Injured squirrel, erratic breathing and frothing

[astrll]

hello,

we have a young, wild squirrel we named french fry (perhaps 6-8 months old) who is having difficulty breathing and is now frothing at the mouth. she’s having difficulty keeping her eyes completely open and she’s keeping her ears tucked backwards too.

when we met her, she was losing fur in a mange pattern but it’s slowly been filling in as she kept visiting. we dosed her with revolution on sep 17 and have been giving her calcium carbonate and coconut oil daily.

day before yesterday, she was completely fine in the early afternoon but then she came back in the late afternoon with a very swollen nose. she had black stuff smeared on her face and it had been raining so we thought her face was muddy but now we think it may have been blood.

yesterday she came back and her face was still dirty. she also started making noises when she was breathing.

this morning, we found her in our squirrel box breathing even worse and unable to open her eyes fully. we’re trying to catch her right now but she keeps getting away from us. right now she’s sitting in our tree so we’re keeping an eye on her. our wildlife center said they could take her and have her looked at.

even with her eyes half open, she’s able to run after other squirrels and jump in the tree. when she found a nut, she juggled it but then got frustrated because she couldn’t put it in her mouth — i can’t tell if it’s because she can’t open her mouth or because the froth is in the way. right now while she’s in the tree, it looks like she’s starting to stargaze. she’s never shown any neurological issues before though.

here’s a video of her in the squirrel box — it’s sideways. i’ll upload the other videos we have of her nose and the froth in a moment. for now i have a photo we took yesterday.

what do you think might be going on with her?

french fry | 2025 09 29
https://youtu.be/E1lHQjqTIl4

[astrll]

here’s a video of her yesterday

french fry | 2025 09 28
https://youtu.be/M8PxTiWWYgw

[astrll]

craaaaaap she went to a really difficult spot. we’ll still keep an eye on her, i really hope she moves back into an easier spot.

when other squirrels pass her, she stands in a defensive position but otherwise she’s just sitting motionless. is she maybe having a seizure?

crap crap i really hope she moves.

i’ll upload the video of her this morning with the froth in a moment, just downloading it from my camera.

[astrll]

here’s the video of her frothing. it also looks like she’s trying to groom, or wipe up the froth, but she can’t follow through?

right now she moved from the difficult spot to really high in the tree. we can still see her if we’re outside though.

should we keep watching or go inside? i can’t tell if she’s not coming because we’re outside or because she just doesn’t want to. i’d be uneasy if i lost sight of her though

french fry | 2025 09 29 - 2
https://youtu.be/4JjkiTo-v6U

[astrll]

we went inside but aimed a camera at her so we can keep watching her. it looks like she’s resting in the tree.

[astrll]

yes! she’s slowly making her way back to us.

she’s really jittery — i wish it wasn’t raining as well. i really hope we can catch her soon, the wildlife center closes in 3 hours

[astrll]

NOOOOO LOST HER i think she went back to her drey??? ugh ugh ugh i really hope she’s coming back, even if we have to catch her and keep her in our enclosure overnight. i’ll upload the video we just took of her in the tree in a minute, but it looked like she was really stiff? she would run if needed, that’s how she ran for her drey, but when she was just sitting it seemed like she was really stiff.

hhhhhn i really hope she comes back.

[astrll]

we found her, resting by our fence. she didn’t make it. i’m thankful she’s no longer suffering, because it was clear that she was in pain.

fleas had found her so we gave her a warm bath. we’re just saying our goodbyes before we lay her to rest next to muchi.

i feel so awful that we didn’t act sooner, or faster. it feels like she was here and alive just moments ago. i am so sorry, little french fry.

[olorin19]

Sorry to hear about french fry.

You two are good friends and champions for your local squirrels, so please do not be too hard on yourselves.

Any idea what that black stuff is on the face? Do you think that was the cause of the frothing?

[astrll]

Any idea what that black stuff is on the face? Do you think that was the cause of the frothing?

my sister bathed her and said the black stuff was like hardened scabs? and she found two puncture wounds directly on her nose — i marked it on the photo below. almost like a bite? i’m not sure — could it have been a cat? what causes swelling that severe?

thank you for the kind words. it’s hard not to blame myself when she was just here and we were so close. she was so young and was genuinely fighting hard. it was so hard to watch her be in pain. as you know with muchi, we don’t have much experience with death and loss. it will be a tough time processing this. she was such a sweet girl.