Question about a little one

[mtycork]

Hi out there. I have been feeding squirels and watching them for years. Just this week I noticed one that comes either every morning or every afternoon and he has an atrophied or injured left front paw. It seems he has lots of trouble getting around and also seems to have trouble eating. Maybe I am just imaging that part. He is smaller,and thinner than all the others. yesterday I built two special shelves on my fence so he wouldn't have to worry about balancing on the fence and holding onto his food. All the other squirrels come to the table on my deck and eat, he just comes to the fence and stays in that area. I don't know about his water requirements or what else I should do to make his life a little easier. I am worried about him, and want to help. Any suggestions? Thank you!

[MissDolittle]

Hm, my first thought was that if he hasn't fallen prey to any predator, it can't
be that bad, but of course that's hard to tell without seeing it. Is there a
possibility that you can take a picture?

[tshirtlady]

I know what you mean, I get sad when I see one squirrel that's alot skinnier than the others. You said he still stays away from the other squirrels, right? If you can, set a few goodies in the area where he stays (ex: pecans, hazelnuts, walnuts). When the other squirrels catch on though, you may have to roll the nuts to him if you can get close enough because they will step in and help themselves to his food yet again. If he is injured though, try to get a wildlife rehabber to attempt to help him.

[thundersquirrel]

watch him as much as you can. keep up the food, and monitor his behavior. if his leg worsens, if he stops eating, if he gets thinner, if his eyes become dull, or if he is constantly hanging around your house and begging for food, i suggest you contact a rehabber about catching him and getting his leg fixed.

basically you want to make sure that he can climb trees, run, eat, and drink, and that he is afraid of people and dogs and goes away in the evening.

sometimes when animals are first injured, it's hard on them for a while, but they manage to live with their injury over time. is the injury new? is there any blood around it? can you see any other injuries on him?
like miss D said, a picture would be awesome, but i know it might be hard.
keep us updated!

[mtycork]

Thanks for your responses. I am watching out for him, and have told the neithbors about him. I haven't seen him today, or yesterday, but it snowed, and hailed quite a bit so I think he may be out less. The more I think of it, and look at him I think he has some sort of birth defect and probably has his way of getting around. I appreciate your thoughts.

[mtycork]

Well, I have been watching him through my binoculars for about 2 hours, and in between chasing the bigger squirrels over to where their food is, I am able to see that his left paw doesn't have much fur/hair over it,looks almost totally black, and does seem to be either in a curled up position, with his paw in a ball, or either straight out. There doesn't seem to be any flexibility inbetween, or any use of his fingers? So, I am not sure if something has happened to it, or he was born that way. I am going to see about fixing up something more hidden for him, or buying something, so he doesn't feel so vulnerable, and maybe a little more secure. He drinks out of the largest fountain I have, and sometimes slips and looks horrified. I hope he is ok, and that I am helping him.

[island rehabber]

Mtycork, it does concern me that you said his foot is basically atrophied-looking and seems black,,,,and that he is not a robust, healthy looking squirrel. Although squirrels can survive pretty well with three legs and in fact are "allowed" to be released according to rehab protocol with only 3 legs, your guy seems to have a few more problems because he's skinny and not all that coordinated. I'm worried that the leg may have gangrene or something like that...and that would certainly wear down his health and eventually kill him. IF you have a wildlife vet near you who would get involved in this, I would encourage you to try trapping him and getting him examined. If all you have available are cat & dog vets it probably isn't worth the effort. This poor little guy has more going on, I think, than just a bad leg. :(

[thundersquirrel]

yeah, black is generally not a good skin color for squirrels unless they have black fur.

it sounds like bad frostbite, which is pretty disgusting. he wouldn't be able to feel in the foot, so that would explain the lack of flexibility. or it could be an infection, as island rehabber thinks.

i don't know if you should catch him.....i still suggest that you monitor him. you don't have to watch him for hours :) , you could just keep a log of his general condition twice a day. if he starts to eat less, limp more, or in any way get weaker, i say catch him, but i mean.....he might adapt to this, if it isn't making him ill.

do you think it would be hard to catch him? if the answer to that is no, then you should probably catch him, cause squirrels should be uncatchable to the average human. when a squirrel can be caught, that means something is wrong.