Eye crusted over/mass growing

Hello all,
We have a neighborhood squirrel who is having a terrible issue with one of her eyes. 2 weeks ago she was fine. Last Saturday her left eye was really goopy. By Tuesday the eye was completely crusted over. Yesterday, after disappearing for 3 days, she appeared with what I can only describe as a mass that is growing out of the infection and onto the top of her head. It is extremely strange. Thankfully her right eye looks like it is normal. (I will add photos when I get back to my computer in an hour)

We don’t want to trap her to take her into the local rehabilitation center because she most likely has babies she is still taking care of. But this situation has progress so quickly that we don’t know if we should wait until her babies are independent.

If anyone has an idea of what is going on, or anything we could give her, please let me know. Usually we see her about once a day but lately it’s once every few. But when she does visit she gets close enough for us to be able to toss food directly to her. So if there are any safe treatments we can administer we are in a good position to try.

Thank you in advance for any help you may provide for this little one.

Please post pictures. You might be able to treat her in the wild, even with babies, but it first determining what this might be is the first step...

Attachment 318130Attachment 318129

The photo on the right was taken first, on 4/20/21. The photo on the left was taken 4 days later.

I am not sure what is going on there, maybe a staph infection or perhaps a fungal infection? Hopefully others will have a more concrete assessment.

Do you have any anti-biotics or antifungals on hand? If yes, please post the names of the meds in preparation of (hopefully) treatment.

Thanks Spanky. But no, we don’t have any meds of that kind. The rehabilitation center now suggests we trap her and bring her in. I’m going to put the trap out today.
It’s just so puzzling and terrifying.

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Originally Posted by We <3 Droops

Thanks Spanky. But no, we don’t have any meds of that kind. The rehabilitation center now suggests we trap her and bring her in. I’m going to put the trap out today.
It’s just so puzzling and terrifying.

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If she has babies and you trap her you will be killing her babies, especially if she is in the care of the rehabilitation center for multiple. Young squirrels cannot survive without their mother.

The best thing you can do is feed her (which will strengthen her, which will boost her immune system making her better able to fight off this infection) while the members here try to figure out how to best treat her in the wild.

Meant to say: "multiple days."

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Originally Posted by We <3 Droops

Thanks Spanky. But no, we don’t have any meds of that kind. The rehabilitation center now suggests we trap her and bring her in. I’m going to put the trap out today.
It’s just so puzzling and terrifying.

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I hope you are aware they will likely just euthanized her......
There is no way a facility is going to spend the hours to house supply and
treat a one eyed adult squirrel to release back into the wild. IMO. :shakehead

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Originally Posted by stepnstone

I hope you are aware they will likely just euthanized her......
There is no way a facility is going to spend the hours to house supply and
treat a one eyed adult squirrel to release back into the wild. IMO. :shakehead

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That's what I was thinking too... :( Between that and what RM said... not sure if taking him to the rehabilitator is helpful...

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Originally Posted by Buddy

That's what I was thinking too... :( Between that and what RM said... not sure if taking him to the rehabilitator is helpful...

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I really appreciate everyone's thoughts. We have been thinking heavily about the negative effects of trapping her and bringing her in. We care so much for her and hate knowing she may be in pain, but obviously don't want to worsen the situation. Then again, we don't want to watch her slowly die from whatever is happening to her. But she had a terrible eye infection this past December (possibly pox) and fought through it, so we know she is tough. And her babies will be weaned off her soon, hopefully helping her immune system get back up and running.

But my wife and I talked just now and we decided to take the trap away and focus on trying to boost her immune system. At the recommendation of Rock Monkey, I'm also going to attempt to take a quality video and post it to hopefully find someone who knows what is going on (fungus, parasite, bacteria, covid?).

I will update soon.

Thank you so much.

Wishing you all the best! :Love_Icon

Hopefully, she will get much better very quickly with your help! :w00t

I'm not sure if there's any medicine that can be given that's safe for her and the babies (without knowing the exact weight etc). Admins would have to weigh in that.

You could also order this and mix it with some healthy blocks or maybe peanut butter? and give her.

https://henryspets.com/vita-mins-sup...rats-and-mice/

I *think* I know what happened here. I have seen part of this before. Your eye is filled with a gel-like liquid called aquous or vitreous humor, depending on if it is in the front or back of the eyeball. Poke a hole in your eyeball with a stick and the gel leaks out. When it happens to a squirrel, that gel that has leaked out of the deflating eyeball catches all of the dirt and leaves and bits of bark and pine needles in it and pretty soon the whole eye is covered over in...mess. I have actually seen it turn out well - the big glob of filth fell off one day and there was a normal eyeball under it! I couldn't believe it.

In this case though, I think that in addition to all of the filth that they normally wind up getting glued on there, this one wound up with some sort of fungal spores and they have begun growing. ON her eye. I hope not INTO her eye. I think it is like a mushroom of sorts, growing in the glop that is covering her eye. Which is going to keep me up, thinking about it. I wish someone could get hands on her and remove everything except the part where it is attached, and begin bathing the area in dilute betadyne to see if it could be helped... My God.

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Originally Posted by CritterMom

I *think* I know what happened here. I have seen part of this before. Your eye is filled with a gel-like liquid called aquous or vitreous humor, depending on if it is in the front or back of the eyeball. Poke a hole in your eyeball with a stick and the gel leaks out. When it happens to a squirrel, that gel that has leaked out of the deflating eyeball catches all of the dirt and leaves and bits of bark and pine needles in it and pretty soon the whole eye is covered over in...mess. I have actually seen it turn out well - the big glob of filth fell off one day and there was a normal eyeball under it! I couldn't believe it.

