Hind legs and tail paralyzed

[SElise]

Hi,

On my way home from work on Friday I found a squirrel in the road. He was dragging his hind quarters behind him. I knew it was a bad situation so I threw on my gloves and brought the little guy home. With the experiences I have had with my parents being rehabilitators, I really thought I would just be keeping him comfortable until he passed especially with how he was acting when I checked on him on Saturday morning. He seemed to be a little lethargic and out of it. It was about 5am at this point. I was thinking he may have been bleeding internally and he would not last out the day. However, a couple hours later he was extremely active again! I don't know if it is a miracle or if he was just really deeply sleeping when I checked on him that morning. I have been giving him seeds, fruit and water and he has been gobbling it right up. He is pooping, but I am not able to tell if he has been peeing. I am really struggling with what to do. My heart tells me to build him a cage and wheelchair so that he can live out the rest of his life with us, but my head is questioning if it is the right thing to do for him. We have very few rehabilitators in my area if any at all and with my experiences I have not met one who would be willing to keep an injured animal as a life longer. They would have me bring him to be euthanized. I am going to call my vet Monday morning and see if he can give the squirrel a check-up. He is the person who we have always brought our wild animals to while growing up and is very knowledgeable. I know that he will guide me as best he can, but I know ultimately it will be my decision. I am willing to be his caregiver, but I really want to do what is best for him so I am searching for advice from fellow squirrel lovers to help me determine what is best for him. Thank you!

[Annabelle's papa]

:) Hi SElise, Bless Your Heart for rescuing this Lil' One, is he in a container or carrier, and do you have him on some soft fleece or an old t shirt. A non auto off heating pad set on low and half under the container he is in, would help him to feel more comfortable. Has he showed any sign of pain, infant ibuprofen can be dosed for him if necessary, but it is dosed by weight. Do you have a photo or two you could post, preferable with a can of soda or soup in the picture to allow his weight to be estimated.

A digital kitchen food scale is perfect for weighing him, please stay on the site or keep checking back frequently, the board is monitored 24/7 and if you could submit a photo in the meantime it would be most helpful.

[HRT4SQRLS]

:wave123 SElise

:Welcome to TheSquirrelBoard

You do have a tough situation there. I hope your vet can help you. I have never been in your situation before but I have read of many that have. There are several members here that have paralyzed squirrels. They vary with the degree of their disability.

Determining whether he has the ability to void urine is the first issue. If not he will need to be expressed. Your vet might be able to determine if the spine is broken or just injured. There have been a few cases where a steroid reduced the swelling so that some abilities returned but I don't remember any that gained full function. Another issue will be that this is a wild squirrel. There are some squirrels that will accept being handled by a human and there are others that will never willingly accept this and as I'm sure you know, they bite VERY hard. With time, some will get better about being handled.

There are some special people here that are able to do this. I'm not sure I'm one of those people. :( It is a huge commitment caring for a paralyzed squirrel. There will always be issues to deal with ... UTI's, pressure sores from dragging their legs, chewing their legs and tail if feeling does begin to return.

With all those negatives said, I have seen a few that did seem to have 'quality of life' and enjoyed life. SweetSimonsMom has video on Simon's thread of him running and playing. Simon has passed now but he did live several years. She now has Gio who is paralyzed but has regained some use of his legs.

I wish I could help you with a definitive answer but unfortunately there aren't any. Every case is different. Some have done well, others have not. The fact that you even stopped to take him in tells me that you are a kind, caring person with a compassionate heart. I believe your heart will guide you. :grouphug

Thank you for caring. The world needs more people like you. :Love_Icon

[SElise]

257884257885

Here are two pictures of the little guy. I have him bedded with an old crib sheet and he is loving hiding in it! He is currently in a box, but I found a bin I can put him in that would be better. I knew he would chew the box, but it was all I had on the fly! I am just about to clean the new bin for him. I have the heating pad on low and under two layers of towel. It doesn't shut off automatically so it has been on the entire time. He hasn't shown any sign of pain, but we do have infant ibuprofen in house if he does. Weight is 5.5 ounces. When I took him out for his photo shoot he ran all over our porch and even tried to climb on top of the can! He has lots of energy! Would you say he is around 10 weeks? That was my guess, but it has been a while.

[HRT4SQRLS]

Oh my, this is a baby. I thought this was an adult squirrel.
He's very small. I'm not sure he's even 10 weeks old. He looks very young in the face. :tilt 5.5 ounces is 155 grams so he could be that old. I'm in the south so our squirrels are much smaller. :)

I wouldn't use the towels because of the loops. There have been squirrels that got nails snagged on the loops and were seriously injured so we don't recommend them. We use fleece ... no loops. You could also use an old Tshirt. Keep the heating pad on low and put it under half of the bin. If he gets too warm he can crawl off the heat.

Edit: Sorry, I see the towels are under the bin on the heating pad. :)

[SElise]

I thought he looked young. I knew he wasn't adult size. We have chubby ones up our way! Haha!! Have to build up those layers for the crazy winters we have been having! Do you think he could be young enough to be still drinking milk? I can get some on the fly, I think we used to give ours kitten milk, but I noticed that goats milk was mentioned on this site. Is that better for him? If so I will get that.

[HRT4SQRLS]

I would definitely try to get him to take formula. We don't use kitten formula because it has too much protein. The formula that most people are using now is Esbilac puppy formula with probiotics and prebiotics. It is available at pet retailers like PetsMart, PetCo or PetSuperMarket.

[SElise]

I would definitely try to get him to take formula. We don't use kitten formula because it has too much protein. The formula that most people are using now is Esbilac puppy formula with probiotics and prebiotics. It is available at pet retailers like PetsMart, PetCo or PetSuperMarket.

Just talked with my mom. We used Espilac kitten formula. I will get the puppy formula though. I know our pet store has that. Thank you!!!

[Spanky]

Just curious if the vet was able to see this little guy? If you don't mind sharing your location (just the City/State or even more vague if you prefer) maybe there are some experienced members in your area that can help you.... I have a little one like this that we found ion the road about 10 days ago.

:thankyou for caring for this wee one!