Advice needed!!!

[Caringheart]

I found a grey squirrel will actually he found me. He was dragging his back legs when he came up to me. I have a lot of animal experience and found TSB while I was looking for help.He is full grown and has a scabbed over injury looking like a grubb worm hole or possibly gun shot injury its already healed over and hard to tell what happened. No bleeding or anything like that .I have contacted several vets and rehab centers with no luck one lady told me to put it back and let nature take its course. I can't do that am willing to help him anyway I can. I was a vet tech for a vet in Ms that did wildlife and I have experience with squirrel care.I started giving sugar water to rehydrate him noticed he didn't urinate started expressing bladder and today I was doing his bladder and wiping him he went a little on his own and is showing signs of leg movements but not his tail. I no longer work and stay home so he has around the clock care.I do have meds just need a dosing chart and advice I was thinking mayb some pain meds and antibiotic and see if I can't get this guy back in the trees.I have tramadol 50mg or naproxen 375mg. Antibiotics I have a wide range due to all my rescues all in date still amoxicillin 500mg,doxycycline 100mg ,metronidazole 500mg or clindamycin150mg any help would be great.I would be willing to keep until I find someone I will pay a vet bill get a permit.He wants to live and he has been so good for me Like I said he found me and I want to give him my very best at making him better.

[SophieSquirrel]

I found a grey squirrel will actually he found me. He was dragging his back legs when he came up to me. I have a lot of animal experience and found TSB while I was looking for help.He is full grown and has a scabbed over injury looking like a grubb worm hole or possibly gun shot injury its already healed over and hard to tell what happened. No bleeding or anything like that .I have contacted several vets and rehab centers with no luck one lady told me to put it back and let nature take its course. I can't do that am willing to help him anyway I can. I was a vet tech for a vet in Ms that did wildlife and I have experience with squirrel care.I started giving sugar water to rehydrate him noticed he didn't urinate started expressing bladder and today I was doing his bladder and wiping him he went a little on his own and is showing signs of leg movements but not his tail. I no longer work and stay home so he has around the clock care.I do have meds just need a dosing chart and advice I was thinking mayb some pain meds and antibiotic and see if I can't get this guy back in the trees.I have tramadol 50mg or naproxen 375mg. Antibiotics I have a wide range due to all my rescues all in date still amoxicillin 500mg,doxycycline 100mg ,metronidazole 500mg or clindamycin150mg any help would be great.I would be willing to keep until I find someone I will pay a vet bill get a permit.He wants to live and he has been so good for me Like I said he found me and I want to give him my very best at making him better.

Good for you going against her advice! He needs you and obviously wants to live. The wound could have been from a cat attack or pellet gun. If it was a .22 due to the high velocity it would have exited and killed him. Use plain Pedialyte to re-hydrate, not sugar water - do not use for more than 24 hours. Try feeding some clean washed seedless grapes or blueberries. Could also have been a fall due to being shot out of a tree or a fall due to weakness from injury/infection causing a spinal injury. Could by a systemic infection. Hopefully Nancy or Hrt4 squirrels will pop on and help you dose. I PM'ed them.

Can you get a fecal done? Tell the vet it's for a pet rat or I have a place you can send it. There are NO permits in GA so keep him on the QT.

Do you have Betadine Solution? Try cleaning the would with Betadine diluted down to around 10% with water (the color of light tea).

In the meantime here is the rat safe antibiotics chart: Rats have similar taxonomy to squirrels: http://www.rmca.org/Articles/dchart.htm

[Mel1959]

Thank you for helping him. The scabbed over injury you mentioned, where is it located? Is it near his spinal cord? Could it be a BB that penetrated his skin and injured his spine causing the rear end paralysis? There are also bot flys that get into the skin and the larvae grow and then erupt through the skin and leave a hole that would then scab over. Does the injury look inflamed or infected? Does he act like he’s in pain?

