Paw turning black not using it

[Magellan]

I posted about this wild squirrel awhile ago. It was decided after speaking with local rehabber to wait and see as it was possible botfly because of tiny holes near shoulder. Swelling in arm and not putting weight on paw. She is a wild squirrel whom I have bonded with over the summer. I don’t handle her but she’ll sit on me for nuts/avocado. Two days ago her paw turned black. Rehabber said to try to capture her. She doesn’t live in my yard and usually comes when I call but not all the time. She can climb and has usual appetite. Do I attempt capture or because she’s wild just leave her be besides giving her healthy snacks if I see her. I feel horrible about this but i have never trapped an animal and don’t want to cause stress but I feel guilty that I haven’t done enough for my beautiful girl. Any realistic advice? The green you see is a piece of avocado

[RockyPops]

That's a good question! You'd have to catch her for a vet to see her but the stress may be worse on her.

I just don't know!

Check back often. Someone will have ideas.

Thanks for trying to help her!

Both her front feet look black to me. Is it her left front foot? Does she use it when she climbs?

[JLM27]

That looks bad. Do you have a safe vet? (I don't know what state you live in.) Can you work through a rehabber? If they have to amputate they might want to euthanize unless you have a plan ahead of time for a non-releasable animal.

[HRT4SQRLS]

Do you have any antibiotics? You can treat her using the avocado. Hopefully it’s not too late. I successfully treated a wild that had a massive abscess on the back. It was the first time I used dry dosing of an antibiotic. I calculated the portion of the tablet and picked it up on the wet surface of an avocado cube. It was a crude way to dose but it worked great.

Clavamox or Septra ( Sulfamethoxazole/Trimethoprim ) would be best.

[Magellan]

I am working with rehabber but I have to catch her first. Last time I saw her was 2 days ago. She climbs. It’s the left front paw. She hasn’t put any weight on it either. I’ve never caught a wild animal but I adore her. The plan is try this weekend if my squirrel comes. As far as a plan for unreleasable I don’t have one. I feel horrible and guilty about the whole situation. If I can’t trap her then I don’t know. I do not have antibiotics and even if I did I don’t see her often enough now to administer them daily and I wouldn’t want to make matters worse. I’m thinking something must be inside her arm that is cutting off blood flow. Pic doesn’t show but arm is swollen as well.

[RockyPops]

Will the re-habber your working with be able to help the baby long term?

If you trap her is a vet going to see her as well?

Please keep TSB posted and thank you again!

[Magellan]

Unfortunately I don’t know the answers to those questions. This is my first time trying to assist a wild animal in need.

[Nancy in New York]

Unfortunately I don’t know the answers to those questions. This is my first time trying to assist a wild animal in need.

One of the most important things (actually, it's imperative) when trapping a squirrel, is to have a plan already in place.
Have everything lined up down to where you will keep her, how fast you can get help for her,
etc. (Remember to cover the trap immediately after catching, so have something handy to throw over the trap.
You never want to have a squirrel trapped and not know what you're going to do with her.
They can easily die from too much stress.

I am going to direct someone who has trapped wild squirrels before to your thread to explain
how he did it.

Thank you for helping this little one, and good luck.

[TubeDriver]

As Nancy said, maker sure you have an after-capture plan already in place (local rehabber standing by waiting to hear back from you).

I have had good success trapping with a raccoon sized hav-a-hart trap. I rig the release with a long string (10+' long) so I can manually trip it. Place some cutout cardboard on the bottom of the trap, a big pile of treats at the far end, 1 or two treats at the mouth of the cage and wait for your squirrel to go in. If you get a cage, I can PM you some detailed instructions for setting it up.

Here is the cage similar to mine (I have a hav-a-hart but it is more $$$):

https://www.amazon.com/Humane-914048...RM20J63R8NR528

[RockyPops]

And as Nancy said, have a towel or something to cover the cage up with while squirrel is in the cage.

[JLM27]

You or your friends may have Cipro or other unused antibiotics in the cabinet. I would get a new trap and catch her. She will be freaked, but the alternative may be death. You and the rehabber have got to get a good look at what is wrong with that arm.

[TubeDriver]

Any updates?

[Magellan]

Any updates?

