Help!!! His legs and tail are literally rotting away.

[Snewman8807]

I have a squirrel abiut 4 months old that injured a leg and after a few days it looked real bad. He had a bad white spot like his skin was rotting and smelled like it was rotting. Got him to the wildlife rehabber near me and she is even baffled by whats going on. Shes got him on 3 different antibiotics and hes getting worse. Still moving around but his back legs and his tail are literally rotting away. His tail has become hard and stiff and a piece of it has already falling off. Anyone have any idea what it would be? She has been doing this over 20 years and has never seen anything like it. I dont have any pictures. He has been an inside squirrel since he was about 5 weeks old.

[Milo's Mom]

we need pics, please get them. My first thought is MRSA.

[island rehabber]

My first thought is MRSA.

Mine also --

[Milo's Mom]

I'm reaching out to Anne on FB and in a PM. She's got first hand knowledge on this and has fought the battle and won.

[Nancy in New York]

I emailed this member telling them there is help on the board.
Hopefully we will hear back soon.

[Snewman8807]

I just called and left her a message. Hopefully she will be able to text me some pictures to post soon. Going into a little more detail in the mean time, it just start with a hurt leg. Then his foot/ leg got swollen twice its size and he had an open wound on his foot. I cleaned it and overnight a small wound on the foot turned into a bigger open wound (looked like his skin had come off) and a white spot that was smelling like something rotting about 2inches long on his leg. Got him to the rehabber and she started him on antibiotics and has been doing epsom salt baths to clean it. Its been 2 days since hes been on the antibiotics and it has spread to his other rear leg as well as his tail. His other leg isnt as bad as the first one yet. Its just starting with an open wound and like I mentioned before, his tail is hard and stiff and a small piece of it has fallen off as well as hair on his tail falling out.

[Milo's Mom]

Would you please ask the rehabber which meds she had him on? It would be good for us to know. Some meds are better for skin conditions and certain infection than others. The more me know the more we will be able to advise.

[Snewman8807]

I will be sure to ask her when she can me back.

[stosh2010]

PHOTOs--close up and clear...will help all the highly skilled rehabbers on TSB to help diagnose the problem(s).
You can send the photos to me at my email :
stosh@jpcfl.com

--- and i'll be glad to post them here--on this thread. From your description of how rapidly it is progressing---we need the photos ASAP>

Write "SQUIRREL" in the email message line
____________________________
P.S. What is his name ??

[Snewman8807]

Have not heard from her yet, but I will ask her to make sure she gets good pics. His name is Snappy. Kids named him that because he liked to try to bite everything a lot more then the other squirrels we had at the time.

[stosh2010]

Have not heard from her yet, but I will ask her to make sure she gets good pics. His name is Snappy. Kids named him that because he liked to try to bite everything a lot more then the other squirrels we had at the time.

Snappy is a good name...
I have a "biter" named MILAGRO..he's paralyzed in his back 2 legs...and he SNAPS at everything--mostly my hands...HA !!!

and if you do get photos...post them or email them to me--so I can post them....

[Snewman8807]

She hasn't sent me a pic yet but she said he is on amoxicillin, baytril and gentimicin

[Anne]

The rapid spreading from side to side sounds like the C-MRSA I fought against with Tipsy. On the other hand the brittle tail and losing hair wasn't present and makes me think it may be sometime else or two different problems. I took about a year to get Tipsy to heal completely, during that time the infection spread to first one side then opened up on the other side-back and forth. Finally got it starting to heal with cocktails of three sometimes four different drugs plus almost daily flushes of weak Betadine solution.
I would start fighting this skin/ tissue infection with Clavamox ( same drug- Amoxicillin Clavulanate) and Metronidazole. If this IS MRSA it should start to help within 2 or 3 days. I knew what I was fighting because I had another culture done.

[Shewhosweptforest]

The young lady I got Poppy from had a squirrel Dillinger...I don't know if you remember him....but he had MRSA and the vet was treating him with gentamicin also....Dillinger lost his fight but he had a fractured skull and the infection was just too close to the brain :sadness
I know gentamicin is controversial with use in rodents.....but the doctor said it was the best choice with the culture results....also you must keep them very hydrated to help eliminate the kidney damage :dono

:please this little one can win the fight :Love_Icon I'm very impressed with your rehabber friend :bowdown a lot of rehabbers would not even attempt to treat this, so she is one of the "good guys" :Love_Icon just as our Anne is :blowkiss

[Anne]

What I posted was just the beginning. We changed later to even more. Tipsy legs.groin and back areas swelled to 4 inches thick several times with pure pus, get the right side under control and it would move to the other side! She lost tremendous muscle tissue and has never been able to walk correctly since. Person who took her to give her a furever home decided she didn't want her and thought she could be released! Thank goodness she's back home and safe again.