You say this is an adult squirrel? Is he eating foods? There is a squirrel Nutrition section in this forum that has a list of foods that squirrels might eat. Because he’s wild he may not go for a lot of the stuff on the list but you can try. I have found the wilds in my yard will eat avocado, fresh coconut, small pieces of corn, banana, apple, blueberries, sugar snap peas. You don’t want to feed him just nuts or a lot of corn, these items are not healthy for him.

Do you know anyone who might have prednisone? It may help with the paralysis, but it could take weeks of treatment. If you think he’s in pain we recommend metacam (meloxicam) or infant ibuprofen. Someone on here can help you dose if you can let us know the strength of the medicine. If you can post a picture it would help to estimate his weight.

[Caringheart]

Thank you so much. I gave sugar water only a few times yesterday to get him to drink he is drinking water good now not eating a lot but will nibble. He only weighs 1 lbs. I know some bout their care but willing to listen learn and act. He has got to my heart for sure.

[Caringheart]

He weighs 1 lbs. He has been eating some I've been offering a wide variety of foods thats on the list. The injury is above his shoulders.I even went to the woods where I found him and gathered all the squirrel approved foods from the wild to help get him eating he likes pine cones to chew. He seems sore and stiff the injury does have a exit spot under the other front leg

[redwuff]

Is there any reason to do antibiotics? Do you see any sign of infection? If the area of scabbing feels hot, you might do warm compress to see if it will open up. I can dose tramadol for you for pain, and prednisone for inflammation would be important, but I did not see that on your list of meds. Will send tramadol dose by pm.

[SophieSquirrel]

He weighs 1 lbs. He has been eating some I've been offering a wide variety of foods thats on the list. The injury is above his shoulders.I even went to the woods where I found him and gathered all the squirrel approved foods from the wild to help get him eating he likes pine cones to chew. He seems sore and stiff the injury does have a exit spot under the other front leg

Might be a pellet entry/exit and might also be two bite marks from each side of a predators jaws. Best to get on approved antibiotics at the proper dose ASAP.

Can you take photos of him and the wounds and post? It's the little green "scene" square next to the film strip above the text area.

Edit: Redwuff, what do you think about low dose SMZ-TMP just to be on the safe side? Could be a low grade infection....

[Caringheart]

Is there any reason to do antibiotics? Do you see any sign of infection? If the area of scabbing feels hot, you might do warm compress to see if it will open up. I can dose tramadol for you for pain, and prednisone for inflammation would be important, but I did not see that on your list of meds. Will send tramadol dose by pm.

Sorry trying to learn how to use form lol am so much better wither animals than my phone

[Caringheart]

Might be a pellet entry/exit and might also be two bite marks from each side of a predators jaws. Best to get on approved antibiotics at the proper dose ASAP.

Can you take photos of him and the wounds and post? It's the little green "scene" square next to the film strip above the text area.

I have a video trying to up load it but can't get it to work

[Caringheart]

It does seem like something is going on in there ive been cleaning it with a iodine cleanse. Ive been wearing gloves to handle him the furr in that area gets stiff but not seeing any oozing.

[redwuff]

How easy is he to handle. If he is easy, he should not be. Either he is VERY sick, you absolutely are the squirrel whisperer, or he is in shock. Just take care, once he feels better, he might let you know he is a wild boy.

SophieSquirrel abt giving abs, I guess since caringheart was a vet tech, I am trusting his/her experience to be able to tell abt infection. My big concern is spinal injury and meds to decrease any inflammation that might help spinal healing. Of course abs at any sign of infection.

Is there any chance of getting an X-ray? Be very careful abt any vet you do not know.

