Is this Pox?!?!?!

[Spanky]

Laverne and Shirley went for a vet visit today. Laverne had developed what I thought to be an abscess above her eye the last 5 - 7 days that was not improving.
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Yesterday I noted a "skin tag" kinda thing on her torso.
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Fed them just before taking them into the vet and noted what looked to maybe be a rash on her lower abdomen.
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At the vets I noticed another lesion / bump on her ankle.
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Also today, here sister Shirley's eye lids started to swell up today.
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The doc's best guess is pox and he gave me a script for acyclovir liquid (but he was unsure of dosing) and I do have valacyclovir tables.. not sure which is most effective.

[Milo's Mom]

:eek

[Nancy in New York]

Laverne and Shirley went for a vet visit today. Laverne had developed what I thought to be an abscess above her eye the last 5 - 7 days that was not improving.
286579
Yesterday I noted a "skin tag" kinda thing on her torso.
286577
Fed them just before taking them into the vet and noted what looked to maybe be a rash on her lower abdomen.
286578
At the vets I noticed another lesion / bump on her ankle.
286580
Also today, Shirley's eye lids started to swell up.
286581
The doc's best guess is pox and he gave me a script for acyclovir liquid (but he was unsure of dosing) and I do have valacyclovir tables.. not sure which is most effective.





Contact CritterMom she is the pox expert.
:hug

[Spanky]

Contact CritterMom she is the pox expert.
:hug

Thanks Nancy, I sent her an IM with a link to this thread.

I should have mentioned the other, lessor possibility the vet suggested was ringworm... I dunno. None of the telltale fungal rings have presented on me though... at least not yet? :eek

[Mel1959]

Doesn't look like ringworm to me. Unfortunately, it does look like pox. Many years ago I was feeding lots of wilds and there was a major outbreak of pox with my wilds. The eyes always seemed to be affected.

As for acyclovir vs. valacyclovir, I really have no idea which would be better or how the two work. I'm not sure if one works faster or lasts longer. It would be great to know, though, if Crittermom has the answer.

[island rehabber]

I would say YES to pox -- it appears initially on the face, genital area and paws. You are catching it in the early stage, when acyclovir works really well.

[Meirby]

Looks a lot like it to me. I still have the acyclovir that's left from my 3. Do you need me to send it to you?

[Spanky]

Looks a lot like it to me. I still have the acyclovir that's left from my 3. Do you need me to send it to you?

What a wonderful offer, I thank you for your generous offer. The vet has provided my a script for the acyclovir so we are all set here at Sandy's Squirrel Spa!! :thumbsup

[Meirby]

What a wonderful offer, I thank you for your generous offer. The vet has provided my a script for the acyclovir so we are all set here at Sandy's Squirrel Spa!! :thumbsup

I figured you were already set. It's been so long since I even got on. Best of luck! Pox=no fun

[Spanky]

It is with a heavy heart that I report Shirley has left us overnight, sometime between midnight and 6AM. She was not long gone this morning when I checked in on her...

Last week the vet had suggested optimism (an optimism I had not had at the time, but his optimism was contagious) that she may just need more time for the paralysis; she had recovered the use of her tail fully and there was this one little toe... she'd started moving it last week. You know when you are feeding them and they get excited and they stretch their legs behind them and flex their toesies, spreading them apart? Shirley had one little toe that started having that same response consistently at feeding times...

But that was when the damn Pox was just starting to develop in both Laverne and Shirley. Life was unfair to this sweet girl, first the injury and then the pox. But she was a fighter and never seemed in any distress until last night around 9PM. Her breathing seemed labored so I held her for a while but then I actually thought maybe I was imagining it since she seemed okay after some snuggles.

FWIW Shirley's response to the pox was much different than her sister's. She was more puffy overall, her fur became much courser.. of course, the prednisone and gabapentin certainly exacerbated the issue. But what may be worth noting is the development of the pox on her paralyzed legs. It was not the same "wart-like" pox development as on her torso (and her sister), but elongated swelling running the lengths of her legs. They had only started weeping the past day or two while Laverne's pox is already drying up (yeah for Laverne). If this is the typical of the way pox will ravage a paralyzed baby, I would suggest it is a fight that likely unwinnable...

RIP Shirley, your life was much too short and denied you ever the chance of knowing the brilliant squirrel life in the tree tops.... :sad

[Nancy in New York]

I am heartbroken that Shirley lost her fight.
It was a tough one, but with you helping her every
step of the way,
you helped her carry that load.
Thank you for loving her, holding her, and allowing
her to cross over with compassion, love and tears.