[Duckman]

IF this is MSRA, I am going to suggest SMZ-TMP right away. That is what saved Felix! The wound will also need to be opened and drained and Triple Antibiotic gel applied to the wound several times a day.

[Duckman]

Oh Anne! That is just heartbreaking! How can people do that? Thank god she is back with you!!


What I posted was just the beginning. We changed later to even more. Tipsy legs.groin and back areas swelled to 4 inches thick several times with pure pus, get the right side under control and it would move to the other side! She lost tremendous muscle tissue and has never been able to walk correctly since. Person who took her to give her a furever home decided she didn't want her and thought she could be released! Thank goodness she's back home and safe again.

[Snewman8807]

Thanks everyone for the help. I will text the rehabber now and tell her everything everyone just said. Still waiting on her to send any pictures. Will keep you updated. I hate seeing Snappy like this. I never thought I would be so attached to squirrels. Some people think I am nuts lol But my husband cuts trees knows someone else that does as well and that guy will just load them up with the debris and take them to the dump. I told him to just call me and I will take them. I've been able to take in 12 this year and have only lost 2, only because the idiot didn't get the nest out of the tree before cutting it.

[Shewhosweptforest]

Thanks everyone for the help. I will text the rehabber now and tell her everything everyone just said. Still waiting on her to send any pictures. Will keep you updated. I hate seeing Snappy like this. I never thought I would be so attached to squirrels. Some people think I am nuts lol But my husband cuts trees knows someone else that does as well and that guy will just load them up with the debris and take them to the dump. I told him to just call me and I will take them. I've been able to take in 12 this year and have only lost 2, only because the idiot didn't get the nest out of the tree before cutting it.

:shakehead that breaks my heart :sadness some people are heartless :facepalm

Thank you to you and your husband :bowdown :Love_Icon

[TubeDriver]

The OP mentioned the really strong smell? That is often a characteristic of an anaerobic infection which often respond to clindamycin and/or SMZ-TMP.

[missPixy]

Could this be necrotizing from a spider bite, perhaps a brown recluse? The symptoms sound very similar. I am reading in these situations "surgical debridement" of the affected skin/tissues is advised along with the antibiotics.

[Snewman8807]

I know its taken me a few days, sorry. I dont have pics of the squirrel I have been talking about, but here are some of another squirrel. This one (Mischief) was in the same cage as Snappy. I had separated them when I noticed Snappy's legs. They hadn't been near each other in about a week and now Mischief's foot is starting the same way. The rehabber gave me amoxicillin and gentimicin to start him on. Its still getting worse but just not as rapidly and Snappy did. And Mischief doesn't have the brittle tail like Snappy did, but he has spots on his stomach that Snappy did not.

[missPixy]

So if they both have it, definitely sounds environmental. Have you examined inside their habitats for anything such as spiders who can cause this?

Manuka honey UMF+16 is known to be very effective in cases of infection and MRSA where other antibiotics have failed. You can find this honey at natural food stores like whole foods and other outlets. You are not seeing substantitive improvement despite using big guns of antibiotics. What I'm suggesting is:

Continue to use the antibiotics you've now got them on;

Add the manuka honey umf+16 to the treatment. It will be a topical application directly to the affected area, 2x/day. Google the effectiveness of this honey with MRSA. here are some links:

http://fca.com/special-honey-can-defeat-deadly-mrsa-infections/

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/09/090908-mrsa-staph-manuka-honey.html

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/02/20/the-natural-way-to-speed-wound-healing.aspx

[missPixy]

I also want to emphasize that the "UMF" rating of manuka honey determines its pharmaceutical strength. That's why you MUST buy a brand that is clearly labeled UMF+16 or a higher number. That is considered "medical strength" honey with a very high level of purity and antibacterial action. Many places sell manuka honey withiut the rating or lower numbers such as 5 or 10.

