Paralyzed young adult squirrel (Hit by car?) Prednisone and pain med dosing help?

[Minaluvri]

Just got brought a juvenile squirrel (he looks young but he’s not a baby) that was found last night dragging himself along the ground. Possibly attacked by a cat (there was a cat seen nearby) but no visible puncture wounds/blood or hit by a car? One leg is pretty limp, but he has maintained some feeling- he can’t walk on it but tucks it under him and flinches when you touch it. The other leg and his tail are completely limp and unresponsive. The front half of him looks good and he’s pretty alert but definitely tachypneic/stressed. I haven’t weighed him yet as he seems to be in quite a bit of pain, but I will weigh him shortly. I have infant Motrin and 20mg Prednisone tablets, would those be recommended in this scenario? If so, would anyone be able to help me out with the dosing info? Any other recommendations for helping this guy out?

[CritterMom]

Well, it is one or the other - you can't give those two meds together.

While the ibuprophen would make him feel better, the prednisone has the possibility of MAKING him better. If it is paralysis is caused by swelling interfering with some nerves, the prednisone will much more quickly and effectively get rid of that inflammation.

Having seen pred pull a rabbit out of it's hat so many times on this board, I would go with that. Do you have a weight yet?

[Minaluvri]

Yes, that’s what I thought. I just wasn’t sure if we were past the window for prednisone since his injury was at least 48 hours ago. I have held off giving him any Motrin to hopefully be able to give him the pred. I feel so bad for him, he’s absolutely terrified and freaks out every time I touch him so it’s been hard to give him a good look over to check for other injuries. I did get him to take around 6ml of Pedialyte from a syringe once I got him in a good old burrito wrap, and I got a weight on him. He weighs 182 grams and the prednisone tablets I have are 20mg. I only have two tablets, is that enough to give him a full prednisone course with a proper taper?

[CritterMom]

Dosing sent by PM. You will only need one of your pills and will have a teeny bit left after full treatment including taper.

If you will check in here with updates the day before you make a treatment change (like when you switch from half a dose twice a day to a full dose once a day) and just before you begin the taper. Especially given that you do have enough prednisone, someone may suggest either slightly lengthening or shortening the treatment based on improvement/no improvement.

[Minaluvri]

Got it! Thank you so much for the dosing information! I will check back in with status once we make it to the next stage in dosing. I’m not as familiar with prednisone for situations like this, do you typically expect to see some sort of improvement in symptoms within the first few days?

Additionally, I’m used to getting these guys as babies. How do you typically approach feeding a little guy like this who is an adult but is badly injured? I placed some veggies, a strawberry, an HHB block, some peanut butter (mostly just to attract him to the food) and a dish of water in there for him but he hasn’t really ate much of anything (looks like he licked at the peanut butter and nibbled the strawberry minimally). He mostly just lays in one spot. Like I said, I got him to take 6ml of Pedialyte from a syringe. Should I try formula for him since he’s not eating much? Will he even take it, considering he’s a wild adult or will he eventually start eating solids again when he’s ready?

[CritterMom]

Hopefully the prednisone will also cause some pain remediation which may help his appetite. I would absolutely try feeding him formula. If he will eat that, maybe you can get him to lap up a mixture of formula of ground up HHBs. Try warming it up. If he likes the taste of peanut butter or nutella in it, you can melt a little right into the formula. It is a "do whatever it takes" situation because he NEEDS food.

I would hope you might start seeing signs of improvement in a few days. Take a look through this thread - make sure you look at the videos. No idea what caused this little one to present like this, and it was some weeks after intake that he got put on prednisone, but I think it is a rather large coincidence that he started showing improvement so quickly.

[Diggie's Friend]

Research has found in rodents that Methylcobalamin and Adenocobalamin, (bio-identical forms of Vitamin B-12m which the body is able to well metabolize), lowers pain from damage to nerves and supports their healing in rodents.


No interactions were found between prednisone and Vitamin B12.

This can be given daily along with prednisone; just don't give it at the same time as meds.
Using a 1 ml needle syringe, place one needle drop onto dry or wet food.

(Do not use the dropper that this bottled source comes with for rodents.)

https://www.amazon.com/Vimergy-USDA-Organic-B-12-115/dp/B07WNS3QWR/ref=asc_df_B07WNS3QWR/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=666681476632&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1050788751182861107&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9031634&hvtargid=pla-1462285856398&psc=1

[Minaluvri]

Today will finish up day 3 of Prednisone. I did see him twitch his bad leg (unknown whether it was voluntary or not) but he is still dragging both behind him and is not reacting if I touch them or putting any weight on them :/
Should I continue the course and progress to the full dose once daily tomorrow or do you have any recommendations? I will try the Vit B12 drop additions as well!

This guy will also only eat FV formula with a tiny bit of peanut butter mixed in. With the straight FV I could only get him to take 3ish mLs at a time, but once I mixed in the peanut butter he will take 15-18mLs. Other than that- he won’t eat anything. I’ve stopped Pedialyte since we’re at 72 hours at this point- but I don’t think he’s drinking the water out of the shallow dish I have in there for him at all. I put fresh fruits and veggies and nuts in there for him and he hasn’t touched any of it aside from nibbling on an HHB block. I don’t want him to get dehydrated and I want to make sure he’s getting enough- I’ve been feeding him the formula 3x a day. He usually eats well for at least 2 of them, a little less for the middle feeding. Do you think he’s getting enough? Any other tips on how/what to get him to eat and drink? I ordered some of the picky blocks to try in hopes that I might have better luck with them instead of the normal blocks.

I would also like to just throw some feelers out- does anyone know of anybody in the Midwest who might be interested/able to provide a more long term home for this sweet boy if he turns out to be more of a non releasable situation? I love taking care of all of these sweet babies (this guy is my 7th this year) and my hope is still that he will make a recovery and eventually be able to be released, BUT I am also 39 weeks pregnant currently and I know that at this time I would not be able to provide a permanent home for him like he deserves if that turns out to be what he needs (especially since we don’t have any squirrel friendly vets in MO). I’m willing to drive/make arrangements for him to get wherever he needs to be to find a good home if that’s the direction he ends up heading.

[CritterMom]

I think you should do the entire protocol as originally written - but do keep us posted on any changes. Fingers crossed here.

[Minaluvri]

Sadly, this little guy passed away tonight and crossed the rainbow bridge. I knew he was in bad shape but I am heartbroken as I thought he was doing better. He was eating more formula today than before and was warming up to me and even letting me scratch his ears and pet him without freaking out today. I know he likely had more going on injury wise than could be seen, but he was acting so normal aside from his legs, I just keep going through all the things wondering if I did something wrong. If I should have given him the Motrin instead of the prednisone to make him more comfortable, if I didn’t hydrate him enough before starting formula, if I fed him too much or not enough?

[CritterMom]

O, I am so sorry. This wasn't your fault, and it didn't have anything to do with formula too early or anything else you did to help. You don't even know for sure what caused this injury. He most likely had internal injuries that you couldn't see and likely wouldn't have been able to do anything about if you were a world class veterinarian. He would have died outside, probably with the terrifying help of a predator he couldn't outrun. This little one died way too young but he died inside where it was warm and he had something yummy to eat. The sad fact is that a lot of time, ALL we can do is give them a quiet death away from fear...

Please don't second guess yourself. You did WAY, WAY more than 99% of the population would have. I am so sorry it didn't work this time.

And one other thing. I don't think he was in pain. Animals in pain don't take 15-18ml of formula. They don't eat anything. It is one of the things you look for in little prey animals that try to mask pain to prevent predation.