[Caringheart]

He is not easy to handle but there is some trust in me on his part.. He will let me doctor him I keep his head covered so not to get bit and when getting him out of cage I wear gloves I got to look good just now I don't see any infection signs I removed one of the scabs while cleaning him just now and nothing oozing bleeding or opened if you have a email maybe I can send you a video I would really appreciate any and all help the vet I worked for in ms passed away a few years back and idk a vet here but am willing to pay for xray or whatever you can advise if he needs to be euthanized due to injury I understand but I want to give him my very best first.I rescue what most call hopeless cases I have a two legged tortoise that was to be euthanized by owners that let thier dog attack him. I will do all I can

[redwuff]

He is not easy to handle but there is some trust in me on his part.. He will let me doctor him I keep his head covered so not to get bit and when getting him out of cage I wear gloves I got to look good just now I don't see any infection signs I removed one of the scabs while cleaning him just now and nothing oozing bleeding or opened if you have a email maybe I can send you a video I would really appreciate any and all help the vet I worked for in ms passed away a few years back and idk a vet here but am willing to pay for xray or whatever you can advise if he needs to be euthanized due to injury I understand but I want to give him my very best first.I rescue what most call hopeless cases I have a two legged tortoise that was to be euthanized by owners that let thier dog attack him. I will do all I can

is there anyone that could upload a video for caringheart?. CH can you upload pictures? Giving this sweet boy any and all chances is what TSB is all about. Thank you

[Nancy in New York]

I suggest making an account on YouTube or SmugMug.
https://www.youtube.com/
https://www.smugmug.com/
Load the video there, and then put the link on the board.

[Nancy in New York]

If you want to email me a video, I will try to save it and
see if I can get it on the board.
For some reason, many times it doesn't allow me to save videos,
but we can give it a try if you want.
Sending you my email address in a pm.

[redwuff]

What area of ga are you in. We might know of a safe vet.

[Spanky]

Redwuff's suggestion to use Tramadol is a great one since that leaves open the possibility of trying Prednisone as suggested. You cannot give NSAIDs (Ibuprofen/Meloxicam) with prednisone.

Where in GA are you? Maybe I can help in getting vet help and X-Rays and vet help.

Do you have access to any Prednisone?

I have experience with many injured and sick wilds (paralysis from HBC, gunshot, tumors, HBC Trauma, etc.) and as Crittermom says sometimes the "wild" simply gets knocked out of them temporarily. I suspect your experience with animals helps, and while you should always take precautions (or you will pay the price, I certainly have), I have found that the wilds can be "cooperative" when you are trying to help them. Long way of saying just because they are calmer than expected is not necessarily indicative that their situation is worse than it may appear. My 2 cents. Though this guy seems in very rough shape.

I am going to PM my home phone since I will not have much time on TSB today, too many chores.

[Caringheart]

Okay thank y'all so much everyone has been so paitient but I got them on https://w-m.smugmug.com hopefully I did it right

[cava]

What is going on in the first two photos with his rump? I'm confused by them.

[Caringheart]

The pics of him on the create is how we found him.the other picture are of his shoulders and it feels like some type of old injury but thats all I could find to explain why he might be paralyzed today he is much better he has started urinating more at a time on his own he has not moved his tail but will bush it out at me and he enjoyed the morning sunshine I brought his cage out and sat with him.he also moves legs when I wipe his potty areas.

[Caringheart]

I just want to tell everyone thank you.TSB is awesome and everyone has been so helpful.Its awesome to see all of y'all pull together to help a furr friend. I have done a lot of rescue work in my day and a lot times its more fighting and less bout the furr babies.I want the absolute best for this guy God put him in my life to help in anyway that I can. A big thank you for helping me and anything I can do to help back I will.

[HRT4SQRLS]

Thanks for helping this poor guy.
Check the wound on the shoulder closely for fly eggs. I 'think' I see a small fly larvae on the wound when I enlarge it on my iPad. If it is indeed a fly larvae you need to dose him with Capstar.

I see something suspicious on the close up of the wound towards the bottom on the left. This is the pic with the white and yellow towel covering his head.

[redwuff]

I concur with Hrt. It looks like there could be fly eggs by the shoulder. Did you get a chance to look? If you find any you can use tape and a flea comb to get them out. He needs to be thoroughly checked. Do you have any capstar?

