Eye sight issues?

[KimBT]

311969Morning all
I have been quiet since posting about my rescue Willow when she had pneumonia.
We had a house move so things have been a bit crazy.
Willow is now 12 weeks and continues to do well. However I have noticed her eyesight beyond a meter is not great. She is spending winter with us and we are, hopefully looking at a release in spring.
My impression was that squirrels had super acute sight. But having seen her miss targets and get scared of a cushion that moved further I’m a bit concerned.
I will say she came to via someone who found her having fallen out of a tree. Her sister died from her injuries.
Any opinion would be welcome, thanks.
Also I live in the Uk so no get help :(

[KimBT]

Oops that last sentence should read ‘no veterinary help’

[HRT4SQRLS]

Good morning Kim. From my observations I don’t think sight is one of their keener senses. I think their smell is much more developed. I raised one little girl that I was certain was blind. I took her to a veterinary ophthalmologist. Yes, there is such a thing. :grin2 After a thorough eye examination I was told there was nothing wrong with her eyes. IF she had a vision problem it might be the optic nerve or a disfunction in the area of the brain involved with sight. As she got older it became apparent to me that she really could see. She was successfully released and visited me for 2 years.

I have a lot of squirrels in my yard. I feed them shelled almond. I often throw the nuts on my concrete driveway. I can throw out a handful of nuts and it’s alway a curiosity to me that they don’t seem to ‘see’ the nuts. They are in plain view. They will sniff around until they find the nuts. A nut can be thrown within 6 inches of their face and they don’t see it but they definitely smell it. It might be due to the orientation of their eyes on the side of their face instead of the front of the face like humans. IDK

One thing I will add is that sometimes the formula we feed them is deficient in essential amino acids that are involved in sight. I learned about that due to juvenile cataracts in puppies. In the US we have had an awful issue with formula this year. Because you are in the UK I will assume that you didn’t use Esbilac. It has caused many deaths and disabilities in baby squirrels. Babies on Esbilac have been getting Metabolic Bone Disease from the defective formula. MBD is caused by low calcium (hypocalcemia). In my studies I found that cataracts in babies can be caused by hypocalcemia.

Give your girl more time. She might surprise you. Overwintering her will give you time to further assess her vision.

[KimBT]

Thanks so much that is reassuring. She was fed esbilac but from the old batches. I managed to find it on amazon here in the Uk and obviously the warehouses still had the old batches. I have also made her squirrel blocks from the diy recipe. I do also have a calcium supplement to use on her food. So hopefully we are ok calcium wise.