One of my boys crawled into my camper with a broken arm

[McCarthy]

I was so happy to see my neuro boy showing up with a wound that looked much better. He was also less lethargic. I was able to spray some diluted Betadine on the wound.

And then one of my other boys barley crawled into my camper, then on my sofa, on my lap, and stayed there. One of his arms is clearly broken, his paw just dangles on the skin.

In my years I haven't seen a squirrel survive with this kind of injury, so I took him home, and I'm calling vets tomorrow in order so see if they can x-ray him and put his arm in some sort of a brace.

He is one of the very tame boys, I had no problem putting him into a pillow case and bring him inside, into my large squirrel cage.

Right after he tried to clean himself up with his paw just hanging to the side. Such a sad picture to see. Soon after he rolled onto the pillowcase and took a nap, clearly being exhausted.

Poor guy!

Ya'll have any suggestions? I climbs around in the large cage. Should I put him into a smaller cage to prevent him from using his broken arm so much?




On our way home.











Stupid cam is trying to focus on the mesh wire.

[JLM27]

Poor guy. He feels safe now.

[CritterMom]

Aw, poor baby. Have you gotten any infant ibuprophen yet? This would be a good time for some. You can try just offering it to him through the bars by syringe, Lord knows, my Zeke loves infant ibuprophen! I will PM dosing.

[McCarthy]

We have at least one raccoon in that section of the park and many of the squirrels are relentless when it comes to food aggression, territorial chasing and fighting. The park is definitely overcrowded with squirrels and that makes it much harder for injured squirrels to survive. At times you can see 20 squirrels within a radius of 50 yards.

When he came into my camper, he came for shelter, that was very obvious.

He ate a bunch of nuts, so he was hungry. Will order some Henry's block tonight.

It just turned dark outside and he crawled into the wooden nest box that is placed on the ground of the cage as if he had been around for years. I put half a roll of paper towel in it.

I hope the bones will heal fully. I won't be able to brace his arm myself. He trusts me, but that would be too much handling and throw him off. I don't need him to distrust me at this point. I'm trying to provide a calm surrounding for him while he hopefully heals.

Tomorrow I will replace the tree branches in the cage with a few ramps and a platform, that should help him to put less stress on his paw and arm.

I wonder if he can heal in this setting or if any bracing done by a vet will be the better option.

[McCarthy]

Aw, poor baby. Have you gotten any infant ibuprophen yet? This would be a good time for some. You can try just offering it to him through the bars by syringe, Lord knows, my Zeke loves infant ibuprophen! I will PM dosing.

I just placed an over-night order with Amazon for the infant ibuprofen, thank you for the PM. I also ordered Henry's Picky Blocks and Hazelnut Blocks over-night, so he can have a diet that is not just nut and fruit based. I installed new Dolby Atmos surround sound speaker in my living room last night and was looking forward to some loud ass movie sessions. Ain't gonna happen any time soon...

[Spanky]

Pictures of the arm or videos would be helpful if you can get them.

Is he using the arm at all? Like to hold food or anything?

A one level cage.. not more than 2 feet would tall would be more ideal. As example, I would keep one with the injuries you describe in the either the top or bottom half of a Critter Nation cage.

[McCarthy]

Pictures of the arm or videos would be helpful if you can get them.

Is he using the arm at all? Like to hold food or anything?

A one level cage.. not more than 2 feet would tall would be more ideal. As example, I would keep one with the injuries you describe in the either the top or bottom half of a Critter Nation cage.

I'll put my cam into manual focus mode tomorrow and take a better video.

He didn't have this injury when I saw him 2 days ago, so this is very fresh, and I can tell because he doesn't know yet how to deal with it. When he tries to pick up food wit both paws, he fails and is forced to use his moth on the ground with his other paw. When he tries to hold the food in-front of his mouth, the paw just flops to the side and he drops the food. When he walks or climbs he increasingly tries to not use that paw at all.

