Injured 2 yr old wild grey - Need help to provide pain relief

[DixiesMom]

Hello ,
I have an adult squirrel who is injured (front paw possibly broken) and he seems to be in a lot of pain. He does not stand straight, can't hold food with his injured paw, his arm is swollen, he is limping and his tail stays down. The front leg is the worst, but it is obvious there is more going on. He is also missing a patch of fur. I suspect a possible fight or attack.

Pretty Boy is a squirrel we released 2 years ago. Right now, he is back in the nest box where he was released. The box is sitting on top of the release cage. At the moment, I would rather not trap him and cause him any unnecessary stress. He can rest in the box and I provide food and water. What I need help with is pain relief. I have Prednisolone at home (5 mg) and if need be, I have a friend who could give me Tramadol and Metacam.
What is the best course of action and what dosage would he need? I estimate his weight at around 600 gr. Ideally, once a day med would be the most practical, since he is not in captivity.

Please help if you can.

[redwuff]

I would put him in RC if at all possible. He is very vulnerable. Most of the time these prior releases really relax once they know they are in safety.

I would give tramadol, Metacam, and an antibiotic for possible broken bone/tissue injury. Baytril is what our vet says to use for broken bone. Do you need dosing?

[redwuff]

Would not give tramadol unless contained. Please get him in he sounds like he is in horrible shape.

[redwuff]

I just watched Dixies tribute with UDoWhat, we are both bawling.....

[DixiesMom]

I would put him in RC if at all possible. He is very vulnerable. Most of the time these prior releases really relax once they know they are in safety.

I would give tramadol, Metacam, and an antibiotic for possible broken bone/tissue injury. Baytril is what our vet says to use for broken bone. Do you need dosing?

Thanks redwuff.
I get what you say that getting him in would be best, but I won't be easy to do. The only way is to get the nest box at night by blocking both holes and taking it off from where it is. I'm afraid he will come out scared and injure himself further. Where he is, he does not need to move much. It really is not a black and white decision to make. Here is a picture of where he is right now. He does get to rest with a minimum stress level and I see him from the window. I literally spent the entire day watching the window. If we do capture him, finding a place for him that would be appropriate would take time to set up. We are far from prepared and the timing could not be worse because we are in the middle of kitchen renovations. It's not to know what is the best for him. I really want to give him pain relief ASAP. Pred is all I have on hand ready to give, but I don't know the dosage to give. Oh my God, I'm so upset and feel so unsure of what is best to do.

288619

[DixiesMom]

I just watched Dixies tribute with UDoWhat, we are both bawling.....

I know what you mean. I still can't watch the video without crying and I've seen it over a hundred times!

[TubeDriver]

Yea, we both just watched it again and are now sitting on our couch sniffling.



I just watched Dixies tribute with UDoWhat, we are both bawling.....

[DixiesMom]

He just came out for the 3rd time today and I filmed him a bit. I don't think his arm is broken after all, because he does move it a little. That is reassuring. You can see for yourself how he manages to move around. It will give you a better idea of the shape is in and whether he is okay to be helped while staying free. My gut feeling is that it's better to leave him where he is than to capture him. Of course, I'll be watching for any sign of worsening. So far, I feel it's slightly better that it seemed earlier today. I really do want to help with pain relief though. Please, anyone who knows how to dose PM me. My next window of opportunity to do so is probably tomorrow morning.



https://youtu.be/IvK-06MOPH8

[UDoWhat]

He just came out for the 3rd time today and I filmed him a bit. I don't think his arm is broken after all, because he does move it a little. That is reassuring. You can see for yourself how he manages to move around. It will give you a better idea of the shape is in and whether he is okay to be helped while staying free. My gut feeling is that it's better to leave him where he is than to capture him. Of course, I'll be watching for any sign of worsening. So far, I feel it's slightly better that it seemed earlier today. I really do want to help with pain relief though. Please, anyone who knows how to dose PM me. My next window of opportunity to do so is probably tomorrow morning.



https://youtu.be/IvK-06MOPH8

I think that it could be broken. If you observe his movements with that arm you can see that he never bends his arm. The movement he makes with that arm to hold his food comes from his shoulder. The arm is quite swollen and could be severely sprained if not broken. I would secure him in the RC if you don't want to bring him inside and keep him there for a few days/weeks if necessary to watch him. At least he would be able to rest and not worry about protecting himself or have to look for food. He needs a chance to rest his arm. I would start him on a few days of infant Ibuprofen for swelling and pain relief. Ideally, I would also start an antibiotic for the possible broken bone. Infant ibuprofen or Motrin is an over the counter drug and can be purchased at any pharmacy.:Love_Icon

