Quality of life dilemma

[Mel1959]

How does one know when quality of life is bad enough to euthanize?

History: I took two squirrels (siblings?) from a rehabber to release on my property. They were approximately 12 weeks old, very small for their age and in an over-crowded, disastrous release cage scenario. I never handled them. I kept them in my RC for 4 weeks. They did very well and when released moved up into one of the squirrel boxes in the oak tree above the RC.

After being released for about a month I noticed the female (Jill) not moving well as she attempted to climb the tree. We captured her and put her back into the release cage. As she squealed about being captured, her brother (Jack) came running and actually went into the RC with her. It was very sweet.

Dr. E’s examination uncovered a ruptured spleen with an internal hematoma, compression and contusions around her lungs and a broken top incisor, all from a fall from a tree. She instructed me to dose with antibiotics, prednisone and nasal drops. She said it would take at least a month for her to heal. While treating her I kept her in the house in a small cage. She spent all her time inside a cube and wouldn’t eat. I fed her via syringe for 3 weeks. This squirrel hates me. She growls and would take my finger off if I got it near her mouth.

Once the medications were finished I moved her out to my RC hoping that being outside would cheer her up. I tied sheets around the perimeter of the cage in case she were to fall as she maneuvered the cage wire or the tree limbs. She has been in the RC for more than 4 weeks. She continues to spend her time either inside a nest box, cube or hollowed stump nest box inside the RC. Only occasionally do I see her out on one of the platforms laying. She is still a terrible eater. Some days I don’t think she even comes out of wherever she’s hiding to get food. I place the food right near her, even tossing it into her hiding place, in the hopes she’ll eat it.

I coax her brother into the RC every so often and leave him in there for a day or so. He doesn’t get frantic about being in there and he grooms her and sleeps with her, which I think is helpful for her well being.

Jill still doesn’t maneuver very well. I know I will need to make a return trip to see Dr. E for her to be evaluated again and to see if there is something she may have missed. The issue seems to be with Jills rear legs. They don’t seem to work right. I’m not sure if it could be some type of birth defect or not. When she was released she seemed to spend a great deal of time on the ground. . Dr. E did Xrays so if there was something like MBD I think she would have seen it.

So this is my dilemma. What do I do with a squirrel that is living it’s life inside a cube or nest box, barely eats, growls and cowers whenever I’m near and can’t climb or maneuver well? I am happy to give her more time to heal, if that is the problem, but if it’s not, is this any kind of quality life for her?

[CritterMom]

Well, I do want to point out that all of the things you are describing - the biting, the hiding, the not eating - can be attributable to her being in pain. Has she ever been on pain meds after she finished the course of prednisone? If not, I would put her on some kind of pain med - something like metacam if you have any but even infant ibuprophen. If she gets a couple doses in her and suddenly starts to perk up you know there is something going on and you need to call Dr. E. Maybe this is addressable and you won't need to continue pondering this issue.

[Mel1959]

Thank you, I will try some metacam and see if it makes a difference.

[Mel1959]

While giving Jill her food this morning, I decided to take advantage of her being in her nest box, with easy access, to grab her with a blanket for a quick assessment. Her upper broken incisor has not regrown...not even a nub. It’s been about two months (6/22) since she fell. On the positive side, her lower incisors do not seem inappropriately long, nor are they uneven.

When I put her back in the nest box she launched herself out of it towards me landed on the wire below and scurried to a vertical limb, climbed a foot and stopped. When she thought it was safe she moved VERY quickly up the limb and into the log nest where she’s inaccessible. This is the fastest I’ve seen her move since I brought her in.

I have been treating with metacam for the past couple of days. My plan is to continue the metacam for another week or two and observe her movements and behavior. If all things continue to improve I am going to give her a chance to return to the trees.

Does anyone have an opinion on this? Is two more weeks long enough or should that be extended? I would like to give her a chance at life in the trees again. She is very unhappy being captive. I’m sure she will stay close to home where I can help her, if necessary, since her brother lives here.

[CritterMom]

My two concerns: If the metacam is making a change to the behavior then something hurts somewhere. It may or may not take care of the problem, depending what it is. Second, top teeth "gone" and not reappearing just screams odontoma. It may not be; perhaps it is just taking her a while to regrow them, but it is a big sign, and that could be what hurts. Sure would be nice to get a head x-ray. How is she eating?

[Mel1959]

Dr. E did a head x-ray. No odontoma and she also said it didn’t look as though the tooth bed had been injured, but that’s never for certain. This squirrel is only about 8-9 months old....pretty young for odontomas, IMO. She is not a good eater, but I don’t think it’s because of any difficulty eating. I am dosing the metacam on a pecan and she has eaten them. Because she readily eats nuts I am being conscientious about providing good food like HHBs and boo balls, but she doesn’t readily seek them out to eat them. I have noticed that the boo balls I toss into her nest box seem to be eaten. I’m not providing her nuts beyond what has the medicine on it. I think she just doesn’t eat well in captivity.

There have been no white tears except for a few days following her fall. She has been doing a terrific job chewing the wood on the platforms in the RC so it doesn’t seem to cause her pain to chew hard items.

