had the same awful bite experience! It hurt a whole lot, but outside of the 2 scars that will remain forever it healed up fine. It hurts more in your head than the bite if you are like me. I guess he hurt my feelings by being a SQUIRREL...:sanp3

[stepnstone]

I guess he hurt my feelings by being a SQUIRREL...:sanp3

And that IS the bottom line, they are squirrels... :Love_Icon

[Pierre]

Sorry this happened. I bet it was because the female wild was near. My boy nipped me after he got in a fight with a wild. He was all nervous and wired. I had no idea he just had a fight until I saw the other squirrel and the blood on my guy. I bet you were the accidental victim of a squirrel altercation. :(

:grouphug

[Peanuts mom]

:thankyou I feel better hearing I don't have to worry about rabies or such!
Still hurts like crap, ice is not helping, it is swollen all the way down to my knuckle, can't bend my finger.....:shakehead but I do believe he did not mean to bite Mom, after all I got him were he is.... almost wild & gone :alright.gif
I think maybe he felt I too was trying to steal his food?!
I will keep meds & ice on it and we will see how he acts when he gets home, perhaps he is mad at me too for tossing him!

[SammysMom]

I faithfully washed it and applied neosporin for a week or so. My thumb was pretty much immobile due to the swelling. The funny thing was that Sammy always takes care of every scratch and mark on my hands and arms, but he NEVER touched those 2 marks that he made. :sanp3 He would go all around them but act like they weren't there...lol Feeling bad??? I doubt it but it was a comforting thought!:D

[mpetys]

Unless you have a compromised immune system you should be fine with normal cleaning and care. I have rheumatoid arthritis and with that a compromised immune system. Plus, the medictions I am on further suppress the immune system so when I get major bites, I usually end up on antibiotics. The minor scratches and nips takes about three times longer to heal on me than others.

I am currently on a round of antibiotics for a nasty bite to my thumb. What can I say? Gotta love them!

[stepnstone]

[QUOTE=Peanuts mom]:thankyou I feel better hearing I don't have to worry about rabies or such!

Your safe, squirrels don't carry rabies as some uneducated people would have one believe. In all likely hood they themselves would die before they could even spread it as their immune systems could not support the virus. As reported by CDC, "There has never been a reported case of any person contacting rabies from a squirrel in the U.S".

[lamb57]

My husband got a sq bite that he said felt like it went to the bone in his thumb once and it was super sore & swollen for a while. We had an elderly dog that had bad hearing and I surprised her by coming up behind her & reaching for her and she bit my arm before I could react and it was horribly sore. What I did was soak my arm in epsom salts with very warm water as well as use the antibiotic creams. I also kept it wrapped in gauze at first. The epsom salts did take some of the "ache" out of it.
Hope that helps!

Kathy

[Izzie]

[QUOTE=Peanuts mom]:thankyou I feel better hearing I don't have to worry about rabies or such!

Your safe, squirrels don't carry rabies as some uneducated people would have one believe. In all likely hood they themselves would die before they could even spread it as their immune systems could not support the virus. As reported by CDC, "There has never been a reported case of any person contacting rabies from a squirrel in the U.S".

I hate to be a naysayer here. But I work in the veterinary field and feel I should mention that it is possible for squirrels to transmit rabies. However unlikely it may be that Peanut is rabid - I would recommend you still get vaccinated as a precaution. Any mammal can contract rabies. Again, according to the CDC nearly 2% of the wild animals they found to have rabies in 2009 were "other (than raccoons, bats, foxes and skunks) wild animals, including rodents and lagomorphs" (http://www.cdc.gov/rabies/location/usa/surveillance/index.html) Some animals just make better hosts than others but even bunnies can contract rabies. However, we are putting ourselves at increased risk by virtue of the unusual interactions we initiate with these animals. We on TSB, as a group, are at increased risk since we interact closely with un-vaccinated wild animals. If there was going to be a first time for someone to contract rabies from a squirrel, it would be one of us. Oh, but wait! It already happened in 2003 in Pittsburgh! (http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2003-12-20-squirrel_x.htm)

In the United States we tend not to take rabies seriously because it is not a common disease of people here. Rabies is deadly. Never take a risk. Just don't tell anyone that your own rescued squirrel bit you :)

[stepnstone]

What I said was "squirrels don't carry rabies as some uneducated people would have one believe. In all likely hood they themselves would die before they could even spread it as their immune systems could not support the virus." Didn't say they couldn't get rabies! I may not "work in the veterinary field" but I am educated enough to know any warm blooded animal can get rabies and I trust my own knowledge to be able to recognize the symptoms of a rabid animal.
I lean toward the report by CDC, "There has never been a reported case of any person contacting rabies from a squirrel in the U.S" but I suppose I along with CDC could stand corrected as well as scientists that claim these particular rodents (squirrels) DNA could not support the virus.
I do recall a report of a supposed squirrel with rabies that bit someone that turned out to be a woodchuck and reports of aggressive black "rabid" squirrels chasing people in Gaithersburg Md that turned out to be very active squirrels on the ground in their mating season.
I'm also very aware of the expense of the rabies vaccine and the money to be made from it. Speaking for myself, to "get vaccinated as a precaution" would have to come from a better source of information or at least some solid evidence it was a necessary thing to do in relation to a squirrel bite. I also have been very badly bitten by a squirrel! Hurt like hell and scared the crap out of me! My physician told me to save my money, clean it up, suck it up, I'd get over it. Here I am a year later and still not frothing at the mouth... guess I was lucky.

