URGENT HELP NEEDED!

[ShesSoSquirrely]

Hi, y’all. My 10 week old precious girl fell inside her cage earlier and hurt her right paw. I know I can administer Ibuprofen but am unsure of the dosage. Is there someone who can help me with this tonight? I know she’s uncomfortable. She currently weighs 247 grams.

[McCarthy]

Hi, y’all. My 10 week old precious girl fell inside her cage earlier and hurt her right paw. I know I can administer Ibuprofen but am unsure of the dosage. Is there someone who can help me with this tonight? I know she’s uncomfortable. She currently weighs 247 grams.

I just replied in your other thread. The swelling and the pain has a function, both keeps your pet from using the injured paw. We do not want to remove either and encourage movement. Movement will slow down the healing process. I would also stop handling her, just let her rest in a smaller cage. This will take 3 to 5 weeks.

[SamtheSquirrel2018]

Hi, y’all. My 10 week old precious girl fell inside her cage earlier and hurt her right paw. I know I can administer Ibuprofen but am unsure of the dosage. Is there someone who can help me with this tonight? I know she’s uncomfortable. She currently weighs 247 grams.

Hi ShesSoSquirrely:
I'm using my post to bump your thread in the hope that an Admin or other authorized member of TSB will provide dosing instructions for the Ibuprofen. Sorry about your little Squirrel's injury. I hope she will be doing better very soon! Thanks for getting the weight as this is critical to proper dosing calculations!
Regards,
SamtheSquirrel

[CritterMom]

I sent you dosing via PM.

McCarthy's concerns are valid. I usually try not to provide ibuprophen to wild squirrels with limb injuries for the reasons he mentioned, but captivity offers ways to prevent them from over-using the foot.

Did you witness the fall or are you assuming? I ask because the most common injuries to feet and toes for captive squirrels are pinch points on the cage - places where either cage bars (cage corners where they meet are notorious) or bars and other things in the cage are just far enough apart to allow the toe to slip between, but close enough together that when it slides, the fat toe pad gets it stuck. Prey animals like squirrels will break or even amputate a toe that way - being restrained that way is the thing that happens one second before they die in the wild.

Even if this was a fall, I urge you to go over any housing with a fine tooth comb. Any gap smaller than 1/4" needs to be closed - or opened so it is wider. When forced to use store bought wire cages I cut a long, skinny strip of fleece and wrap it around and around the areas where the sides of the cage meets to close those gaps.

[ShesSoSquirrely]

Hey yall! Thank you for your replies. I have acquired the dosing for Ibuprofen, but have not given it to her per what I was told on this thread. Since her fall - that I witnessed myself as I wasn't even half a foot from her when she fell - she hasn't been herself. Aside from her paw hurting, she has become lethargic, and sleeping A LOT. She is still eating her formula, ate kale yesterday as well as her Henrys blocks. This morning when she woke up, she ate a calcium rich formula breakfast, and has been asleep since. I pick her up and shes just not herself. In the past, she has developed AP and it was corrected immediately upon use of Baytril. This is my first time rehabbing my sweet girl so I'm not sure which road of treatment is best for her, although Im a human nurse myself. My gut instinct is to go with an antibiotic and steroid, but again, this is my human nurse feelers that are sensing this. I feel like her symptoms are duplicating last time, when she had AP. She currently weighs 247 grams.

On hand, I have many medications, but NO Baytril.

I do have:
Prednisone 10 mg tablets
Ibuprofen Childrens Liquid 100mg
Dexamethasone 4 mg tablet
Amoxicillin 500mg tablet
Augmentin (Amox/Clavulanate Potassium) 875mg/125 mg tablet
Doxycycline 100mg tablet
Clindamycin HCL 300 mg tablet
Cephalexin 500 mg tablet
Azithromycin 500 mg tablet
Flagyl 500 mg tablet
Levofloxacin 750 mg tablet
Gabapentin 300 mg tablet
Trazadone 100mg tablets
Pedialyte
Calcium Carbonate ordered from Henry's
Vicks Vapor Rub

Along with a few others but I don't think they're safe for squirrels.

Can someone please assist me in what to do moving forward to make my girl feel better? If I don't have the rx she needs, I can obtain it - just need to know what to get and what dose to give her.

YALL ARE ALL AMAZING, THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP THIS FAR!!

[Spanky]

How far was the fall; from what height?

It is great that she is still on formula... what kind of formula does she eat, how often and how much?

I think it is important that MBD be ruled out since small falls... even big falls... that normally would not cause injury, can cause quite a bit of damage to the brittle bones of a squirrel suffering MBD. Often the first signs of MBD are falls like this one. A calcium rich diet is great, but it is not possible to counter a diet with too many nuts and seeds by giving calcium. The "diet rules" for captive squirrels that rely on humans for all their foods is very important.

If there is even a slight chance of MBD, I would suggest starting the emergency MBD protocol. The protocol (if followed properly) cannot cause any harm, but can save her life if this happens to be MBD.

Since she is taking formula and you are familier with AP, is her breathing clear or is there any sort of clicking or raspiness in her lungs ("rise crispies" in milk sound)?