Is this Pox?!?!?!

[Spanky]

Laverne and Shirley went for a vet visit today. Laverne had developed what I thought to be an abscess above her eye the last 5 - 7 days that was not improving.

Yesterday I noted a "skin tag" kinda thing on her torso.

Fed them just before taking them into the vet and noted what looked to maybe be a rash on her lower abdomen.

At the vets I noticed another lesion / bump on her ankle.

Also today, here sister Shirley's eye lids started to swell up today.

The doc's best guess is pox and he gave me a script for acyclovir liquid (but he was unsure of dosing) and I do have valacyclovir tables.. not sure which is most effective.

[Milo's Mom]

[Nancy in New York]

Laverne and Shirley went for a vet visit today. Laverne had developed what I thought to be an abscess above her eye the last 5 - 7 days that was not improving.

Yesterday I noted a "skin tag" kinda thing on her torso.

Fed them just before taking them into the vet and noted what looked to maybe be a rash on her lower abdomen.

At the vets I noticed another lesion / bump on her ankle.

Also today, Shirley's eye lids started to swell up.

The doc's best guess is pox and he gave me a script for acyclovir liquid (but he was unsure of dosing) and I do have valacyclovir tables.. not sure which is most effective.

Contact CritterMom she is the pox expert.

[Spanky]

Contact CritterMom she is the pox expert.

Thanks Nancy, I sent her an IM with a link to this thread.

I should have mentioned the other, lessor possibility the vet suggested was ringworm... I dunno. None of the telltale fungal rings have presented on me though... at least not yet?

[Mel1959]

Doesn't look like ringworm to me. Unfortunately, it does look like pox. Many years ago I was feeding lots of wilds and there was a major outbreak of pox with my wilds. The eyes always seemed to be affected.

As for acyclovir vs. valacyclovir, I really have no idea which would be better or how the two work. I'm not sure if one works faster or lasts longer. It would be great to know, though, if Crittermom has the answer.

[island rehabber]

I would say YES to pox -- it appears initially on the face, genital area and paws. You are catching it in the early stage, when acyclovir works really well.

[Meirby]

Looks a lot like it to me. I still have the acyclovir that's left from my 3. Do you need me to send it to you?

[Scooterzmom]

Thank you for caring for her, the love and warmth you gave her were the one good thing life ofered her. I'm sure this is what she took with her and will remain your angel forever now.

R.I.P. sweet Shirley. You can go free and join all other angels now.

[Spanky]

Laverne is next up in the rotation for the very busy RC. She still has some spots /scars from the pox lesions. Can any pox experienced folks reassure me that these are nothing to worry about? Here is a pic of her muzzle where you can clearly see where once there was a pox sore. She has another on her thigh where a very large pox once existed and some smaller areas as well.

[CritterMom]

It takes a long time for the fur to finally grow on the lesions, especially the really bad ones. It looks like she has whiskers right in the middle of that scarring though. I thinks she's good to go!

[kcassidy]

Hi,

I had 2 squirrels last year and both are released here on my property and they both look fabulous. One of them, Ella Enchanted had babies and she and they all look fabulous.

It did take a long time for the dried lesions to disappear. I have pix of her when the pox was at its worse and then some of her from early summer this year showing it is all gone, if you want to see them let me know.

Good luck

[Meirby]

Of my 3 pox babies, I only had one survivor (he never seemed quite as sick as his sisters) but his lesions were pretty bad. He is happy, healthy and completely healed now. He was released several months ago and has only recently stopped coming to me... but he is 100% scar free. I'll see if I can get my last video of him up close to post.

[Meirby]

This was his back at the beginning... that huge pox right in the middle of his back https://youtu.be/ymU5sWJFl7Y

[niapet]

I'm so sorry... I know this pain... I'm sooooo... soo... sorry...