[island rehabber]

We've all been bitten numerous times by squirrels. If we ran for rabies shots every time it happened, squirrel rehabbers would be even more broke than they usually are -- and most of us would be dead. :D

The NYC Dept of Health, a notoriously anti-wildlife, rabies-obsessed institution, actually states on its website that if bitten by a rodent there is virtually no need to be concerned about rabies. :peace

[mpetys]

From the CDC's website http://www.cdc.gov/rabies/exposure/animals/other.html, it states:

Small rodents and other wild animals

Small rodents like squirrels, hamsters, guinea pigs, gerbils, chipmunks, rats, and mice) and lagomorphs including rabbits and hares are almost never found to be infected with rabies and have not been known to transmit rabies to humans.

[Izzie]

All I'm saying is that I'd hate for Peanut's Mom to be the first documented case. Also, keep in mind that other people read this... people who may, in fact, have been bitten in a different and more suspect situation. People who should contact their doctor. Rabies is nearly 100% fatal. If you choose to forgo the vaccine it should be a fully informed decision that you reach with a physician.

I'm not trying to put anyone down here but the fact remains that squirrels can carry rabies virus. They make poor hosts in that that they are unlikely to contract it and it kills them quickly - giving them less time to transmit it. Also, their habits mean they are less likely to transmit it to people than some animals.

When the CDC says that there have been no cases of transmission to humans, they are talking only of cases where the human became symptomatic. They do not count bites by rabid animals which were successfully treated before the bite victim fell ill (like in the case of that woman in Pittsburgh).

[mpetys]

People who should contact their doctor. Rabies is nearly 100% fatal. If you choose to forgo the vaccine it should be a fully informed decision that you reach with a physician.



I agree with you about being informed. When I had my first major bite, it was from a pet squirrel. It got infected. I had an appointment with my family doctor for something else but was hesitant to ask him about it. I was concerned that there might be some kind of rule or law that would require him to report wild animal bites. I didn't want my squirrel, MonkeyButt to "have a record" so I was prepared to lie and say a wild squirrel in the park bit me!

My Dr. knows I have this pet squirrel and always asks about him. When he asked about him this time, I said he was fine and then asked him the hypothetical question about whether or not he would have to report a wild squirrel bite. He laughed and said no, so I then showed him my finger. He thought my concern was that I might have gotten rabies! He reassured me that there was no chance that I might have gotten rabies even if I had been bitten by an outdoor wild squirrel! He said that even in that case, they would not have me go through the rabies shots. As it was, he put me on anti-biotics and took a culture. Several days later he called and said he was calling in a different anti-biotic as my infection was MRSA.

I had heard that it was extremely rare, almost impossible that a human would get rabies from a squirrel, but hearing that my own doctor did not consider this a risk did give me peace of mind for future bites.

Of course, someone else reading all this information and the pros and cons, may decide to take a different course of action and get the shots. I am sure they would appreciate hearing all sides and opinions so they can make an educated decision for themselves.

I do have a question about being vaccinated against rabies. As a vet tech or someone working with animals, are you required to get vaccinated? What about licensed rehabbers? Are ya'll required to get vaccinated? I thought about getting a rehabbers license but since it covers more than just squirrels, I wonder if they would require me to get vaccinated? If someone has a compromised immune system, can they even get vaccinated?

[stepnstone]

mpetys, I can't answer for your State but here with DNR one can become a licensed Rehabilitator without requirement of rabies vaccine because only a Master Rehabilitator can handle rabies vector species, with that the vaccine is required. In this State squirrels are not considered to be a rabies vector species. You should check into it through your State if you have a serious desire to become licensed.

[mpetys]

mpetys, I can't answer for your State but here with DNR one can become a licensed Rehabilitator without requirement of rabies vaccine because only a Master Rehabilitator can handle rabies vector species, with that the vaccine is required. In this State squirrels are not considered to be a rabies vector species. You should check into it through your State if you have a serious desire to become licensed.

Thank you. I am toying with the idea. Trying to decide what are the benefits to becoming licensed (besides being legal!). Here in Florida, vet care is easily accessible. Between having TSB as a resource (all you wonderful rehabbers, both licensed and unlicensed) and two vets that have worked with me on squirrels, I have been able to work with squirrels this past year and a half. I suppose being licensed would enable me to have easier access to meds and being able to have certain meds on hand.

