Squirrel Missing most of Tail

[tomcics]

A couple days ago, I was looking out my upstairs bedroom window when I seen a squirrel run across my lawn, at first glance I thought it was a bunny because of the short tail. I went outside and discovered it was a grey morph squirrel I fed in the past called Velvet, I have not seen him for months. He knew me and came close to me to see if I had anything to offer. I have no idea what could of happened to his tail but there is a feral cat running loose in the area (and a hawk). Any ideas? Most likely I would not be able to treat him as this is the only time I have seen him.

[skarabrae]

Oh gosh... that's not good. I don't know what a squirrel's chances of survival are with such a short tail... the tail provides a lot of their stability/balance and warmth during cold winters.

I have a wild here "Mr. Choppy Tail" (original, I know) that I expect got snatched by a cat or dog, but his tail is cut a couple inches farther than your little guy (still has some bush left) and he's been identifiable like that since last fall at least, so I know he's fine.

Hopefully some experts will chime in!

[stepnstone]

This happens a lot in the wild due to fights, traps, other animals catching them by the tail, humans, etc. Surprisingly they do just fine,

I have several that visit my property with chopped tails, they are able to scale and spring from trees with the best of them.

[tomcics]

Thanks for the responses Skarabrae & Stepnstone, I will hope for the best in Velvet's future.

[MyBushyTail]

Hi T! I believe that is most likely from a fight with another squirrel or an escape from a predator, trap etc. I agree with all that stepnstone has posted and he will do just fine. I have several squirrels that live in my yard with tails just like that and they were from squirrel fights. My SS's Girl had such a beautiful long tail until she got into a nasty fight with another dominant female which caused her stub tail and it bled soooooo much but she healed just fine without any treatment. My Stubby his tail is as short as your Velvets, again from a fight with another squirrel. My stubbies have been with these stub tails for several years now and all are doing great.

[tomcics]

:thankyou for that information MBT, I have never seen that kind of injury before and I have not seen Velvet for so long I had given up on him. It seems like that kind of injury would be so very painful, hope it wasn't from the cat because they carry many germs that are quite harmful to squirrels.

[Rhapsody]

Praying and sending Healing Vibes to your beloved Velvet........ May he continue to grow, be safe and flourish in life.

[tomcics]

:thankyou Rhapsody for your prayers, Velvet was a regular at one time and then I had to revise my feeding operation and consequently did not see him much and then he was MIA for well over two months.