[TubeDriver]

I don't have much to add other than I would not set an arbitrary limit on how much time she needs. Two weeks might be enough but might not. She might need 3+ weeks to recover so base your decision on whether she is improving or not. Is the broken tooth not growing back or is she managing to wear the stub down which makes it look like it is not growing back? Seems to me the most important thing is to assess her leg function, is there something wrong that will impact her mobility to the point that she can't be released? The tooth is the other critical thing, it has to be resolved before she can be released. If the tooth and leg situation are resolved, she nay be released again IMHO. One of Mia's babies, Stubbs, recovered from an attack which left him without a tail and with some permanent injuries to his hind legs. But he gets around just fine (he hops a lot like a rabbit which is funny to watch especially since he only has a little stub tail like a rabbit) and is actually now one of the alpha yard squirrels. He is looks happy and healthy. They can overcome a lot.

[Mel1959]

I’m not sure if she continues to wear the tooth down or not. All I know is that the bottoms do not seem to be overgrown so she must be able to keep them worn down somehow.

I agree, there’s no time limit on her recovery. I have no problem taking her back to Dr. E for a follow up assessment. Dr. E is pretty realistic about assessing whether they can make it in the wild and believes if there’s a chance then they should be given it.

Dr. E did xrays and bloodwork and found nothing other than the injuries I listed. Maybe in a follow up exam she will see something else.

[Mel1959]

Update on Jill: As I previously posted, this squirrel was not raised by me but I kept her and her brother in my RC for about 4 weeks before releasing them. Around the third week of June Jill wasn’t moving well so I captured her. Two trips to two different vets (and $450 later ) it was discovered that she had a ruptured spleen, trauma to her chest and a broken top incisor. She has been in my RC for the last two months. About 2 weeks ago, on the advice of Crittermom, I started dosing metacam once a day. Her ability to move improved dramatically. I took her back to Dr. E yesterday for a final exam in preparation for releasing her. Dr. E discovered the broken tooth is dead and recommended pulling it to prevent infection. Unfortunately, Jills throat was swollen/irritated and she couldn’t be tubed for surgery so I had to bring her home. I will return tomorrow for the surgery. Hopefully all will go as planned.

Upon returning home I thought she’d remain subdued so I left her in the carrier.....BIG mistake!! When I went in the bedroom to give her some boo balls and her medicine I discovered she had chewed out of the carrier . This little girl no longer has any problem moving and jumping!! She has no problem chewing either. The night before her trip to Dr. E I gave her a pecan in the shell and she opened it with no problem. She’s also been customizing every shelf in the release cage.

On a positive note, Dr. E feels confident that she can be released. Her lower incisors seem to be staying filed down since there doesn’t appear to be any overgrowth in the two and a half months since the initial fall that broke the tooth.

Even with metacam onboard she’s still mean and constantly growls at me!!. I can’t wait to get her back in the trees!

[Mel1959]

Jill came through surgery fine. She will be inside with me for as long as two weeks. The only problem with this situation is that she basically “shuts down” when she’s inside. She doesn’t come out of her cube, doesn’t climb or explore and doesn’t eat or drink well. The last time I had her inside I had to feed her baby food and critical care by syringe. for three weeks. She bites the end of the syringe and makes it useless in no time. It’s a challenge for sure. But I can’t put her out in the release cage while having to give daily meds so we will make the best of it.

Here’s a photo after eating her baby food dinner and getting a warm wash cloth face wipe. She does seem to enjoy the face wipes.

[Charley Chuckles]

Mel what a time you've had with Jill, little stinker she is😁
I'm so glad she can be released🤗

My Willy was to have an insissor tooth removed but I waited and it turned out the tooth is fine👍
However for other reasons he was deemed by Dr. E a non releasable, but he's a lover 😉

Jill be a good house guest you have a very kind host

[Mel1959]

What was the problem with Willy’s tooth? Dr. E did an X-ray 2.5 moths ago and thought it looked ok. When she did another X-ray on Wednesday she determined it was dead. It had not grown in the 2.5 months. I find myself questioning if I did the right thing by having the surgery, but if she could keep the bottoms from over growing in that 2.5 month period with only one incisor, then it should be no different now, except there’s no worry of infection by leaving the dead tooth in place.

[Charley Chuckles]

Willy came in with his sister Irma from hurricane Irma, going on 3 years ago.
In the the release cage I saw him fall but he seemed fine. Not sure if that had anything to do with him later on our not but after his release he couldn't figure out how to make a nest and ended up living with his sister Irma.
One day I found him all wobbly, I cought him bought him to Dr E, he had fallen we believe and was put on preds, I kept him in and after 10 days or so released him.
Then he got bot flies so bad he would have died, again cought him and back to Dr E.
Not only did she remove the bots, but he must have hit his tooth and she was able to pull it out with just her fingers it was so lose.
It was believed at the time he would need both upper insissors removed. I also realized he never could make it out in the wild so he would live with us.
I decided to wait on the tooth to see what might happen. The tooth grew in fine and I'm so happy I don't have to trim teeth 🤗

Sorry for the long post but my boy Willy is a little Wonkey and kinda hard to explain without going into detail 👍