I was just reading up on other broken arm cases. Somebody mentioned that the immune system will create an inflammation around the broken bone, followed by swelling, this swelling will limit movement of the broken bones, and less movement will increase the chances for the bones to grow back together.

Now, ibuprofen reduced inflammation, and consequently swelling, and this may lower the chances for the bones to grow back together when there is more movement in that part of the body.

The pain also tells the squirrel to put less strain on that body part. If I give him ibuprofen, the pain will be less, and chances are he will try to make use of the broken arm, and that may again lower the chances for the bones to grow back together without any bracing. Maybe I should skip the ibuprofen. Healing is more important than lowering the pain level. If this doesn't heal I'll have a NR on hands. I much rather see him back in the park, or in my yard if the group won't let him "back in".

[McCarthy]

Just placed an order for the top section. Was the only one I could get delivered in basically one day. Petco didn't show any in stock with local stores.

[McCarthy]

Heck, bought the lower section as well, will arrive on Monday.

[sundoesshine]

I was just reading up on other broken arm cases. Somebody mentioned that the immune system will create an inflammation around the broken bone, followed by swelling, this swelling will limit movement of the broken bones, and less movement will increase the chances for the bones to grow back together..

Oh, poor guy, thank goodness you're there for him. May not be too equivalent, but we had a white cat that got out one evening, was picked up by an owl? and had it's shoulders broken. All that could be done was limit movement so he was confined to a crate and healed just fine, was quite amazing. I would think that just by caging, the healing would happen, even if medicated for the pain. Also, pain is stressful which can inhibit the healing process. Plus for injuries that big, pain meds don't do THat much, it just makes life Little bit less miserable. I might def consider withholding meds more for the Latter part of healing when he might inclined to overuse things (my cat Definitely wanted to get out and overuse his legs). I seem to recall giving him pain meds for a week or two but it was long ago so I could be wrong too.

[McCarthy]

Oh, poor guy, thank goodness you're there for him. May not be too equivalent, but we had a white cat that got out one evening, was picked up by an owl? and had it's shoulders broken. All that could be done was limit movement so he was confined to a crate and healed just fine, was quite amazing. I would think that just by caging, the healing would happen, even if medicated for the pain. Also, pain is stressful which can inhibit the healing process. Plus for injuries that big, pain meds don't do THat much, it just makes life Little bit less miserable. I might def consider withholding meds more for the Latter part of healing when he might inclined to overuse things (my cat Definitely wanted to get out and overuse his legs). I seem to recall giving him pain meds for a week or two but it was long ago so I could be wrong too.

I just got the infant ibuprofen drops delivered. Will have to mix them into nut / peanut butter bites. I doubt he is in the mood to eat out my hand for a while.


He stayed in the wooden nest box all night long, so he got at least some rest. Knowing wild greys, he may not come out when he hears anything, and that may go on for days. I have one of my security cameras turned towards the cage and can see in every room on monitors if he comes out and what he is up to. Much like a baby cam.

I just opened the nest box very slightly, just to make sure he is ok. Needless to say, he was startled, so I just added some food and water outside the box, and let him be. The less he moves, the better the outcome.

[McCarthy]

I called Dr. Zellner and they are booked for the next 3 weeks. I asked the assistant if a broken arm in a squirrel can heal on its own and she said that it depends on the severity. I asked if adult squirrels chew off any braces and didn't get a clear answer. She said the squirrel will chew off the hand if it dies off.

They suggested to call Blue Perl for an earlier appointment, so I called, talked to a guy working in the 24h emergency office, explained the situation, and he suggested to come in for an x-ray and bracing. They usually have appointments on the next day. I told him that I will watch my guy today in order to see how bad things are and call again tomorrow for an appointment. On the other hand, they have pretty bad reviews on Google.

