Squirrel skin infection?

[scruffers]

Hello!

Our 5 year old non-release male is having recurring skin sores. Never the same spot but generally on his stomach and limbs.

We have posted about it a couple of times in here. Previously we took the advice of using Betadine and it seemed to work, with the spots healing after about a week. But then another spot pops up somewhere new a few days after. And we repeat everything.

This current cycle includes spots where he has chewed into fairly deep on his arm and tail. The wounds were a little oozy for about a week while using Betadine. After a week and a half, they are starting to dry up a little bit but still look bad. The sites of healing skin look puffy/lumpy.

Poor guy has a lot of hypersensitivity to food, so we have eliminated wheat that we discovered he was reacting to.

We are confused if this could be food related, a contact allergy, mites, or bacterial infection. He has also lost a lot of fur in the inside of his back legs without sores. His sister has zero issues.

[Spanky]

Are he and his sister housed in the same cage.... I ask this as sometimes we see small "pinch" injuries that turn out to be caused by pinch points, sharp edges, pokey parts, etc. of a cage.

You can treat with selamectin (Revolution)... the plain selamectin and not the newer ones with additional ingredients since we have no info on the safety of the additional ingredients when it comes to squirrels. That would help with any mange possibilities and other creepy crawly stuff. I was able to purchase this from Canada Vet Express for a long time but recently I am unable to access their site ("unavailable in your region" is the message). Hopefully others will post sites where we can still get the stuff... maybe Joe's (but take a while):
https://www.joespetmeds.com/

It's unsurprising that a squirrel may have a reaction to wheat since that is not typically part of their diet. I am going to post the healthy food chart link just in case you have not seen that. Grains, grasses and a lot of things we think of for "rodents" (rabbits, gerbils, etc.) are not really applicable for squirrels (that is why much of the box store "squirrel food" is not squirrel food at all!!).
Healthy Diet for Pet Squirrels

I don' really see evidence of an infection that would warrant antibiotic therapy, let's see if other members might have a different opinion?

[CritterMom]

I found this which is the same as Revolution but they are out of stock... Might be a good idea to bookmark though.

[scruffers]

Thank you!!

He and his sister are housed separately, but interact regularly when supervised - playing with each other, grooming each other, etc. although she can be a bit temperamental about it. But she's definitely not injuring him. And we haven't seen anything from his cage that would cause any injuries. It seems like self-injury from licking, biting, overgrooming, etc. We see him picking at himself. He definitely seems 'itchy'. We haven't seen injuries on his tail before. If it is mites, I would assume that his sister would have them too unless it is related to his immune system being not as good as hers?

I have the plain Revolution (selamectin) -- the cat variety. It's for 5-15lbs cats but the g/ml seems to be the same for all the cat varieties: 60 mg/ml. So I assume that one drop from the cat 5-15 would be the same as one drop from the kitten.

As far as wheat, yes. We had to stop feeding the Henry's Healthy Block because it had wheat flour, wheat protein isolate, etc. We discovered through process of elimination that it (and other commercial stuff) was responsible for some major digestive issues in him. So we have been making our own block for quite a long time.

He just seems a lot more sensitive to things than she is. He had the digestive issues, he started to get MBD when younger, and he had a bad UTI once. She's never really seemed to have any health issues.

We would prefer not to use antibiotics if possible, mostly because of his reaction. But we are worried because it has been going on longer than we typically see.

Are he and his sister housed in the same cage.... I ask this as sometimes we see small "pinch" injuries that turn out to be caused by pinch points, sharp edges, pokey parts, etc. of a cage.

You can treat with selamectin (Revolution)... the plain selamectin and not the newer ones with additional ingredients since we have no info on the safety of the additional ingredients when it comes to squirrels. That would help with any mange possibilities and other creepy crawly stuff. I was able to purchase this from Canada Vet Express for a long time but recently I am unable to access their site ("unavailable in your region" is the message). Hopefully others will post sites where we can still get the stuff... maybe Joe's (but take a while):
https://www.joespetmeds.com/

It's unsurprising that a squirrel may have a reaction to wheat since that is not typically part of their diet. I am going to post the healthy food chart link just in case you have not seen that. Grains, grasses and a lot of things we think of for "rodents" (rabbits, gerbils, etc.) are not really applicable for squirrels (that is why much of the box store "squirrel food" is not squirrel food at all!!).
Healthy Diet for Pet Squirrels

I don' really see evidence of an infection that would warrant antibiotic therapy, let's see if other members might have a different opinion?

[CritterMom]

I have the plain Revolution (selamectin) -- the cat variety. It's for 5-15lbs cats but the g/ml seems to be the same for all the cat varieties: 60 mg/ml. So I assume that one drop from the cat 5-15 would be the same as one drop from the kitten.

Yes, it is the same strength - there are just more drops in the little vial. Since it takes some time to actually use a whole vial, here is what I do: Once I dose them I replace the top on the vial and push it down like you do to pierce and open the vial the first time. The pin fills the hole and makes it airproof. I then tape the vial to the inside of my refrigerator door. This keeps it from tipping over and leaking and I always know where to find it.

[scruffers]

The spot on his tail isn’t getting any better
We are thinking that we should try some oral antibiotics. Is Clavamox appropriate? And would you be able to provide a dosage?