Baby squirrel with broken ankle

[Emerbrah]

Hi I have found a baby squirrel in my local forest badly injured, I think it's mother rejected him because she fled when I came close to the area, he has a back left what it seems to be is a broken ankle? I've felt the actual bone and it seems solid, the ankle though seems to be swelled so I can't feel if it's broken but he drags is along as he walks, I've put a cast on him for 3 days but took it off because it seemed to irritate him, I was wondering if I should wrap his ankle at all and wait untill he recovers and feed him milk and nuts and such? Any suggestions on what else I could do to raise him and make him well again? He seems very healthy other wise but he also has fleas.

[kcassidy]

Can you post pictures and can you weigh him?

Please do NOT feed him Cows milk.
Depending on his age, he either gets just formula or he could be needing formula, vegetables, Henry's Healthy Blocks and some fruit and some nuts. Or all that except the formula

Esbilac Puppy Formula with the Pre/Pro Biotics is what we recommend feeding and it should be fairly easy to get, most Pet stores sell it.

In the AM other members will hop on and give you more help. But they will ask for pictures too So you might want to get those loaded.

Welcome to the group

[island rehabber]

Thank you for saving him. If you can get the Royal Canin puppy formula in your part of Canada, it is an excellent milk replacer for baby squirrels. Depending on his age, as kcassidy said above, he also may need some solid foods at this point. We'll need a pic to be able to help you more accurately with that. Most important is to keep him hydrated with the formula and, if necessary, some Pedialyte or homemade hydration fluid:


2 cups very warm water
1.5 TABLEspoons sugar
1/4 TEAspoon of salt

..pkus a drop of honey or apple juice for flavor.

[Chickenlegs]

All that! For the fleas--a warm bath with Dawn dishwashing liquid will get rid of them. KEEP HIM WARM! Don't let him get chilled after his bath. Watch the ankle. With limited room to skoot around it should heal OK. If obvious deformity, may need more care and other folks will weigh in on that. NO NUTS! No sunflower seeds. A healthy diet will go a long way towards a healthy squirrel. Smarter folks can dose infant ibuprofen for that swelling. Welcome to the wonderful magic world of squirrels. If you've lost your heart, you'll find it clutched with tiny paws close to your baby.

[Emerbrah]

Idk his weight but this is his ankle kinda hard to see but it is very flimsy