Rescued lethargic squirrel with limp back legs

[That Swedish Girl]

Hopefully I can keep this short and to the point, while also giving all the relevant information you might need to help! Also, apologies in advance - English is not my native language as I am Swedish!

Yesterday there was a heavy downpour, and mom saw a young (baby?) squirrel, completely soaked, seek refuge on her patio in one of my step-dad's shoes. This morning, the baby was still there. When mom went out to get the mail, the baby climbed up her leg and curled up on her shoulder. It was shivering badly and was still soaked. She decided to take it in.

Once it was inside, we called a wild rehabilitation centre to ask where to take it. Unfortunately, the nearest place we would have to drive the squirrel is almost 2 hours drive one-way, and we can't take it, so we asked for advice on how to help it. We were advised to dry it, warm it up and feed it, give it water, and also weigh it. We got advice on what to feed it, and where to find information on how much.

So far:

• The squirrel weighs 120 grams.
• It is thin. It is not emaciated, but it is definitely thin. We suspect it is malnourished.
• Body temperature seems normal now that it has gotten inside and been inside for approximately 6 hours. Mom says it feels "warm, but not overly warm".
• One eye was closed. Mom helped open the eye, and cleaned it with saline solution, like you would with a cat with an eye infection.
• It has been fed twice. First time it ate about 1,5-2 cl of goat milk formula. Approximately an hour later, it ate another 2-2,5 cl.
• It has been offered water, and drank on its own.
• When attempting to check if it was dehydrated, it got mad at her for "pinching" it and fought her. It does not show signs of being terribly dehydrated.
• It has pooped. Poop is a small, brown pellet. To my eyes, it looks normal.
• Every once in a while, there is clicking when it breathes, but it is not steady.

Mom feel like it has gotten worse since it first got inside. When she first brought it inside it slept for 4 solid hours. She then offered it water and formula. About 30-45 minutes later, she felt like it was more lethargic than before. She says it doesn't seem to use its back legs as much as it uses its front legs, and it does not seem as alert as it was.

For now, she has it in a calm, dark room, in a transport carrier in which she has put one of those fluffy cat beds, which it seems very content to hide and sleep in. The fact that it got upset with her when she checked it for dehydration gave us hope that it is going to be okay, but we are unsure what to do. The clicking makes us worried it might be pneumonia. We really, really hope it's not. Taking it to the vet is unfortunately not an option, as it would be put down here.

Right now, our current plan is to leave it alone for a couple of hours so that it can destress and rest, then give it a little more formula.

None of us have experience with squirrels. Mom is an old breeder of cats, so she has raised kittens before, and handled all sorts of weird ailments on cats.

Any advice to us what this may be? What do we do? Can we help it somehow? Thanks in advance!

[That Swedish Girl]

Picture of the squirrel, how it holds its back legs, and the "poop pellet".

[CritterMom]

Is it able to move the back legs or is it like that all the time? They actually lay like that normally, too.

At this point I would keep it warm and continue giving the formula. Not knowing what happened to it makes things difficult. I assume there are no signs of injury?

Human antibiotics can be used on these guys if it becomes necessary. They are so small that one pill is almost always enough for an entire round of meds. It would be a good idea to look in your own home and ask friends and family if they have any leftover antibiotics after an illness that they didn't finish. Find out what it is and let us know and we will tell you if it will work for pneumonia. If you find one and need it, we can tell you exactly how to dilute and dose it for the baby. You would need a 1ml syringe (no need for the needle) to do all the measuring and dosing.

Hopefully he just got traumatized by the storm and cold and wet and needs to be warm and sleep and eat for a while. He is absolutely gorgeous - we are so jealous of your little squirrels with the fancy ears!

[That Swedish Girl]

Is it able to move the back legs or is it like that all the time? They actually lay like that normally, too.

At this point I would keep it warm and continue giving the formula. Not knowing what happened to it makes things difficult. I assume there are no signs of injury?

Human antibiotics can be used on these guys if it becomes necessary. They are so small that one pill is almost always enough for an entire round of meds. It would be a good idea to look in your own home and ask friends and family if they have any leftover antibiotics after an illness that they didn't finish. Find out what it is and let us know and we will tell you if it will work for pneumonia. If you find one and need it, we can tell you exactly how to dilute and dose it for the baby. You would need a 1ml syringe (no need for the needle) to do all the measuring and dosing.

Hopefully he just got traumatized by the storm and cold and wet and needs to be warm and sleep and eat for a while. He is absolutely gorgeous - we are so jealous of your little squirrels with the fancy ears!

Thank you so much for your reply, CritterMom!

It is able to move the back legs, and does occasionally pull them towards its body, so it doesn't seem to be a matter of mobility at the moment. It's a relief to hear that it's normal for them to lay like that!