[DixiesMom]

I think that it could be broken. If you observe his movements with that arm you can see that he never bends his arm. The movement he makes with that arm to hold his food comes from his shoulder. The arm is quite swollen and could be severely sprained if not broken. I would secure him in the RC if you don't want to bring him inside and keep him there for a few days/weeks if necessary to watch him. At least he would be able to rest and not worry about protecting himself or have to look for food. He needs a chance to rest his arm. I would start him on a few days of infant Ibuprofen for swelling and pain relief. Ideally, I would also start an antibiotic for the possible broken bone. Infant ibuprofen or Motrin is an over the counter drug and can be purchased at any pharmacy.:Love_Icon

Thank you very much for your input. This afternoon, we ended up preparing things in case we decided it was time to capture him. Our release cage that had been re-purposed as a catio when we lost our beloved Dixie is now ready to accommodate Pretty Boy. We are waiting for nightfall to do it. We'll block the holes on the nest box and take it to the enclosure. I hope it is not going to be overly stressful for him and that he won't resent us for too long. We have a special bond with this one.

I will get ibuprofen for now, but we unfortunately do not have any antibiotics. We might have to take him to the vet.
Thank you for your help :Love_Icon

[redwuff]

I hope all went well for you and Pretty Boy:grouphug

[DixiesMom]

Trapping him last night went well. It's raining today, so I am happy he is safe and protected from the rain. I hope he will be resting more because for now he's been moving more than he did before (he was staying in the nest box and only went on top of the cage to eat and drink (just in front of the box).

I want to give him something for the pain ASAP (Ibuprofen for now), but don't have the dosage. He is about 600 gr. He's been in pain for days by now (before he came back injured, he had vanished for 4 days).

[UDoWhat]

Dosing sent. Praying hard for your boy:grouphug

[DixiesMom]

Dosing sent. Praying hard for your boy:grouphug

Thank you so much! He can use all the prayers for sure :Love_Icon
I send him Reiki too. I hope he will recover swiftly and completely.

[DixiesMom]

Dosing sent. Praying hard for your boy:grouphug


I ended up getting metacam from someone and was given the dosage based on the book "wild mammal babies the first 48 hours and beyond". Just spoke with a local rehabber who tells me the dosage I'm giving is way too low. She said that book is unreliable... Can you please PM me the dosage? Don't know who/what to believe anymore. He weighs about 600 gr and what I'm giving is 0.18 ml from a suspension that is 0.5 mg/ml (starting dose I gave was double that). Is it really way too low?

I have not been able to see a vet yet. I found one at last today, but she won't be back until Monday. My poor little boy is suffering and had a terrible day yesterday. I think he's in more pain today than before, because of things he did while being terrified (quite an ordeal he went through yesterday). I haven't even seen him at all today, he's just been in his nest box all day.

I feel horrible for him, I want him to have some relief.
Please help us if you can.

[Nancy in New York]

I ended up getting metacam from someone and was given the dosage based on the book "wild mammal babies the first 48 hours and beyond". Just spoke with a local rehabber who tells me the dosage I'm giving is way too low. She said that book is unreliable... Can you please PM me the dosage? Don't know who/what to believe anymore. He weighs about 600 gr and what I'm giving is 0.18 ml from a suspension that is 0.5 mg/ml (starting dose I gave was double that). Is it really way too low?

I have not been able to see a vet yet. I found one at last today, but she won't be back until Monday. My poor little boy is suffering and had a terrible day yesterday. I think he's in more pain today than before, because of things he did while being terrified (quite an ordeal he went through yesterday). I haven't even seen him at all today, he's just been in his nest box all day.

I feel horrible for him, I want him to have some relief.
Please help us if you can.

You are using a strength of 0.5 mg/ml correct?
That is 3 times LOWER than the WMB 2nd edition book doses,
at 1.5 mg/ml
Which book are you using the 2nd edition, or the 3rd?
How many times daily are you dosing?

