Harry is almost 9 months old. For reasons noted in the linked thread below, he was moved to his release cage much earlier than normal:
https://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/...el-attacked-me!
Anyways, he has been outdoors for over 7 weeks and released for 2 1/2 weeks.
Maybe a week ago, I noticed a weird swelling on his right side. I thought it might be an abscess, but there has never been any sign of an injury, no loss of fur, etc.
It is really hard to get a decent photo, as with the fur looking otherwise normal, it needs to be shown from a certain angle. And given recent experience with Harry (refer to attached thread), I do not want to handle him unless it is completely unavoidable.
Whatever this thing is, it is quite large. Imagine a hemisphere that is 1'' diameter right under the skin. You can see it in the photos if you trace a line from his right rear foot across his side towards his tail.
None of my squirrels have ever had a bot fly, so I have only seen pictures. My impression was that these wouild cause fur loss, etc. And since I first noticed this almost a week ago, I have seen no evidence of fur loss.
Does anyone have any ideas what this might be?
Examining Harry will likely be quite a challenge, as I have let him jump up on me since he attacked me the day after his release. If it comes down to it, I would need to don all my protective gear, get him to jump up on me, then come inside and make my way to a smaller room like a bathroom or sun porch and try to get hold of him. I will be safe in my gear, but having to do this is not going to help Harry feel safe once again, so handling him is not something I will attempt unless there are no other options.
There is no sign that this thing bothers him. He moves fine, has plenty of energy, does not seem to scratch at it unduly. But in person, this thing is quite large and hard to miss.