HELP! Swollen Shoulder/Arm

[BoBear]

This little girl and her brothers’ nest was blown out of a tree about 3 weeks ago. They’ve all been doing well, but this morning, her arm was swollen like this. I’ve checked for anything cutting off circulation, no obvious bites… her brothers are much bigger than her so not sure if they injured her somehow. She doesn’t seem to mind me pressing on it and she can move it, but favors the other arm. Her brothers are about 100g, but she’s only about 75g. Her eyes have opened already. Any ideas what this is or what I should do for her?

[CritterMom]

What type carrier are they in? Is there some place she could have gotten her arm stuck - like ventilation holes large enough for her to have gotten an arm through?

Is it sensitive to the touch? Does she act like it hurts?

[BoBear]

They are in an incubator with fleece. She lets me press on it without it seeming to hurt too badly. It doesn’t really feel squishy or anything… or hotter than the rest of her body.

[CritterMom]

If you can pick up a little bottle of infant ibuprophen at the drug store we can give you dosage info. It is an anti-inflammatory and may help if this is an injury.

If this is an infection of some kind and is headed toward becoming an abscess, antibiotics may be needed. We can use human antibiotics on these guys, so check your stock of unused meds, call friends, etc., and see what you can find. Amoxicillin clavulanate would be a good one to find, so would SMZ-TMP (Bactrim), but others may help. If you need it, it is nice to have already found it instead of scrambling then.

[BoBear]

If you can pick up a little bottle of infant ibuprophen at the drug store we can give you dosage info. It is an anti-inflammatory and may help if this is an injury.

If this is an infection of some kind and is headed toward becoming an abscess, antibiotics may be needed. We can use human antibiotics on these guys, so check your stock of unused meds, call friends, etc., and see what you can find. Amoxicillin clavulanate would be a good one to find, so would SMZ-TMP (Bactrim), but others may help. If you need it, it is nice to have already found it instead of scrambling then.

I can pick up some today. I do have SMZ, Baytril (the kind for birds that you mix in water), and a powdered Augmentin that hasn’t been reconstituted.

[CritterMom]

I can pick up some today. I do have SMZ, Baytril (the kind for birds that you mix in water), and a powdered Augmentin that hasn’t been reconstituted.

Then you are all set. Hopefully she just bruised it getting stuck in the bedding or something and you won't need it. Keep an eye, you are looking for the right things - warm temp and squishy developing.

[BoBear]

Then you are all set. Hopefully she just bruised it getting stuck in the bedding or something and you won't need it. Keep an eye, you are looking for the right things - warm temp and squishy developing.

Thank you CritterMom! It’s just crazy how it popped up overnight. Poor little sweetheart. I do have Metacam also. Would that or the ibuprofen be better for her?

[CritterMom]

I actually prefer the ibuprophen. Metacam is dosed once a day and it really doesn't last anywhere near that long as far as pain relief is concerned. I have found that squirrels are really responsive to ibuprophen. Our standard dosing is actually a fraction of the published dosing and I see them responding well to half of that amount! Since you can give it every 4 hours if need be, you can keep them comfortable and keep the stuff in their system so the anti-inflammatory properties do their thing, and ultimately end up using less drug.

And pretty much all of them love it. Get the cherry or grape or one of the flavors and not the sugar free/dye free because it tastes nasty.

[BoBear]

Sounds like a winner to me. This was all I could find for infants… the store was so picked over! She weighs 74g.