Clavamox mixed with treat ?

[olorin19]

Update -

Mookie has now been inside 15 days. He was on clavamox for 10 days, with the large scab coming off at 3.5 days. A smaller scab came off at 4.5 days, nothing since.

I have seen no sign of discharge, swelling, etc., and he has now been off the clavamox for 5 days. The picture below was just taken this morning.

Is there any reason he needs to be on the porch longer? Also, his poops seem back to normal. I gave him probiotics during the clavamox usually 1x day but have done it 2x day since then.

Since today is pouring rain, my plan is to move him into the release cage tomorrow morning for a week. While my sun porch is unheated, it has never been any lower than 40 there, so this week is also nice as the days will be in the 40s and nights from low 30s to high 20s. There is a nest box stuffed full of fleece in the release cage, so he will be warm and snug.

The release cage has been in the same spot since last used when Mookie was released in May/June 2018. He moved back into the nest box (still inside the release cage) that fall and pretty much slept there every night from October to April before returning to the trees for warmer weather. This winter, he generally slept in the nest box when it was cold, rainy, or snowy, but not every night like his first winter outside. When it was really cold, he often had another squirrel with him as well.

Does this seem like a good plan? Comments welcome, thanks!

[RockyPops]

I'm not really that experienced but it sounds to me like you have a great plan for Mookie.

I'm so glad he's hung around so long and still trusts you.

Thanks for keeping us posted on his progress!

[TubeDriver]

I think that sounds perfectly reasonable to me. It is a little hard to see in the photo, but if there is continuous, healthy, squirrel skin (very light greyish colored, perhaps a bit pinkish because it is new) then it sounds like he has recovered. It also sounds like he knows where to come home if anything occurs. Great job helping Mookie.

[olorin19]

I'm not really that experienced but it sounds to me like you have a great plan for Mookie.

I'm so glad he's hung around so long and still trusts you.

Thanks for keeping us posted on his progress!

Thanks RP

I doubt any of the details being shared are at all surprising to the experts at TSB, However, I figure that either now or later (via the archive) perhaps some of these details might help somebody else help their own squirrel.

The interesting thing I've noted both with Mookie and with Dustin (back inside twice 2016-2017 for antibiotics due to abscessed wounds from fights) is that while they by no means enjoy me holding them and giving them oral antibiotics or oral probiotics, it seems that this trauma has not decreased their trust in me. If anything, it seems to have increased it.

I talk to my squirrels quite a bit - telling them what i am going to be doing, letting them know how much longer before they are released, etc. While I doubt they understand words, all the same I believe that saying it out loud does help to keep them in the loop.

There is a noise squirrels make in their throats that I call the happy squirrel noise. I mimic that noise as best I can, and while my "accent" is surely atrocious, it does seem to help comfort them. (This same noise often seems to work on wild squirrels in my yard, i.e. helps them to feel safe when I am out there.)

[olorin19]

I think that sounds perfectly reasonable to me. It is a little hard to see in the photo, but if there is continuous, healthy, squirrel skin (very light greyish colored, perhaps a bit pinkish because it is new) then it sounds like he has recovered. It also sounds like he knows where to come home if anything occurs. Great job helping Mookie.

Thanks TD for all your assistance with Mookie

Getting a decent photo is a two person job due to injury being way up inside ofrear leg.

I have cropped it below to zoom in a bit.

The skin looks as you describe - light grey with a hint of pink, and no sign of angry red, pus, etc.

[TubeDriver]

That looks good! When you see little hairs start to grow in, you can be 100% sure he is better but I would be 99% sure right now!

Thanks TD for all your assistance with Mookie

Getting a decent photo is a two person job due to injury being way up inside ofrear leg.

I have cropped it below to zoom in a bit.

The skin looks as you describe - light grey with a hint of pink, and no sign of angry red, pus, etc.

[olorin19]

Mookie is back outside in his release cage as of this morning.

As noted before, usually cage has a small door left open, so Mookie has been using the nest box frequently since his original 2018 release. I will open the door back up in a week.