Meanwhile I opened the nest box (top comes off) because he didn't come out so far and I wanted to offer him some food inside the nest. I gave him some apple and he ate it. At first he was kinda able to hold it with both paws, but ended up eating it on the ground. He stretched his arm once, used it slightly, and goes back to not using it. My impression is, that the paw is very loose, like only being attached to tissue and not to bones, and dangles at times.

I took another video. It's uploaded on Vimeo. If you can't see it, its a forum issue. Here the link for copy & paste: https://vimeo.com/717889397

I wonder if I should give him a week and see if it gets better on its own. I think most adult squirrels won't leave a brace alone and chew off.

[Charley Chuckles]

It's hard to tell in the video looks like he's staying calm.
I'm going to look for other wild vets in that area 👍

[McCarthy]

It's hard to tell in the video looks like he's staying calm.
I'm going to look for other wild vets in that area 👍

Thank you!

He already considers the nest box his territory. I'll give him another day and he will chatter his teeth at me for opening the nest box lid.

Keeping the lid open for now so he won't try to hide 24/7. I need him to feel safe to come out for food and potty, and its working, he just came out, sniffed around, went back into the box and curled up into a ball for another nap. I can tell that he is hurting and trying to rest. I'm glad he is not going bonkers in the cage.

[Charley Chuckles]

It's great he's calm, it's possible it could heal on his own.
FYI I think Blue Pearl would require you to surrender the squirrel. They are also very expensive.

[Charley Chuckles]

On that side of the state Dr Z would be best but she's booked so I'm hoping someone here has more ideas.
Dr Emerson on my side of the state is awesome but I don't know how soon she would have an appointment.

[Charley Chuckles]

It's possibly just a sprain and I've had yard Squirrels still climb with the 3 legs🤷

[Spanky]

Heck, bought the lower section as well, will arrive on Monday.

That's good because I don't believe the top comes with a "roof" section... the top of the bottom becomes the top for the upper section. But have only ever purchased a double at a time so I may be incorrect...

[Spanky]

I told him that I will watch my guy today in order to see how bad things are and call again tomorrow for an appointment.

FWIW I believe this is correct course of action right now.

If you could get video of when you give him an apple slice or even a nut, seeing how he does or does not handle the food will be good for assessing his situation. It is extremely difficult to brace/wrap/cast a wild's arm / hand. They panic, knowing the bracing is an extreme hindrance to a successful escape. Being with him a while will give you an op to better assess how this boy may react.

I also see signs for optimism. He seems to be able to move the arm, open and close the fingers some. All good signs IMO.

I've seen similar injuries where the wild is back to using the hand gingerly in a few days and you'd not know he was wounded in a few weeks. Now, they don't take the huge leaps like they normally might, they avoid the "crowds" and come during the less busy times of the day... but they heal up well, sometimes with very slight deficits (like a slightly crooked arm, loss of a finger, etc.).

[McCarthy]

FWIW I believe this is correct course of action right now.

If you could get video of when you give him an apple slice or even a nut, seeing how he does or does not handle the food will be good for assessing his situation. It is extremely difficult to brace/wrap/cast a wild's arm / hand. They panic, knowing the bracing is an extreme hindrance to a successful escape. Being with him a while will give you an op to better assess how this boy may react.

I also see signs for optimism. He seems to be able to move the arm, open and close the fingers some. All good signs IMO.

I've seen similar injuries where the wild is back to using the hand gingerly in a few days and you'd not know he was wounded in a few weeks. Now, they don't take the huge leaps like they normally might, they avoid the "crowds" and come during the less busy times of the day... but they heal up well, sometimes with very slight deficits (like a slightly crooked arm, loss of a finger, etc.).

Thank you for your impressions. Today I 'm feeling a little better about him as well. If I see little improvements from day to day, this would be wonderful and we can skip the stress from going to a vet, the ride alone is 45 min each way, and the risk of him chewing off the brace over night.

He is giving himself a lot of rest, no climbing today, been sleeping for an hour now. He indeed knows whats best for him. I'll make another video tonight.