Squirrels bone exposed

[Cmn118]

I have an older juevenile squirrel about 400g that was found outside with a hurt leg and brought to me. He does not use his back leg at all and it just flops around behind him. He doesn’t really move at all and will not eat on his own. I have been syringe feeding him and he takes that readily. Except that he is difficult to feed because he is very scared. He is terrified of me and gets more fearful each day. He teeth chatters and lunges at me to scare me away. He doesn’t really move unless I bother him. He also has rapid breathing when I’m near which I can’t tell if is from fear or pain but my main concern is will he be able to be released or am I prolonging his suffering and making him live in fear/pain.
One of the toes on his bad foot has an old injury. The whole bone of that toe is exposed all the way to base of paw and the toe is frail and lifeless. Today the whole paw feels cold.
On recommendation of rehabber I’m giving Motrin for pain and baytril injectable incase infection.
Has anyone experienced an injury like this and have recommendations? I am willing to work with him if there is any hope but I don’t want him suffering unnecessarily.
I truly appreciate any input!

[Cmn118]

310266

[Mel1959]

I’m not sure where you’re located in NJ, but there are many TSB members/rehabbers in the NE. Do you have access to a vet? Maybe one of the members can point you to a vet. Would you be willing to take him if they did?

[Cmn118]

Yesterday I showed him to the vet I work for. She doesnt work with wildlife but I just wanted her opinion as a doctor. She said she would guess the toe needs amputation and would recommend euthanasia. I was also told by someone (not a doctor) with a lot of wildlife rehab experience that the skin can possibly grow back over the bone with time and that they have seen a lot of bad wounds heal on young squirrels.

[CritterMom]

Good Lord! Euthanasia for a TOE??? I am glad she doesn't work on wildlife.

Are the other toes around this one okay? Do they function and does she use the foot at all? Some of our more drug savvy people may chime in but I don't think Baytril is the answer for this at all - perhaps clindamycin?

If this toe is all that is affected, my bet is that as the bone end that is exposed dies off and dries up that the squirrel will "self amputate" the dead end just like they will a degloved tail.

No two squirrels are the same but I will relay a story. I have a "squirrel cafe" just outside my kitchen window and have literally hundreds that show up through the day looking for chow. A couple months ago I looked at who was sitting at the Cafe and was horrified. This squirrel had been effectively scalped - the top of its head was just raw meat. The side of the face looked like it had been ripped totally away. I could see the orbital bone of the eye. The shoulder on that side was just as bad - the muscle had been torn away and I could see tendons. I was absolutely horrified. It was having difficulty eating the blocks I have in the Cafe as they are hard, and I wanted to get it at least some soft boo balls, but as soon as I went out the squirrel took off. After this happened several more times I realized I wasn't going to be able to make friends enough to help this creature in any way and was just succeeding in driving it away from the food. My yard squirrels MOB me when I step outside - having one not want any part of me was a real shocker. I assumed I would not see this poor baby soon...

It is a male - and I believe what I was looking at was probably the result of mating fights. Those tend to result in front end injuries like this. And over the last couple months I have watched him, helped by nothing but the food in my cafe - no meds, no cleaning, no nothing - get to what I would call 85% better. He has some facial scars and this eyelids, while functional, have a ragged, uneven appearance on that side. He can see just fine. The foot is used for balance and he can hold food with it, but he runs three legged and just touches it down for balance when climbing. He is an alpha in the area and never lost that status. He still hates me. I would have given him a ZERO percent chance.

These guys are really resilient!

[Cmn118]

Thanks so much for sharing your story. It’s amazing that they can heal like that and survive outside still! This is the first injured squirrel I’ve worked with. I’ve only done squirrels with eyes closed when they came to me before. I can definitely change antibiotics if something is better. The picture is from first day. It’s more dried up now so might fall off??He doesn’t use that foot at all though. It drags behind him.

[CritterMom]

Did the vet feel that the rest of the foot was still viable and only the toe needed to be amputated, or did they mean the entire foot needed to be amputated?

[Cmn118]

She was talking about the toe. But I’m wondering now if like you said it may just self amputate. And possibly the leg has a seperate injury that may heal with time.

[CritterMom]

One of the fastest ways to see if there is viability in the rest of the foot is the pinch test. Give one of the undamaged toes (I would start with the one farthest away from the owie) a fairly good pinch and see if the squirrel makes ANY movement to indicate feeling in there.

[kcassidy]

I'm in NY very close to the NJ border, if you need to you can bring to me and I can take him to my vet.

A friend is coming up from Southern NJ tomorrow to visit, so if that is close you could put him in the caravan

[Cmn118]

Ok so update! The toe fell off. I pinched the other toes on the paw and he did tense his leg higher up so he does have feeling.

[CritterMom]

It looked ready to go in the pic. If I were you, I would get a bottle of Betadyne (10% povidone iodine) at the drug store - in the wound care aisle. It is an excellent way to keep the area clean and clear of infection. Dilute the stuff from the bottle at about 25 drops per 1/4 cup of water. You can soak it, you can get a cotton ball wet with the mixture and dab at the toe - any way you can get it on the site. It does NOT sting. Just wet the area down with the betadyne solution and leave it to dry. Try to do it 2 or 3 times a day.