[DixiesMom]

You are using a strength of 0.5 mg/ml correct?
That is 3 times LOWER than the WMB 2nd edition book doses,
at 1.5 mg/ml
Which book are you using the 2nd edition, or the 3rd?
How many times daily are you dosing?

Yes the strength is 0.5 mg/ml and I give it once a day.
I don't know the edition the info came from though. I don't own the book myself. Just know that it said in the book 500 gr: 0.1 ml and 750 gr: 0.15 ml and I triple this dosage because of the strength I'm using. That is how I ended up giving 0.36 ml as a loading dose and 0.18 after that (based on the 600 gr estimate).

In the book Exotic Animal Formulary, the dosage is much higher. That is why I am now so confused.

[Nancy in New York]

Yes the strength is 0.5 mg/ml and I give it once a day.
I don't know the edition the info came from though. I don't own the book myself. Just know that it said in the book 500 gr: 0.1 ml and 750 gr: 0.15 ml and I triple this dosage because of the strength I'm using. That is how I ended up giving 0.36 ml as a loading dose and 0.18 after that (based on the 600 gr estimate).

In the book Exotic Animal Formulary, the dosage is much higher. That is why I am now so confused.

I understand the confusion.
The reason I asked which edition of the Wild Mammal Babies book is because their 3rd edition doses 10 times higher than their
2nd edition.

I posted the page from the second ediiton, and the third so you can see the difference.
Look at the red arrow on the 3rd edition where the dose for rodents is 1 mg/kg
In the second edition the loading dose is 0.2 mg/kg with subsequent doses cut in half.


SECOND EDITION

https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-XKBvTGC/0/4b119848/XL/i-XKBvTGC-XL.jpg

THIRD EDITION

https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-rXRcgs5/0/6d66a0f4/XL/i-rXRcgs5-XL.jpg

[DixiesMom]

I understand the confusion.
The reason I asked which edition of the Wild Mammal Babies book is because their 3rd edition doses 10 times higher than their
2nd edition.

I posted the page from the second ediiton, and the third so you can see the difference.
Look at the red arrow on the 3rd edition where the dose for rodents is 1 mg/kg
In the second edition the loading dose is 0.2 mg/kg with subsequent doses cut in half.




.
Thank you so much Nancy. My friend has the second edition then.
Poor baby, he's not been getting enough at all. G should be getting waaaaaaaay more. Must be in so much pain. We ended making an appointment with the vet for tomorrow morning. I don't have enough medicine for the appropriate dosage and at least now we will know his real weight. That might be underestimated too. I hope he won't be too traumatized by the vet visit. I feel so sorry for him.

Thanks again :Love_Icon

[DixiesMom]

It's been a while since I last posted. I wanted to give you a little update on my injured boy.

As of this morning, he's off pain medicine. He doesn't seem to be needing it anymore. He is recovering much more than we had hoped. He can climb up and down, he can jump (pretty high too), he can use his hand to help holding his food. The vet had told us that his chances of recovering enough to be releasable were pretty slim, but slim is better than none. We are starting to wonder if a release is possible with him (once completely healed). If only his broken arm was the issue, we would probably think that it is possible, based on how well he is compensating with his other 3 limbs. It's the paralyzed tail that is more of a concern in the wild. He could get a sore from dragging it that could get infected. He also could not regulate his temperature as well. It will be a tough call, because we cannot ignore the fact that he doesn't seem happy at all in captivity. He is trying very hard to chew his way out of the cage. And because we can't be around him in his cage, we can't have that bond that can provide comfort and company to a captive squirrel... Although it's only been 3 weeks and progress can be made. When we had our Dixie (paralyzed from the waist down), it took a long time to be able to touch her again.

I wish I could share pictures or videos, but it's not very easy through the cage and with him hiding when we are around. We have been watching him using a Wifi camera, and that is how we can to see him when he is the most active. It's kinda cool! Even on the go, we can see him on our phones!

Here is a picture of him back when we he was a baby, and the other one taken on release day (look at that bushy tail!)

289181289180

[HRT4SQRLS]

Don't count the boy out! If the limp tail is the only obstacle to release I would consider amputating the tail so that it doesn't drag. I would leave a short tail. I have a Dixie also. :grin2 She has a 2 inch tail. She is living large in the trees. Her bob tail is adorable.
289183289182

[DixiesMom]

Don't count the boy out! If the limp tail is the only obstacle to release I would consider amputating the tail so that it doesn't drag. I would leave a short tail. I have a Dixie also. :grin2 She has a 2 inch tail. She is living large in the trees. Her bob tail is adorable.
289183289182

Thanks!
We are considering amputation. The vet also said that perhaps his tail skin will become harder and it would protect itself from getting sores. She compared it to a rat who drags his tail without it being an issue.

