I've noticed 5-6 squirrels with rather large ugly raw open wounds on them in the last 2 weeks. A momma with a 1.5 inch round ish one on her shoulder. A baby had a 2 inch or larger one on his whole butt, he died yesterday in my hands, he got weak and I assume went septic. Another 14 -16 week old wild baby just showed up with a crescent shapped one on its hip. None of them are dripping blood, just all the fur is scraped off in these spots and they are blood red. The baby who died, his large wound was scabbed over at the time he died.
Does anyone have any idea what this could be? I have been watching squirrels for a long time now, and have never seen this type of thing. I know what abscesses are, I've seen plenty of them, they usually break open in round holes etc, pretty nasty. I'm not saying these are not abscesses, they just don't look like the ones I'm used to seeing. I don't have a photo at the moment. I can try to get one.
One thought. Squirrels are living in a neighbors soffit that got torn up, if they are up under the roofline there could be nails that point down, but I would think a squirrel would be smart to avoid rough soffit torn metal and roof nails.
There may be raccoons in the area, I saw some for the first time 9 months ago, but I thought maybe they passed through, I haven't seen them since. They made a racket on my front porch for a few nights, and I have never heard or seen them again. But would raccoons make abrasions? I would think they would eat them. There are cats around too, but I would think a cat would make a puncture, not a large abrasion.
Any thoughts would be welcome. I'm seeing too many looking like this and simply want to ask. I know it would be easier with a photo. All I can reiterate, is that they don't appear to be a puncture, it looks like a sharp metal object scalped their skin off in contained areas, only on one place of the body per squirrel ranging from 1----2.5 inches in size. Locations range from shoulder, to neck to hip to butt.
Thank you.