I wasn’t going to post an update because I was worried everybody here would be disappointed in me. When I saw my sweet girl again her paw has basically disintegrated. I know she dragged it when running and walking. I don’t think she had any feeling in it. Anyway after sending pics to local rehabber we decided to leave her be because she is mobile and has a great appetite and alert and I was freaked out about the wildlife clinic putting her down. I didn’t want to be the catalyst that made that happen. She’s never been caged and I was also worried about her stressing herself into shock. She doesn’t display any signs of pain. Maybe nerve in arm was damaged and blocking blood flow. I have no idea. For now I’m keeping an eye out for her and have raw honey, avocado and almonds ready if I see her. As I said before, she doesn’t live on the property and comes to me when she wants. I realize I may never see her again and perhaps if I intervened sooner things would be different but I just had a gut feeling she’d be put down if seen at a clinic and I’m pretty sure a private rehabber would need to take her to a vet to find out what was happening. It’s illegal here to have a pet squirrel so if she was unreleasable I don’t know what would happen as well. I’m heartbroken and crying while writing this update. She is/was my first squirrel pal 💕🙏🏼 She stole my heart. Thank you all for your help.

[TubeDriver]

We all do the best we can and we recognize that different people have different skills and resources. Many wildlife centers probably would euthanize a squirrel with a paw like this. You can give her extra food and make sure that fresh water is available for her.

You can ask a rehabber directly about what will happen if the squirrel cannot be released, what will they do?

If she is a good weight and mobile and seems otherwise healthy, then perhaps she can adapt to missing a paw. I had a wild squirrel friend named Spaz who visited for several years. Spaz's right front paw was basically a stump with part of a finger. But Spaz did well out there and was pretty high up in the local squirrel pecking order. I hope your squirrel heals and does well. If you decide to try and treat her with meds, we can help with dosing directions.

I wasn’t going to post an update because I was worried everybody here would be disappointed in me. When I saw my sweet girl again her paw has basically disintegrated. I know she dragged it when running and walking. I don’t think she had any feeling in it. Anyway after sending pics to local rehabber we decided to leave her be because she is mobile and has a great appetite and alert and I was freaked out about the wildlife clinic putting her down. I didn’t want to be the catalyst that made that happen. She’s never been caged and I was also worried about her stressing herself into shock. She doesn’t display any signs of pain. Maybe nerve in arm was damaged and blocking blood flow. I have no idea. For now I’m keeping an eye out for her and have raw honey, avocado and almonds ready if I see her. As I said before, she doesn’t live on the property and comes to me when she wants. I realize I may never see her again and perhaps if I intervened sooner things would be different but I just had a gut feeling she’d be put down if seen at a clinic and I’m pretty sure a private rehabber would need to take her to a vet to find out what was happening. It’s illegal here to have a pet squirrel so if she was unreleasable I don’t know what would happen as well. I’m heartbroken and crying while writing this update. She is/was my first squirrel pal 💕🙏🏼 She stole my heart. Thank you all for your help.

[RockyPops]

Thanks for caring Magellan!

[Nancy in New York]

I wasn’t going to post an update because I was worried everybody here would be disappointed in me. When I saw my sweet girl again her paw has basically disintegrated. I know she dragged it when running and walking. I don’t think she had any feeling in it. Anyway after sending pics to local rehabber we decided to leave her be because she is mobile and has a great appetite and alert and I was freaked out about the wildlife clinic putting her down. I didn’t want to be the catalyst that made that happen. She’s never been caged and I was also worried about her stressing herself into shock. She doesn’t display any signs of pain. Maybe nerve in arm was damaged and blocking blood flow. I have no idea. For now I’m keeping an eye out for her and have raw honey, avocado and almonds ready if I see her. As I said before, she doesn’t live on the property and comes to me when she wants. I realize I may never see her again and perhaps if I intervened sooner things would be different but I just had a gut feeling she’d be put down if seen at a clinic and I’m pretty sure a private rehabber would need to take her to a vet to find out what was happening. It’s illegal here to have a pet squirrel so if she was unreleasable I don’t know what would happen as well. I’m heartbroken and crying while writing this update. She is/was my first squirrel pal ������ She stole my heart. Thank you all for your help.