I would love to get a better idea of what amputating a tail entails. How long is the recovery? What does the caretaker need to do? Does the squirrel need to be kept in a small cage during recovery? Those are all things we need to factor in when weighing his options. The absolute ideal scenario would be a release wihhout amputation.

[Chickenlegs]

Sweeper has a girl (Nougie) raised, tail amputated finally after terrible issues with drag sores, and successfully released. You can talko her. Last I heard, Nougie is living large in the trees behind their house, bob tail and all. I don't think that tail will callous. It WILL get dragged raw and become infected.

[TubeDriver]

I agree with CL. Squirrel tails that drag tend to get sores, not calloused. I think I squirrel with a bob tail can do fine outside!



Sweeper has a girl (Nougie) raised, tail amputated finally after terrible issues with drag sores, and successfully released. You can talko her. Last I heard, Nougie is living large in the trees behind their house, bob tail and all. I don't think that tail will callous. It WILL get dragged raw and become infected.

[Nancy in New York]

A few years back there was a wild squirrel in our yard with a limp/dragging tail.
The one big concern I had was watching him try to climb a tree with "snow balls"
clustered on his tail.They really weighted him down and climbing was difficult with
the additional weight.
Hopefully they melted off before he attempted to leap to another branch. :shakehead

[DixiesMom]

I agree with CL. Squirrel tails that drag tend to get sores, not calloused. I think I squirrel with a bob tail can do fine outside!

I think the vet suggesting that it might callous is out of ignorance about squirrels. I trust what you guys say more. Vets around here (Quebec, Canada) don't know much about squirrels... sadly. I think I will start a separate post to ask people to share their amputation stories. I want to know as much as possible before making a decision and plan accordingly. Right now, the only indoor cage we have (critter nation) is occupied by 2 babies and will be for 7 more weeks. Well, we do have a rabbit cage, but I could not bare the thought of putting him in such a confined space. Even the critter nation is so darn small for an adult squirrel.

[DixiesMom]

A few years back there was a wild squirrel in our yard with a limp/dragging tail.
The one big concern I had was watching him try to climb a tree with "snow balls"
clustered on his tail.They really weighted him down and climbing was difficult with
the additional weight.
Hopefully they melted off before he attempted to leap to another branch. :shakehead

Do you mean the squirrel had both a limping limb and a dragging tail? That would be like Pretty Boy. I would love to know how long he managed to survive like this.
It's so tough to judge for others what is best for them. If Pretty Boy could choose between a shorter life in the wild or a longer one safe in captivity, what would he choose? I would gladly grant his wish If I knew what it was. My gut feeling is that he would choose freedom, even if that meant a shorter life.

[DixiesMom]

Sweeper has a girl (Nougie) raised, tail amputated finally after terrible issues with drag sores, and successfully released. You can talko her. Last I heard, Nougie is living large in the trees behind their house, bob tail and all. I don't think that tail will callous. It WILL get dragged raw and become infected.

Will start a separate post about amputation and hopefully Sweeper will chime in. Thanks!

[Nancy in New York]

Do you mean the squirrel had both a limping limb and a dragging tail? That would be like Pretty Boy. I would love to know how long he managed to survive like this.
It's so tough to judge for others what is best for them. If Pretty Boy could choose between a shorter life in the wild or a longer one safe in captivity, what would he choose? I would gladly grant his wish If I knew what it was. My gut feeling is that he would choose freedom, even if that meant a shorter life.

No, he only had the dragging tail, no limping limbs.
I suspect some sort of lower spinal injury.
I think if Pretty Boy were totally happy indoors that would be his choice, BUT who
knows if he would always accept that or would he yearn to have his freedom.
Some people will keep a squirrel regardless,
but I call them prisoners then, and the people, hoarders. :(
Keeping something alive with no quality of life, is not a life.
There is no doubt in my mind, you will put his best interest first. :hug

[DixiesMom]

There is no doubt in my mind, you will put his best interest first. :hug

Thank you for saying that Nancy. That means a lot :Love_Icon