Rest in Peace
Precious Shirley 287183

[stepnstone]

It is with a heavy heart that I report Shirley has left us overnight, sometime between midnight and 6AM. She was not long gone this morning when I checked in on her...
Sorry to read this, unfortunately it was just not meant to be, what empty words that all seems but
I know you gave her the best care, love and chance to overcome. :grouphug



If this is the typical of the way pox will ravage a paralyzed baby, I would suggest it is a fight that likely unwinnable...

I have not read of another surviving paralyzed squirrel with pox,:dono it would be interesting to learn
if this is the pattern pox takes with paralysis. If this is so with such an already compromised baby
I am inclined to agree with you. :(

[TubeDriver]

As Step said, it was just not meant to be.:(

But you both put up a noble front and Shirley went down fighting it to the very end.:grouphug


Godspeed Shirley.

[ScrappyDo]

I'm so sorry.

[Lighten-Up]

:Love_Icon :grouphug :Love_Icon

[Jen413]

So sorry to hear about your baby. :grouphug

[Mel1959]

Very sorry to read this. Rest in Peace Shirley. :grouphug

[Scooterzmom]

Thank you for caring for her, the love and warmth you gave her were the one good thing life ofered her. I'm sure this is what she took with her and will remain your angel forever now.

R.I.P. sweet Shirley. You can go free and join all other angels now.

[Spanky]

Laverne is next up in the rotation for the very busy RC. She still has some spots /scars from the pox lesions. Can any pox experienced folks reassure me that these are nothing to worry about? Here is a pic of her muzzle where you can clearly see where once there was a pox sore. She has another on her thigh where a very large pox once existed and some smaller areas as well.
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[CritterMom]

It takes a long time for the fur to finally grow on the lesions, especially the really bad ones. It looks like she has whiskers right in the middle of that scarring though. I thinks she's good to go!

[kcassidy]

Hi,

I had 2 squirrels last year and both are released here on my property and they both look fabulous. One of them, Ella Enchanted had babies and she and they all look fabulous.

It did take a long time for the dried lesions to disappear. I have pix of her when the pox was at its worse and then some of her from early summer this year showing it is all gone, if you want to see them let me know.

Good luck

[Meirby]

Of my 3 pox babies, I only had one survivor (he never seemed quite as sick as his sisters) but his lesions were pretty bad. He is happy, healthy and completely healed now. He was released several months ago and has only recently stopped coming to me... but he is 100% scar free. I'll see if I can get my last video of him up close to post.

[Meirby]

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This was his back at the beginning... that huge pox right in the middle of his back https://youtu.be/ymU5sWJFl7Y

[cava]

This was his back at the beginning... that huge pox right in the middle of his back https://youtu.be/ymU5sWJFl7Y

I love that you named him Ron!

[niapet]

I'm so sorry... I know this pain... I'm sooooo... soo... sorry...

[Meirby]

I love that you named him Ron!

There were 3.. Ron, Hermione and Harriet

[Spanky]

LaVerne continues to thrive and visits several times a week now... though I knwo she is "around" most of the time. She had taken up semi-permanent residence in the release cage until I a regular for quite a while until I relocated her to the "ante-room" of the release cage (it is rather large (32" wide, 6' tall and 6' long) so I could rotate the Spring babies through... and she moved back after 8 days of Rodney leaving... only to be evicted back to the ante-room.

LaVerne has now claimed the nest box not far and above her former release cage after it's occupants move to leafy nests high up for the summer. I can spy here out there most evenings laying atop the box before turning in for the night.

That dark spot on her muzzle, where there was a large pox back in the day, continues to nag me. It seems darker, but then again she is molting some but I wonder (worry?) that maybe it is getting too much sun.

[Spanky]

Well, a few short days after my last post Laverne went MIA. I have been fretting about her daily and finally, finally, and I mean FINALLY she made an appearance yesterday after 16 days (but who's counting?!?!?). She has lost quite a bit of weight, her tail is scraggly but overall nothing alarming. Is it too early for babies? LoL I saw no signs of nursing, but otherwise I’d suspect she has had kits.


Laverne has always been a “home body” though she had gone a couple days at a time without my having seen her. And of course I had some guilt about her attachment to the release cage and my need to continue to release babies. She still has access to the ante-chamber but has not been in there in 4 weeks.

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