The bottom cylindrical section (which includes the nest box) is 3' diameter and 6' high. There is a rectangular section above (only partially shown in second photo) that is connected by an opening at the end away from the nest box. Above the nest box there is a doormat, so he can hang out on top of the nest box itself and be out of the snow, rain, sun, etc. The top section is 3' high and open to the sky.

There is a lot of squirrel traffic in that area normally, as they like the hedge and log pile for cover, so Mookie will have plenty of visitors.

[olorin19]

Update and question:

Mookie has been out in his release cage since Sunday morning. It is now Friday, so his sixth day in the cage. He seems healthy but very eager to be released - starting to chew at the wires a bit and look for a way out.

By the second day out, he regularly has other squirrels either sitting on the log pile right next to him or climbing around on the outside of the cage. Nothing to me looks like anyone is trying to intimidate him. And he is not showing either fear (retreating into nest box) or active aggression (trying to chase them away, chattering, etc.)

Basically, everyone seems to be getting along fine. More often than not, it is only one squirrel by Mookie's cage. This winter, he has had a buddy who has often shared the nest box with him at night. His first winter out, I never saw Mookie share the nest box with another squirrel.

This sharing included the period during which he was injured and only using three legs but before I managed to get him inside for treatment. So in other words, this buddy was still hanging with Mookie and sharing his nest box amicably even when Mookie was vulnerable. I am thinking this is likely the same squirrel, although I cannot say for sure. (This buddy tends to flee if I go near the nest box so hard to identify.)

My original plan was to wait to release Mookie until Sunday morning, thus a full week in the release cage.

Would it be best to wait, or is he good to go tomorrow morning?

[TubeDriver]

He has already spent significant time outside on his own so there is no real pressing need to do a full soft release. I also don't like that he is chewing on the metal bars. If he were in my care, I would release tomorrow morning. The only reason to keep him any longer IMHO is if there is some terrible snow storm coming?

Update and question:

Mookie has been out in his release cage since Sunday morning. It is now Friday, so his sixth day in the cage. He seems healthy but very eager to be released - starting to chew at the wires a bit and look for a way out.

By the second day out, he regularly has other squirrels either sitting on the log pile right next to him or climbing around on the outside of the cage. Nothing to me looks like anyone is trying to intimidate him. And he is not showing either fear (retreating into nest box) or active aggression (trying to chase them away, chattering, etc.)

Basically, everyone seems to be getting along fine. More often than not, it is only one squirrel by Mookie's cage. This winter, he has had a buddy who has often shared the nest box with him at night. His first winter out, I never saw Mookie share the nest box with another squirrel.

This sharing included the period during which he was injured and only using three legs but before I managed to get him inside for treatment. So in other words, this buddy was still hanging with Mookie and sharing his nest box amicably even when Mookie was vulnerable. I am thinking this is likely the same squirrel, although I cannot say for sure. (This buddy tends to flee if I go near the nest box so hard to identify.)

My original plan was to wait to release Mookie until Sunday morning, thus a full week in the release cage.

Would it be best to wait, or is he good to go tomorrow morning?

[olorin19]

He has already spent significant time outside on his own so there is no real pressing need to do a full soft release. I also don't like that he is chewing on the metal bars. If he were in my care, I would release tomorrow morning. The only reason to keep him any longer IMHO is if there is some terrible snow storm coming?

Thanks TD

No snow on the horizon. Tomorrow's H/L are 45/33, then Sunday 48/39, then next week 61/40, 60/43, 53/45, 50/36, 44/32, 47/35. Not even any rain anticipated until next Wednesday.

So I will release him tomorrow morning.

By the way, this morning was the first time i noticed the chewing. Yesterday afternoon, he did seem a little depressed, looking at my like "Dad, when am I getting out of here?"

[RockyPops]

Yay Mookie!

Be sure to get some video of that free baby...!

Good job dad!

[olorin19]

My sun porch is a great place for squirrels to run and jump, but climbing opportunities are limited. When i am standing there in my double layer of sweatshirts, sweatpants, etc., I am actually the most interesting thing to climb.

This made for some fun moments when Mookie, Arya, and Iggy were all flying around on me at the same time.

But while Mookie had lots of opportunity to run and jump and thus get his leg back into shape, restore range of motion, etc., he did not do much climbing down. When he would climb down from me, he really did not use that right back leg - since he was only descending a few feet, he could easily do this with the other three legs.