Peanuts mom, I'm apologize. I just realized that I have threadjacked your thread with other concerns. How is your finger doing now? My doctor recommended soaking it in warm salt water to help pull any infection out.

[stepnstone]

Again, I don't know about your State but here they have a no knock policy where they can come into your home without notice or search warrant at will and take an animal from you if you are not licensed. If the animal is deemed NR it is promptly euthanized. I personally can't see them crashing through a door to take a squirrel but if they were to receive a complaint lets just say from a nosey neighbor or some other revengeful jerk, they would have to respond. Becoming "legal" is definitely a benefit here!

:sanp3 I will also apologize for the thread jacking, hope your feeling better Peanuts mom...

[Peanuts mom]

Hi all,
Well, I am fine! Seems the bite is healing just fine, no meds needed which was great as I take a butt load already for my RA so.... less is more for me :)

Peanut is fine, acting like it never even happened however.... he is not coming home like he used to and I think that might be because he can smell the new comer?! Also when he did come home he "played" a little rougher than he has before, jealous :thinking

Little bitty, "Stich" is doing great! He seems to grow faster than Peanut did, maybe because he got to stay with the " other Mom" longer?! He is eating great, no runs, no eye issues, no nothing!!! About 7-8 weeks now, tail up, checking things out... how soon could I try to let him roam outside? Don't want to get "stuck" with him as well as Peanut seems very unhappy :shakehead about him being here and he comes first :Love_Icon so...........

[Ellymae]

Hi Peanuts Mom,

Like everyone else here on TSB, I too have been bitten numerous times. I just clean it out with saline wound cleaner (you can get it at Walgreens) which shoots a strong stream of saline solution directly into the wound. It makes it feel better immediately. Then I use Neosporin cream with pain and it helps keep the pain down. As a precaution, I also make sure I have had a Tetanus shot every 10 years.

Even when you raise a squirrel from a pinkie, when they get out into the wild they have to fight for their life, so they become more aggressive. When you hear their teeth chattering (up and down motion), they are getting ready to bite. I too have flung a squirrel off my hand, but now I just grab their head with one hand and their body with the other, and pull them into my abdomen, them quickly put them in the cage. We just have to resist the reflex to fling.

Glad to hear you are healing.:)

Elly

[momma2boo]

I was bitten by Boo's brother (he was released soon after). He bit me on the thumb several times. The last time he clamped down and I had to remove his teeth from my hand. I went to the ER since I didn't know if they needed to stitch me. As it turned out no stitches needed but he had severed the nerves. Thank God, in time the nerves regenerated and I can again feel my thumb.

Those dang squirrel bites hurt like the dickens.

[stepnstone]

Not that I had any doubt but I'm glad your fine after your bite experience. Indeed a squirrel bite can be painful!
When I was first bitten little girl had her teeth buried to the gums in my thumb, I've been kicked by a horse that was less painful then that bite was!
I healed just fine and got over it except for the occasional clicking of my teeth and the constant urge to bite that mean ol' man down the street...

[Jackie in Tampa]

yes, chattering teeth, stomping feet and hunched posture are indicators that they are mad..use caution....
and you may not be the actual intended victim, just there at the wrong time..
with small wild animals, it is hard wired that they be defensive to the death, their mind set is hard to break when they feel threatened...

once out in the wild...seldom do they allow to be held...yes they may still climb on their human, but captive is another thing...:shakehead
once released, few will allow to be controlled by our hands...
and that's what makes loving wildlife bittersweet!:grouphug

I currently have no feeling in my syringe pushing index finger..oye..and both thumbs are shot right now...I am riddled with owieees all the time...I should have controlling stock in Johnson & Johnson after all the bandaid wearing years!:tilt

Stitch is way too young to even know what outside is yet...IMO!
I never put a sq out to the relaese cage before 4 months old and then they must stay at least 4 weeks...never release anything younger than 5 months old, and that's only the summer kids...I try to keep them happy and in captivity 'til they are 6 mmonths old, however I have had some that were super antsy and in the warm weather there is plenty to eat on the trees and the nest materials are readily available, so 5 months is ok...
remember, pre release is to acclimate them to sounds and sights...
they understand what's happeneing by watching other sqs react to nature...they pick up the wilds barking at preditors etc...we are their mothers and cannot be in the trees with them like natural mothers are...
so we must do everything slow...allowing them to learn while they are protected in their outdoor enclosures...
adding nest boxes to your release area is good idea...several is better!

I live in the city, and rehab numerous sqs every season for years, I have to stagger releases to let everyone get themselves homes and understand the way city sqs live with each other, sharing space and learning the natural resources for food etc...
and to know how to hunker in when the hawks present themselves...
It's a constant chore, but the love and entertainment sqs share with their humans is beyond anything I have ever felt...so worth the extra efforts...:Love_Icon
I guess the bottom line is...sometimes ya gotta kiss your own boo boo's!:D