Hi isartist. I've been traveling quite a bit and finally got a little down time, and decided to visit the board. I had a paralyzed squirrel for a few months back around May/June (there's a thread on him somewhere). My little guy only survived two months, but nothing that was my fault. My vet thinks that he had a blood clot from the initial injury that caused the paralysis, and that it dislodged and went to his lungs. They are so fragile when they're babies. It takes very little to damage the spinal cord.
How is your little guy doing? I won't lie to you, it was a lot of work for me to take care of my squirrel, but it was worth every minute. They are precious creatures. Mine was not quite weaned when I found him, so I gave him Esbilac puppy formula for about a week, which worked very well. My guy was a ground squirrel, which made things a bit tricky, as they have a strong instinct to dig. I'm no expert, but I'm guessing that a tree squirrel would be easier to care for as they are used to nesting in trees rather than underground burrows.
Does he have control over his peeing/pooping? Mine had normal stools and urine, but like paralyzed humans, did not have control over when it happened, therefore I had to wash his bedding almost daily. He would urinate while he slept, and in the morning I had to remove the bedding and replace it with fresh. I bought a bulk pack of cheap cotton mens tees, and used those to line his sleeping area. It made it very easy to remove the soiled bedding each day and replace with a clean, fresh one. The tees were also very soft and he was very cozy sleeping on them. He also loved to make nests out of Kleenex and shredded paper towels, which again was very easy to remove when soiled.
Crittermom is right about rehabbers. I contacted every rehabber in the city, and most told me straight up that they would take him only as raptor food. Others didn't even bother to return my calls. So I kept him.
This is probably more info than you need, but I've been so stressed, and finally have some free time, and am just feeling chatty.
Really hope this works out for you. Thanks so much for taking the little guy in and saving his life. Bless you . . . you have a good heart.
Kathy