[Mel1959]

I re-read your thread. A couple of folks have offered to help you find a vet and asked where you are located in GA. I didn’t read where you had responded or answered their question. Since you said you have tramadol and Clindamycin, have either of these been dosed for him? I think this guy should get to a vet and get started on some meds. If you can’t find any prednisone I will send you some if you pm me your address. Prednisone may make all the difference in his ability to recover. He should be on some type of anti-inflammatory. IMO

[redwuff]

Mel, he has been dosed and given tramadol. That's all as far as I know. Would love to see pred given and an X-ray taken.

[Snicker Bar]

We may be too far away, but would gladly donate an x day for you . We are in NE MS. But it sounds like since you are seeing some leg movement and bladder control, the spinal cord could still be intact. At least up to the base of the tail. If he has deep pain ( if he actually feels , not to be mistaken for reflex movements ) when you firmly (wear gloves!) pinch a paw with a hemostat , then the cord isn’t severed. Hopefully it’s just bruised or inflamed, and will heal in time .

[Caringheart]

Ive been working with some help out of ga to get a vet asap hopefully today .it was pieces of towel in the pictures when I found him he didn't have any flies or any open wounds..I have been giving tramadol but held off on antibiotics since we might be able to get him in to a vet..he is eating more and seems to be feeling some better.

[SophieSquirrel]

Did you find a "safe" vet?

[Caringheart]

We got a vet so Arlo and me are going to take a trip together thank you everyone.prayers for Arlo I don't have a lot but I will give what I got to help him fingers crossed he will be okay. Special thanks to ga squirrel.

[redwuff]

What did the vet find out about Arlo?:grouphug

[Caringheart]

Arlo got meds the vet feels like with some time maybe he will make a full recovery he had deep pain response we just got home long trip with rain and traffic. They felt an x ray wasn't needed now but if he isn't better next Monday we will go back for one.

[Nancy in New York]

Arlo got meds the vet feels like with some time maybe he will make a full recovery he had deep pain response we just got home long trip with rain and traffic. They felt an x ray wasn't needed now but if he isn't better next Monday we will go back for one.

Thank you for coming back on to let us know how everything went.
Now you and Arlo, go get some rest. It's been a long day. :hug

[Spanky]

(CH, I hope you do not mind but I am going to fill in more info here since we have tons of experienced folks helping in Arlo's thread).

Arlo received an injection of dexamethasone and was also placed on Baytril. Wait a few days a reassess.

I am preparing a care package to mail out tomorrow: Pred, Gabapentin, Capstar, FV 20/50 (Arlo readily takes water from a syringe, so we’ll try some formula?), HHB’s. Let me know if there are suggestions for anything else I have not considered and I can include.

How strongly do folks feel about also giving a dose of Capstar? I don't think this was mentioned to the vet and the vet did not apparently see a need to recommend such treatment, but we know Capstar to be a relatively "safe" medication.

[island rehabber]

How strongly do folks feel about also giving a dose of Capstar? I don't think this was mentioned to the vet and the vet did not apparently see a need to recommend such treatment, but we know Capstar to be a relatively "safe" medication.

Just to be on the safe side I would Google every med Arlo is being given against contraindications to Capstar. It is probably fine, but just in case. :grin2

[Caringheart]

Wow!!! what a difference the meds have made this morning Arlo was out of his house waiting on me (breakfast). He is more active and fussing at me the way he should.so happy to see him acting like a wild squirrel gives me hope that he can soon go get his own pine cones again. He didn't like the baytril can't blame him.I was thinking maybe a little honey on the end of the syringe to help.Any advice on that??

[redwuff]

So glad to hear he is doing better! Honey on the tip might get him to like the tip but he still won't like the contents. Are you giving it once or twice a day? With a big boy like him, I would gently pick him up in a piece of fleece and just get it in him. Maybe others have more creative ways to do it.

[Nancy in New York]

Wow!!! what a difference the meds have made this morning Arlo was out of his house waiting on me (breakfast). He is more active and fussing at me the way he should.so happy to see him acting like a wild squirrel gives me hope that he can soon go get his own pine cones again. He didn't like the baytril can't blame him.I was thinking maybe a little honey on the end of the syringe to help.Any advice on that??