The cage outside is a different story - not a great place to run, okay but not great for jumping, but excellent for climbing. And during the 5-6 days he has been outside, he is all over the cage, climbing and moving in all directions, and definitely hanging from and using the right rear leg just fine.

Imagine a squirrel climbing up, then turning to the side to go horizontal then turning again to climb back down. This move could be done by either two clockwise or two counterclockwise turns.

Two clockwise turns to reverse relies on the left rear leg, while two counterclockwise turns rely on the right rear leg.

Mookie is definitely able to turn either clockwise or counterclockwise.

Note to Zoolander fans: Mookie is an ambiturner.

[olorin19]

Update:

We released Mookie this morning. (We recorded a short video which I need to figure out how to edit before posting.)

Anyways, Mookie came through the cage opening, jumped onto me, took a pecan, perched on my arm to better position the pecan in his mouth, then climbed down my leg after a minute. He then headed off across the yard, stopping on one of his favorite perches for a moment to survey his domain, then off to the back corner where he climbed the neightbor's back fence then ran along the top of the fence and off to wherever he goes in the morning to engage in important squirrel matters.

Basically, if this was before the injury and he had simply slept in the nest box inside the cage the night before I had made it out there in the morning while he was still waiting on top of his for breakfast, he did what he would normally do. While at night Mookie might eat a few nuts before going to bed, in the morning it has almost always been one pecan for the road then "see you later, dad, I've got stuff to do...."

My six month olds Arya and Iggy have seen Mookie and smelled him on my squirrel clothes all their lives. But the 16 days Mookie was on my sun porch was the first time they got to interact with him directly. After putting Mookie in the release cage last Sunday, we washed my squirrel gear. (Mookie's morning dose of antibiotics or probiotics came when I first got him out of the cage, so it occasionally resulted in him peeing on me a bit.)

So until; today, there would have been no Mookie scent on my squirrel gear. I got the kids out right after releasing Mookie. Both of them spent quite a bit of time this morning smelling my sweatshirt, right where Mookie had been perched.

I have always had the impression with both Mookie and Dustin after they were released that they liked to use me as a ladder to get up or down even when it was not strictly necessary. I always wondered if part of this was marking me with their scent.

[RockyPops]

Can't wait to see video!

[olorin19]

We let Mookie out at abut 8 a.m and did not see him the rest of the morning, which is not unusual.

When I got back from some errands in the early afternoon, he came running over from the next yard when he saw me. He spent the next 20 minutes or so jumping up on me to get a hazelnut then running off to eat or bury it.

There were lots of other squirrels out and about, and no sign of anybody trying to intimidate or chase Mookie. Mostly, the other squirrels kept out of his way.

Mookie did chase a few squirrels off when they either approached him when he was eating or burying a nut.

So basically, nothing out of the ordinary. Any of the above would have been normal before the injury.

[HRT4SQRLS]

So happy to hear that Mookie is finally home. You are always there for your babies.

[olorin19]

So happy to hear that Mookie is finally home. You are always there for your babies.

They're always family for me, and I do my best to watch over them.

They are each so different. While Mookie is by no means a clown, he is the squirrel that makes me laugh most often - just something about the way he moves about and his mannerisms.

Our neighbor's yard behind us slopes up, so we get a good view of a wide area with lots of squirrel activity. And even at 50 yards, we can usually pick Mookie out by how he moves.

[olorin19]

Update:

Mookie was released a week ago today, and all is well.

My house is a ranch house, and Mookie knows how to find us by looking through various windows and glass doors until he finds one of us. He knows to check the glass back door, the window by my desk, the kitchen window (by jumping upon on the grille first), the dining room window (jumping on a deck chair first), the living room window (pictured below), and the front glass porch.

We positioned the hose caddy so that when Mookie jumps up on it then we can see him through the living room picture window when we are sitting in our chairs.

If he sees us and we fail to see him, he'll twitch his tail and/or put his paws on the window to get our attention.

[RockyPops]

Mookie looks great!

He's so smart!

Great job dad!

[Nancy in New York]

Aw Mookie is simply precious!