No signs of injury as far as we can tell! Body seems to be in good condition, and it has shown no sign of discomfort asides from when mom checked if it was dehydrated, at which point it protested at being "pinched" and chattered loudly at her to stop. When she first spotted it yesterday it was running around pretty frantically in her front yard before it found the patio and the shoe, and at that point it was moving normally!

I'll pass the information on about the antibiotic! Hopefully we can scrunch up some if we really need it, but we're crossing our fingers it won't be necessary. The rain yesterday was very chilly, and this morning we woke up to snow (!), so it was likely severely hypothermic. Our best guess from reading around the forum and googling around is that the poor guy hadn't had anything to eat at all since last night, since it hadn't moved from the shoe. And mom luckily didn't feed it until after it was already warm and dry again, so hopefully it has nothing to do with the goat milk formula either.

I do hope you are right. And thank you! He is absolutely stunning, and surprisingly sweet-mannered for a wild critter. To come up to demand help like that... wow. We just hope we won't let him down! Any guesstimation as to how old he might be?

[Spanky]

When mom went out to get the mail, the baby climbed up her leg and curled up on her shoulder. It was shivering badly and was still soaked. She decided to take it in.

This is not as uncommon as we'd think, it even has a name: "Warm tree syndrome". Baby squirrels have not yet learned about predators and have no natural fear if humans... when they are on their own and separated from mom they will seek out help... from dogs, cats and even humans. Usually this does not end well for the baby so a big thumbs up to you mom for recognizing this little one needed help and coming to their aid!

This link has a 6 page primer on baby squirrel care whcih might have some invaluable info to assist you in helping the baby squirrel:
https://www.henryspets.com/1-baby-squirrel-care-guide/

Royale Canin makes a puppy formula which generally available in Europe and an acceptable formula for feeding squirrels (most puppy formulas are not).

Hydration is very important, so if they are a bit dehydrated I'd suggested giving 1ml - 2ml of plain water about 1 hour before each formula feeding until hydration is good.

[That Swedish Girl]

This is not as uncommon as we'd think, it even has a name: "Warm tree syndrome". Baby squirrels have not yet learned about predators and have no natural fear if humans... when they are on their own and separated from mom they will seek out help... from dogs, cats and even humans. Usually this does not end well for the baby so a big thumbs up to you mom for recognizing this little one needed help and coming to their aid!

This link has a 6 page primer on baby squirrel care whcih might have some invaluable info to assist you in helping the baby squirrel:
https://www.henryspets.com/1-baby-squirrel-care-guide/

Royale Canin makes a puppy formula which generally available in Europe and an acceptable formula for feeding squirrels (most puppy formulas are not).

Hydration is very important, so if they are a bit dehydrated I'd suggested giving 1ml - 2ml of plain water about 1 hour before each formula feeding until hydration is good.

Thanks for the info, Spanky! I had no idea that was the case, so that is very good to know.

The Royale Canin puppy formula is the one we're using, as recommended by the person at the wildlife rehab centre. She also told us that we need to be careful about overfeeding, since a bloated tummy can be deadly for squirrels! So we're trying to work our way up to the 7% rule of thumb that we saw online (squirrel's weight x 0,07 = cl of formula). I'll pass on the information about hydration to mom, so she knows to do that.

So the little one being lethargic hopefully isn't as worrying and alarming as we initially thought, then?

[supersquirrelgirl]

Baby is young and in good shape so I suspect Mom is around somewhere. Any trees nearby ?? Any adult squirrel (mom) running around ?? Before the storm, you said baby was running & jumping in front lawn. Maybe a nest some where near ?? Best case is to reunite baby with mother.

Can you take a front and side picture and post ? (love those spikey ears!!)

Regarding the clicking, it would be good to have antibiotic and 1ml syringe on hand and ready if needed.

[That Swedish Girl]

Unfortunately, it just passed on despite our best efforts. We must have missed something.

Thank you all for the kind help though. If we ever end up in this situation again, hopefully we can do better by the next squirrel baby.

[CritterMom]

Aw, I am so sorry. He was warm and dry and fed before it happened, though, just remember that.

[supersquirrelgirl]

So sorry to hear this! Thank you to Mom and youself for caring and doing your best. Know that the baby passed in your warm loving care and not alone in the cold rainy shoe. Sometimes this happens in the best of care.

[island rehabber]

That Swedish Girl, bless you for taking this little one in and caring for her until she crossed the bridge. The truth is you missed nothing and you did nothing wrong. The weakness or paralysis in the back legs is sign of a spinal injury, and unfortunately common issue with baby squirrels who fall from any height. The general rule is that 90% of them will actually pass away within 72 hours as the spine is fractured and slowly the organs shut down. A very very few will survive but most of those will be severely disabled. You couldn't have known this but I just wanted to let you know because so often we blame ourselves when the outcome is not what we wished. Again thank you for giving her a safe place to pass. ,💔