In this case though, I think that in addition to all of the filth that they normally wind up getting glued on there, this one wound up with some sort of fungal spores and they have begun growing. ON her eye. I hope not INTO her eye. I think it is like a mushroom of sorts, growing in the glop that is covering her eye. Which is going to keep me up, thinking about it. I wish someone could get hands on her and remove everything except the part where it is attached, and begin bathing the area in dilute betadyne to see if it could be helped... My God.

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That sounds awful. But I appreciate your insight. And I hope hope hope that it turns out well like you have witnessed. I don't know your background, but I have a follow-up question just in case...Do you think that sort of affliction could cause her head to swell or her to have slight difficulty eating? (she seems to struggle eating as cleanly as she used to.)

Well I'm glad to report that she actually visited twice today, which is more often than she has in 2 weeks. I feel like that is good news. I was able to capture a bit of video, although the sun was down so lighting was an issue.
https://youtu.be/M2bAMwA1d20
https://youtu.be/7VDopuQWFs8
Not sure if they will shed any light on the subject, but I will add more if I can.
Thanks again everyone

Awww!! Poor thing!! :Love_Icon

I cannot really tell... Is it her eye or head swollen/crusted and it's making her eye closed?

I wonder if there could be any antibiotic or medicine given with an approximate weight...

Poor thing! Hope it heals quickly!:Love_Icon

Maybe you can give a little bit of baby ibuprofen, in case she is in pain... Admins can tell how much and how frequently, if it's even a good idea.

Are the videos of her NOW? Am I out of my mind or does the first pic you put up look like something is growing up over her head?? Perhaps it was simply something stuck in the goo.

What I see is exactly what I described - a dirt and eye fluid "cast" over the eyeball. If her face/head looks swollen, this may have been the result of a fall - they fall more than you think. If the youtube clips are how she looks now, what I would do is absolutely PACK her with food when you see her. If she has babies, some extra calcium would be a good thing. Grind up some nuts and throw a fruit flavor Tums in and grind it with the nuts. Add enough peanut butter to glue everything together and roll them into balls. If still sticky, just roll them in more chopped up nuts. The idea is to fill her stomach so she goes home to her nest and stays there. As gnarly as this mess over her eye looks, and as nice as a veterinary opthalmologist might be right now, it is also acting as Nature's Eye Patch and protecting whatever is left under it. Hopefully with good food she can make it through this - they are so tough. Keeping her home with a full stomach also gives her a chance to get used to only having one working eye if that is how she ends up.

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Originally Posted by Buddy

Awww!! Poor thing!! :Love_Icon

I cannot really tell... Is it her eye or head swollen/crusted and it's making her eye closed?

I wonder if there could be any antibiotic or medicine given with an approximate weight...

Poor thing! Hope it heals quickly!:Love_Icon

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The eye definitely had something grow over it (see the right-hand photo above). I would love to know if we could administer an antibiotic.

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Originally Posted by CritterMom

Are the videos of her NOW? Am I out of my mind or does the first pic you put up look like something is growing up over her head?? Perhaps it was simply something stuck in the goo.

What I see is exactly what I described - a dirt and eye fluid "cast" over the eyeball. If her face/head looks swollen, this may have been the result of a fall - they fall more than you think. If the youtube clips are how she looks now, what I would do is absolutely PACK her with food when you see her. If she has babies, some extra calcium would be a good thing. Grind up some nuts and throw a fruit flavor Tums in and grind it with the nuts. Add enough peanut butter to glue everything together and roll them into balls. If still sticky, just roll them in more chopped up nuts. The idea is to fill her stomach so she goes home to her nest and stays there. As gnarly as this mess over her eye looks, and as nice as a veterinary opthalmologist might be right now, it is also acting as Nature's Eye Patch and protecting whatever is left under it. Hopefully with good food she can make it through this - they are so tough. Keeping her home with a full stomach also gives her a chance to get used to only having one working eye if that is how she ends up.

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To answer your questions, yes, those videos were taken last night (4/27/21).
Regarding the photos, yes, something was growing out of the eye area onto her head. Yesterday, from what you can see in the video, it looks like she either rubbed or scratched that growing mass off. Or maybe it's matted down. I don't know. (I have a better photo from last night but am having trouble adding it as an attachment.)
Your ideas give me optimism about nature's eye patch though :) We have been feeding her as many immune system "nutballs" as possible (I found the recipe this past december when she had a simpler eye issue. She is definitely tough!) I also have peanut butter covered rodent blocks, but since it got warmer she only eats the peanut butter off. :( But hopefully she stops by today so we can keep feeding her. Thanks so much!!

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Here are two photos of her today (4/28/21). It looks like there is some newer discharge(?) coming out near the front of the mass.

Here is a shot today of her eating (4/28/21). Not sure what is causing the head jerks, if its neurological or from having difficulty swallowing. But this was the only time I saw her head doing that while eating today.
https://youtu.be/lBjRvscXIz8

Here is another video of her eating today. No head jerking. However, she doesn't seem to be able to handle eating larger portions. I had to break up the immune booster balls for her to manage.
https://youtu.be/s5laZHQArZY

Hopefully these videos and the photos I just posted earlier today can shed some light on Droopy's terrible problem.

Thank you in advance <3