Squirrel with hind end issues. Any rabies concerns?

[ChippyNut]

Hello! In a nutshell....We've raised a few squirrels over the past few years. Recently, we had 2 at once. In a few weeks, they were old enough to release outside. They would nestle into their squirrel house together at night. They've been out full-time for about a week now. I'd check on them and see them often.

Last night, we found one in the ground cover in front of our house. It looked like he had potentially been attacked by something. (We live in the woods so this is entirely possible.) He's not currently moving his hind end. It looked like he had other animal saliva on his upper leg. We wiped that off and see no puncture wounds. He's currently convalescing in his squirrel cage in our house. He's eating and drinking.

I have 2 questions.
1. My husband is concerned about rabies. Is it possible to transmit rabies to us from the saliva we cleaned off his leg? He didn't bite us but something may have bitten him.
2. Any thoughts on care for him? I'm hoping it's not a major spinal issue and that he might just need some time in a warm, safe environment to recover.

I appreciate any of your thoughts and ideas on this!

[Spanky]

Hello! In a nutshell....We've raised a few squirrels over the past few years. Recently, we had 2 at once. In a few weeks, they were old enough to release outside. They would nestle into their squirrel house together at night. They've been out full-time for about a week now. I'd check on them and see them often.

Last night, we found one in the ground cover in front of our house. It looked like he had potentially been attacked by something. (We live in the woods so this is entirely possible.) He's not currently moving his hind end. It looked like he had other animal saliva on his upper leg. We wiped that off and see no puncture wounds. He's currently convalescing in his squirrel cage in our house. He's eating and drinking.

I have 2 questions.
1. My husband is concerned about rabies. Is it possible to transmit rabies to us from the saliva we cleaned off his leg? He didn't bite us but something may have bitten him.
2. Any thoughts on care for him? I'm hoping it's not a major spinal issue and that he might just need some time in a warm, safe environment to recover.

I appreciate any of your thoughts and ideas on this!

I would not worry about rabies, there has never been a transfer of rabies from squirrels to humans. Squirrels are not a rabies vector species.

Given the likelihood of an attack I would recommend a course of antibiotics as many predators like cats carry bacteria in their mouths that will kill a squirrel. Don't be comforted by not having found any wounds or punctures... they are easily over looked and missed even by the most experienced rehabbers. I have missed some wounds myself that only became apparent (and very obvious) several days later.

If you have any antibiotics on hand, please post the name and strength... and the squirrels weight.. and we'll assist with dosing. Some of the best for treating bites include Baytril/Cipro, Clavamox/Augmentin, SMZ.

FOr the paralysis the best action is to start steroids as soon as possible... Prednisone, Dexamethasone, prednisilone. If you can locate any of these please post the name and strength.. and the squirrel's weight.

Call family friends and neighbors if you need to locate these meds... 1 tablet will be enough for an entire course of therapy usually.

[ChippyNut]

I would not worry about rabies, there has never been a transfer of rabies from squirrels to humans. Squirrels are not a rabies vector species.

Given the likelihood of an attack I would recommend a course of antibiotics as many predators like cats carry bacteria in their mouths that will kill a squirrel. Don't be comforted by not having found any wounds or punctures... they are easily over looked and missed even by the most experienced rehabbers. I have missed some wounds myself that only became apparent (and very obvious) several days later.

If you have any antibiotics on hand, please post the name and strength... and the squirrels weight.. and we'll assist with dosing. Some of the best for treating bites include Baytril/Cipro, Clavamox/Augmentin, SMZ.

FOr the paralysis the best action is to start steroids as soon as possible... Prednisone, Dexamethasone, prednisilone. If you can locate any of these please post the name and strength.. and the squirrel's weight.

Call family friends and neighbors if you need to locate these meds... 1 tablet will be enough for an entire course of therapy usually.



Thank you so much for your reply!
We just weighed him and he is a half pound.
I have 4 tablets of 10 mg prednisone that I can give him now.
My Mother in law has some 250 MG of Azithromycin that I need to go pick up.
If you can let me know how much and how often you think I should give him of each I would be so appreciative.
I'm guessing I would need to crush it, mix it with water and use a dropper to feed it to him, correct?
He seems to have a good will to live and was actively moving his front end when we weighed him and was pooping so his digestive system is still working.

[Spanky]

Pred dosing sent, working up the Azith now.

Edit: Azith dosing sent.

[ChippyNut]

Just an update...
I really appreciate Spanky's medication advice! So far he's been taking the prednisone well. We're 3 doses in and it's not having an effect but we're not giving up. We're going to give him some time. He's bright and interested in climbing a few times a day so we supervise him using his front end to climb a bit.

A bit more background...We've raised and released a few squirrels in the past. We live in the woods so we have a good environment for their release. This time we ended up with 2 squirrel brothers that were too young to be on their own but their eyes were open and they had fur so they were only inside a few weeks before we began introducing them to the outside world. My sons named them Darth Nutter and Pablo Pocket. We think the injured one is Pablo Pocket because he was a bit more timid than his brother. I was glad they had each other. When released, they could often be found snuggling together in the squirrel house.

Here is a photo of the brothers together:
322016

Here is a photo of Pablo in the wild. The day before the injury, he stopped by to get some pecans and then head off into the woods.
322017

Here's my injured squirrel baby. Hopefully some rest, prednisone and antibiotics help him.
322018

I'm so grateful I found this forum! :)

[Rock Monkey]

Just an update...


Here's my injured squirrel baby. Hopefully some rest, prednisone and antibiotics help him.
322018

I'm so grateful I found this forum! :)

The injured squirrel in the picture looks dehydrated.

Here is a link showing how to test for dehydration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjPMVq7Tq2g&ab_channel=squirrelsandmorellc

Squirrels are resilient, but it may take some time for this one to improve function

[ChippyNut]

The injured squirrel in the picture looks dehydrated.

Here is a link showing how to test for dehydration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjPMVq7Tq2g&ab_channel=squirrelsandmorellc

Squirrels are resilient, but it may take some time for this one to improve function

Thanks, Rock Monkey! I'll check for dehydration and follow the instructions in the video. I appreciate your words of encouragement that squirrels are resilient. His hind end and tail still aren't working after a good course of prednisone. We'll give him some more time to improve. He is bright and wants to be active. his front end seems to be working just fine and he poops and pees too so at least those functions are working.

[island rehabber]

Great that he is pooping/peeing on his own -- shows that he may not have serious spinal damage. In that case, where there is a fracture a squirrel's bladder would need to be expressed and poop just tumbles out of it at random. If it's nerve damage, it may very well take a few weeks to heal but the prognosis is so much better.. I have been through this with squirrels who ultimately recovered and were released.:great

[ChippyNut]

Oh good. Thanks, Island Rehabber! That's encouraging and I'm always hopeful. He'll definitely have a few more weeks with us so hopefully it's nerve damage and he just needs more time. I'm just mentally preparing for all options. I'm planning to restart the prednisone course in 3 days.