What a wonderful update.
Is this Baytril from the vet, and is it in suspension. I'm guessing so.
If honey on the tip doesn't work........
put the correct amount of Baytril in the grooves of an out of the shell pecan. Let it dry.
You can actually make these all up ahead of time.
How many days is he on the Baytril?
This is the way I always dose outdoor squirrels and it never fails, give it a try.
Thanks for the great update! :w00t

[Caringheart]

He has to take it once a day. It could be his feeling better and just done with me lol. He spit some out but he got most..I gave water afterwards and he drank.

[Caringheart]

Thank you that's a perfect idea! He gave me 10 days worth 1cc/day. I will fix him one for tomorrow and let you know in the morning.

[Nancy in New York]

Thank you that's a perfect idea! He gave me 10 days worth 1cc/day. I will fix him one for tomorrow and let you know in the morning.

Just double check that dosing.
1 cc is "off the charts" for dosing Baytril.
Do you know his weight?
Can you post a picture of the meds he gave you
along with the directions.

[Caringheart]

Correction on baytril .10cc/day I just seen that my bad

[Spanky]

Wow!!! what a difference the meds have made this morning Arlo was out of his house waiting on me (breakfast).

I am wondering if this means he using using his rear legs? Maybe more movement in the tail?

And if you have a kitchen scale and can weigh Arlo and share his weight with us, that would be great. I am thinking Prednisone and / or Gabapentin started later in the week unless Arlo does super-fantastic on the Dex.

[Caringheart]

I weight him for the tramadol and he was 1lb kinda thin looking but he is eating more today. He is still dragging back legs still but he is pulling them more under his body than he was.He also has been coming in and out of his little house.This morning he was out waiting that was a first.He is more active and talkative lol.

[Spanky]

Has there been any improvements with Arlo's rear end paralysis?

[Caringheart]

content://media/external/file/8214. Arlo's new movement I been doing leg exercises with him.He also has been on his baytril from the vet and valley fox formula he takes 3tsp twice a day and loves the Henry blocks drinks water been doing better but dragging back legs still but not as much as he was he also is very quick. Hope the video post he likes me to scratch his tail now!!!

[Spanky]

I do not believe that link is valid, can you double check it? :thumbsup

[Caringheart]

https://moorew.smugmug.com/Arlo-/n-5rJgkt. Update on his movement with his legs

[redwuff]

Very cool! You are doing great. Did he go back to the vet on Monday ?

[Caringheart]

Tue we go back if needed waiting to hear what they think but he seems to be getting some function in his legs. maybe some prednisone therapy should be started? advice welcomed

[Spanky]

Good to see Arlo moving those legs! :w00t:dance:grouphug

If you get a chance to post a video of him moving around... to see how much he is using those rear legs to move and how much he is dragging them, that would be helpful.

Is his tail moving at all? I know you said he "fluffs" it out when he gets agitated, just hoping he is actually able to move it some now.

I am also wondering if you have any thoughts about if this could be a pelvic / leg injury / break(s)? The vet probably would have noticed that on his exam, but you have spent much more time with sweet Arlo.

Arlo was at the vet last Monday, so if he is to continue the Dex therapy he should get another dose today or tomorrow. Starting a prednisone regiment (and perhaps adding gabapentin?) is another way to go.

(Note to TSB at large: I sent CH Pred & gabapentin last week).

[Spanky]

CH was up all night with a sick child and this is going to impact her ability to get to the vet today. It had been my plan to meet her at the clinic. The trip is quite a journey for and not one that can be made with sick kids.

Since it has been a week wince Arlo received an injection of Dexamethasone, I sent her doing info for Prednisone and Gabapentin to get Arlo started on that today.

I asked her to keep us updated daily in event we want to adjust the dosing based upon Arlo's response.

(I hope everyone starts feeling better very soon).