Blood loss from toenail injury

[Tealeaf]

Hi!
I have no idea how this happened, but yesterday our Gerald ripped off his toenail! It is completely gone! I caught it right away, but it took a good 20 minutes to stop the bleeding. He lost a lot of blood. Once I got the bleeding under control, I moved him to a separate cage so that he and his brother wouldn’t rough house, and put soft clean towels on the ground as bedding. I also set him up with a nice space heater so he could stay warm. Yesterday he seemed to be ok, but very tired and he slept a lot. Today he seems a little bit weaker than normal. Does anyone have a recommendation for foods I can feed him to help him regain strength and recover from blood loss?

Regarding the injury, he must have gotten it stuck on something but for the life of me I can not figure out what! I inspected the whole cage and all his toys. I found the nail, but it was just on the floor in the middle of the cage!

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[Mel1959]

Offer him liquids, if he’ll take formula, that would be great. The toenail may or may not grow back. It shouldn’t impact his ability to be released. Wipe his toe down with some diluted betadine solution. Dilute it till it looks like strong tea. You don’t have to rinse it. It won’t be sticky when it dries. His toe is probably painful. Do you have any metacam or meloxicam?

[Tealeaf]

Thank you so much! I did start giving him formula again for this. (He will take it but he is making it very clear that he is a big boy now and he does not want baby food lol)
I do not have metacam or meloxicam unfortunately, but I can get some. I will continue with betadine! Thank you again!

[Mel1959]

If you can get the metacam and post the strength of the meds and the weight of your squirrel someone can help you dose it.

[Tealeaf]

Not to be outdone Geralds brother Percy also seems to have twisted his toenail, but his did not come off. I am not sure what to do with it. It bleeds every once in a while, and looks really painful, but he is not acting like it’s hurting him. I moved them both to a different cage because there MUST be something in their normal cage that is the cause of this but for the life of me I can not find it. They are both on towels now instead of bedding to help prevent infection and I am putting antiseptic cream on the toes multiple times a day. Just ran out of Betadine though. Could I use witch hazel or peroxide while I wait for more betadine to come in? Also should I try to remove this twisted claw? It seems to be getting more twisted as time goes on. It might just fall off on its own but I don’t want it to get infected. Can I use baby Motrin for swelling and pain as well? I happen to have some of that on hand and as I live in the middle of nowhere VT it is hard to get supplies quickly (even Amazon takes about a week with prime shipping!)
Thank you!
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[stepnstone]

I moved them both to a different cage because there MUST be something in their normal cage that is the cause of this but for the life of me I can not find it. They are both on towels now instead of bedding to help prevent infection and I am putting antiseptic cream on the toes multiple times a day.

If you will post a couple pictures of the offending cage maybe experienced members
can give some pointers as to areas to examine for pinch points.

Using towels are not recommended as the material has "loops" that toe nails can get caught on.

[Mel1959]

If you don’t have a steptic pencil to stop the bleeding I wouldn’t cut the toe nail off, unless you can see that where the break is is not into the quick of the nail.

I would not use witch hazel or hydrogen peroxide. You can clean it with soap and water and continue to apply the antibiotic ointment.

[Tealeaf]

If you will post a couple pictures of the offending cage maybe experienced members
can give some pointers as to areas to examine for pinch points.

Using towels are not recommended as the material has "loops" that toe nails can get caught on.

I have just gotten rid of that cage entirely for safety! I moved the boys into a very large parrot cage for now and will start looking for a replacement inside cage ASAP! They don’t spend too much time in the cage, it mostly where they go to sleep.
I will change out the towels for flat fabric or maybe felt too! Thank you so much!

[Mel1959]

Polar Fleece works great as a cage pad. You can get it at fabric stores or Walmart. No need to sew, just cut to the desired size.

I also use “noodle” bathroom rugs that you can buy at almost any store. Their droppings go down under the noodle pieces and the rug is soft and absorbent.

This is what I’m referring to when I say noodle rug.