Thank you so much for coming back on and letting us know about your little buddy.
In situations like this, I too have struggled with what the "right thing" to do is.
Actually I believe we all question ourselves at times like this.
You took her life into consideration with your decision, thank you.
You followed your gut, and did as you saw fit. You have eyes on her
and are watching first hand,
You respect her life and nobody could love her more.
I hope she shows up again, so you can breathe easier.

[Magellan]

Thank you so much for coming back on and letting us know about your little buddy.
In situations like this, I too have struggled with what the "right thing" to do is.
Actually I believe we all question ourselves at times like this.
You took her life into consideration with your decision, thank you.
You followed your gut, and did as you saw fit. You have eyes on her
and are watching first hand,
You respect her life and nobody could love her more.
I hope she shows up again, so you can breathe easier.

Thank you so much for the encouraging comments. This was my first time seeing an injured wild animal and of course it was my sweetie. I obviously would’ve done by best catching her if when I first saw her she wasn’t mobile,etc. We wanted to try the “watch and wait” because there was always that chance that her issues would clear on their own and at first we thought botfly. I’ll never know what exactly happened to her but she’s staying wild and I pray I see her again before snow. Thank you again. I’m glad I found this forum of like minded squirrel lovers. They aren’t “just squirrels” to us 🙏🏼🙏🏼💕💕🐿😊

[Milo's Mom]

Magellan - Here on this board is the story of a squirrel named MJ (Momma Jr.). She had an injury to her hind leg and foot. I caught her. Her foot was dead, we tried to save the leg, but ended up having to amputate her leg. She made it through the surgery, but her recovery was grueling and took MONTHS. Her surgery site abscessed twice, she was on more meds than I can even remember this many years out, she was then utterly terrified of the outside. She was a wild animal in a cage, a prison, but she did find security in it. I saved the squirrel but destroyed her spirit. She lived with me for 3 years after her surgery...maybe I should say she hid from me for 3 years after her surgery. Then she started having bigger more complex problems and the spark in her eyes, the spark that I fell in love with while she grew up and had babies in my yard, wasn't there anymore. She was alive but she wasn't living. I refused to put her through more surgery and a few mornings later she passed away in my arms as I gave her the freedom she deserved. She was finally free of her prison.

Normally when I work my butt off to save a squirrel and the end is a premature death I'm inconsolable for days. I question EVERYTHING every which way from Sunday and then again just to double check everything. I doubt my every decision, I question my every thought and in the end I am disappointed in myself for not saving the squirrel.

When MJ passed away the feeling that came over me was warmth and comfort, which is totally opposite of what I normally feel. MJ was free and she was happy and she showed me this with the warmth and comfort.

I am sharing this with you simply because I'd like you to know that there was no right or wrong in this case. Your girl is a wild and she's living life on her terms, something my girl didn't get.

I realize my words won't fix what your heart feels or the pit in your stomach, but I lived the other side of your story and today, I honestly don't think I'd do it again. I saved the squirrel, but killed her spirit.

Hopefully you're able to understand what I'm trying to say. Hold your girl close in your heart and know that if it's meant to be, you'll see her again.

[Magellan]

I actually read all of your MJ story the other night and cried!!! Thank you SO MUCH for reaching out to me, it has actually helped me tremendously. I know in my gut she’d never thrive indoors and that a vet would probably put her down. So I’m the meantime I’ll keep an eye out for her and if I see her come my way I’ve got great healthy snacks at the ready. Thanks for all you do for our precious critters 🙏🏼🙏🏼💕💕. This forum has been amazing.

[Milo's Mom]

I actually read all of your MJ story the other night and cried!!! Thank you SO MUCH for reaching out to me, it has actually helped me tremendously. I know in my gut she’d never thrive indoors and that a vet would probably put her down. So I’m the meantime I’ll keep an eye out for her and if I see her come my way I’ve got great healthy snacks at the ready. Thanks for all you do for our precious critters 🙏🏼🙏🏼💕💕. This forum has been amazing.

Oh wow, I didn't realize anyone read that thread anymore. I'm sorry it made you cry and I do hope you celebrated our little accomplishments too. I'm glad it helped in some way.