[Snewman8807]

Have not seen any spiders in the cage at all. There is some rust on the cage and someone told me that if they had chewed on the rust any that it could be tetanus? Also, my husband has been cleaning Mischeifs foot with peroxide today and it does seem to be get to better. Tried epsom salt water but was not helping and Mischief did not like it at all.

[Shewhosweptforest]

Oh no ...this is very disturbing :shakehead I can't imagine what's going on:dono although MRSA is highly contagious.....maybe there was some left in the cage....I know at school, during a MRSA scare, we had to wipe everything down with a special cleaner that would work with MRSA ...evidently it's resistant to many cleaning agents. I hope getting him started on the AB's at an earlier stage will help :please I'm truly soooo sorry you're going through this and the poor squirrels :sadness thank you again for not giving up on them...you, your husband, and your rehabber friend are amazing :blowkiss

[EZsmoother]

I have a squirrel abiut 4 months old that injured a leg and after a few days it looked real bad. He had a bad white spot like his skin was rotting and smelled like it was rotting. Got him to the wildlife rehabber near me and she is even baffled by whats going on. Shes got him on 3 different antibiotics and hes getting worse. Still moving around but his back legs and his tail are literally rotting away. His tail has become hard and stiff and a piece of it has already falling off. Anyone have any idea what it would be? She has been doing this over 20 years and has never seen anything like it. I dont have any pictures. He has been an inside squirrel since he was about 5 weeks old.

What your seeing is rare but it's know in humans as flesh eating bacti. All your can do, for humane resons, is put him down. I have spent time all over the world and leaned of this just by chance. So sorry to here of this.

[Rocky1]

...I knew what I was fighting because I had another culture done.


OP,

Can you get a culture done?

[Anne]

Neither Baytril or SMZ-TMP came anywhere near even slowing things down with Tipsy. Nasty smell is a definite indication of a difficult infection. We added chloramphenicol to the mix finally.

[Milo's Mom]

I'm thrilled Anne is assisting you with this. Please take her recommendations seriously.

This is another product that I and several other here have had excellent (like remarkable) results with. It's called Derma-Gel and it's like God in a bottle. In addition to the meds that Anne is suggesting I also recommend this product. Here is a link to where you can buy it on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Veterinus-Derma-GeL%C2%AE-Tube-100mL/dp/B003MCHX4E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1447336614&sr=8-1&keywords=derma-gel

Here is what Derma-Gel does:


Derma GeLŪ is a hydrocolloid dressing providing a complete and easy wound management through:

- hydrophillic properties (*)
- long term moist environment
- bacterial control
- anti-inflammatory activity
- protective film effect (**)

(*) absorbing wound exudates.
(**) ideal for uncovered wounds or to allow secondaring dressing removal without adherence.

Derma GeLŪ protects the wound bed from foreign contaminants, and enhances the environment essential to thorough wound healing. Non-cytogenotoxic and non sensitizing, Derma GeLŪ hydrates the wound bed with a non-drying hydrogel polymer and humectant combination.
Derma GeLŪ ensures a vital moist environment where epithelial cells are bathed, favoring exponential cell multiplication and migration, increasing wound contraction rate which reduces healing time. The formula maintains its integrity over time without drying out.
Derma GeLŪ forms a uniform porous barrier of protection, staying where it is applied.

[Milo's Mom]

Have not seen any spiders in the cage at all. There is some rust on the cage and someone told me that if they had chewed on the rust any that it could be tetanus? Also, my husband has been cleaning Mischeifs foot with peroxide today and it does seem to be get to better. Tried epsom salt water but was not helping and Mischief did not like it at all.

PLEASE do NOT use peroxide. It kills everything, including all the good new cells that the body is working hard to make. It kills everything, everything, everything. A dilute Betadine solution or dilute Chlorhexidine solution would be MUCH better.

Peroxide will give the appearance that it is getting better but the damage peroxide does is awful.

Also, it is NOT a good idea to use regular water to flush/clean wounds. Please use Saline solution for all wound cleaning and flushing. Regular water damages the cells to a point of no return. Regular water also proliferates bacteria and forms more exudates, and exudates equal juicy wounds and juicy wounds equal more bacteria, which is more infection.

[The Betel Nut]

Tetanus,
mouth will not open, lower body stiffens rapidly, followed by upper limbs.
Within three days of first visual symptoms squirrel will pass.
Penicillin injectable is hard to find.

Does not sound like tetanus.