13 week old unable to use front paws

[Timberthesquirrel]

Im posting about my buddy Timber, I have had her since she was a week and a half she is now 13 weeks and still cannot eat solid foods. Im syringe feeding her organic baby food. She is unable to grasp anything with her front paws its as though she has no strength in them. Even when I hold food for her she isn’t able to bite it she acts as if she doesn’t know how, she has no problems biting my fiance though LOL! I have always suspected neuro issues since she was able to walk she just goes in circles, that has gotten much better as she has gotten older she is able to grasp the bars of her cage to climb she clings onto toys and swings around on them she just seems to lack the ability to hold food and eat. A member in another group suggested prednisone or meloxicam I have prednisone but she said there was a risk of sudden death at 15 months so I said no thanks she told me she would send me a meloxicam on two different occasions and I never received it. Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I never thought I would love a squirrel but I definitely love this little dingle berry but I take care of my elderly parents and syringe feeding her for the next x amount of years would be very difficult to do.

[island rehabber]

​I know of two incidents where members here treated squirrels who could not use their front paws with prednisone, and it worked beautifully. I have never heard of this "15-month old death" thing and question its validity , to be honest. SammysMom may be able to describe for you how well prednisone worked for one of hers; Nancy in NY also.

Also, can you post a picture of your little one? It almost sounds as if you may have a dwarf squirrel here....

[Timberthesquirrel]

Thank you, so much for the quick response island rehabber!!! I’m not sure how to get in touch with Sammy’s mom but hopefully she will see my post. I would definitely be willing to try the prednisone if there are no sudden death issues I wouldn’t know where to begin with the dosing. As I said she is doing much better with the walking in circles. She has always had struggles and she has never been quite a “normal” squirrel, her nest tree was cut and she fell onto the blacktop her entire family was killed in the fall she was the lone survivor. But some of the delays have gotten better with age. I sometimes wonder if she even knows she is a squirrel or that she’s supposed to use her paws to eat or if that was something I should have taught her to do. I started offering solids when she was age appropriate but she was never able to get the hang of holding them and even when I place them in a dish she isn’t able to bite and chew them. Thank you again sorry for the length of my posts.

[Chickenlegs]

You read my mind IR. If she’s normal size, likely severely neuro but anytime I here “ having trouble holding food” I see my dwarf babies. A picture will tell for sure.

[Timberthesquirrel]

Let me try to figure out how to post a pic and I will definitely do so also one more thing she doesn’t appear to have any jaw teeth at all. She has both upper fronts and lower fronts but no jaw teeth. At her age shouldn’t she have them by now?

[Timberthesquirrel]

Here are two pics, I will post more if needed.

[Timberthesquirrel]

I added this one too, Timber in her home made harness. ❤️😊

[Chickenlegs]

The way those sweet hands are held makes me think of an injured squirrel I had awhile back. He was hawk caught. Tubedriver named the condition—a condition I can’t for the life of me name. Maybe he can take a look. It’s a neuro condition. Your baby isn’t a dwarf—tho she IS precious.

[TubeDriver]

So many possibilities. I think it is worth a course of pred to see if it helps. One of the photos you posted resembles decorticate posturing in some ways, this indicates fairly severe neurological damage. However, in the other 2 photos this is not seen which suggests that he either improved or it was just a coincidence that he looked that way in that single photo.

We are somewhat limited in what we can try with head trauma but there are lots of case of squirrels responding well to prednisone and we have not seen any sudden deaths as a result of using it.

It might also be helpful to try to encourage him to use his paws as much as possible. Give him something that he might hold, encourage him to play with a stuffie etc etc. If you give an whole almond treat, he may well need to hold it in order to chew on it. He should also be on rodent block daily. Unsalted, almonds in shell would also require him to hold the almond in order to open the shell. But don't overdo the almonds, they are really a treat and not regular food.

[Timberthesquirrel]

Could anyone help me with prednisone dosing? It’s 20mg and she weighs 320 grams

[Timberthesquirrel]

Also, I have tried to give her rodent blocks and home made blocks to give her the vitamins and minerals she needs she can not bite or chew them she has no interest in nuts of any kind I have tried fresh fruits, veggies nuts anything that a squirrel would typically go wild for and she can’t bite any of it. I have tried the soft vegetable puffs for babies, rice puffs, yogurt bites. She either can’t or won’t bite or chew anything that is in solid form. Also as I have mentioned before she doesn’t appear to have ANY jaw teeth at all.

[SammysMom]

Also, I have tried to give her rodent blocks and home made blocks to give her the vitamins and minerals she needs she can not bite or chew them she has no interest in nuts of any kind I have tried fresh fruits, veggies nuts anything that a squirrel would typically go wild for and she can’t bite any of it. I have tried the soft vegetable puffs for babies, rice puffs, yogurt bites. She either can’t or won’t bite or chew anything that is in solid form. Also as I have mentioned before she doesn’t appear to have ANY jaw teeth at all.

Could you get a picture of her teeth/mouth?

[Timberthesquirrel]

I’m trying on the teeth/mouth pictures. Please bare with me she’s very docile but I have never held her mouth open for pics before.

[SammysMom]

I messaged you the prednisone dosing protocol.

[Timberthesquirrel]

This is as good as I can get she will not let me get one of the inside of her mouth.

[Timberthesquirrel]

Thank you so much Sammysmom!!!