Help! Injured front paw

[pengee1004]

This adult male squirrel that I see everyday in my neighborhood appeared with his front paw injured about a week ago. He eats fine and moves around but can't put weight on the injured paw. He still climbs the trees up and down pretty well. I gave him nuts covered with peanut butter mixed with baytril for 5 days. This is how his paw looks as of now. A wildlife rehabber I've been in contact with told me that if I can trap him and bring him to her, she will take him in and do what she can do to treat him and put him back to the wild. I have a trap that will be delivered today but I am afraid if the trapping process would be too stressful to him and he might hurt himself trying to escape. Please let me know what would be the best course of action to take in this case.

[olorin19]

This adult male squirrel that I see everyday in my neighborhood appeared with his front paw injured about a week ago. He eats fine and moves around but can't put weight on the injured paw. He still climbs the trees up and down pretty well. I gave him nuts covered with peanut butter mixed with baytril for 5 days. This is how his paw looks as of now. A wildlife rehabber I've been in contact with told me that if I can trap him and bring him to her, she will take him in and do what she can do to treat him and put him back to the wild. I have a trap that will be delivered today but I am afraid if the trapping process would be too stressful to him and he might hurt himself trying to escape. Please let me know what would be the best course of action to take in this case.

Does your buddy have a name?

Is there obvious signs of infection? If so, is there improvement since you started him on the Baytril?

It is hard for me to tell from the photo, but from what I can see (fur loss as well as more of a pink/grey color as opposed to red), is this perhaps an injury that is already healing?

Note: This is a question not an opinion, and again, hard to tell from photo.

Any chance of a more recent and more closeup photo?

I had a wild named Mama Squirrel who came by with a terrible looking injury to her front paw back in 2020. While she lost a finger, she healed up just fine with clavamox, and was around for another four years after recovery.

https://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/...ured-front-paw

[Spanky]

If you decide to trap, please ask the rehabber to release him back into your yard... the area he is familiar. He seems like a candidate for treating without trapping IMO... unless he starts to have more difficulty getting around, etc. But as long as he is improving that is a good sign.

It's not a great picture to see what is going on... how did it looks when you started the Baytril versus now?

[pengee1004]

Does your buddy have a name?

Is there obvious signs of infection? If so, is there improvement since you started him on the Baytril?

It is hard for me to tell from the photo, but from what I can see (fur loss as well as more of a pink/grey color as opposed to red), is this perhaps an injury that is already healing?

Note: This is a question not an opinion, and again, hard to tell from photo.

Any chance of a more recent and more closeup photo?

I had a wild named Mama Squirrel who came by with a terrible looking injury to her front paw back in 2020. While she lost a finger, she healed up just fine with clavamox, and was around for another four years after recovery.

https://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/...ured-front-paw

My buddy's name is Dami. I'm not sure what would be an obvious signs of infection but I haven't noticed any discharge coming out of the wound. Below is a picture of him I took on the day he appeared with the wound (first one) and a different picture of him I took yesterday (second one), sorry this is the best picture I could take. He climbs up the tree better than he did a week ago.

[pengee1004]

If you decide to trap, please ask the rehabber to release him back into your yard... the area he is familiar. He seems like a candidate for treating without trapping IMO... unless he starts to have more difficulty getting around, etc. But as long as he is improving that is a good sign.

It's not a great picture to see what is going on... how did it looks when you started the Baytril versus now?

Thank you, I just uploaded different pictures of him, first one from 12/29 (when I started the Baytril) and second one I took yesterday 1/6.

[olorin19]

So the photo holding the nut is earlier and without the nut more recent?

If so, that looks like improvement to me, although I defer to Spanky!

Lighting is different, etc. but photo with nuts looks more inflamed, etc.

[pengee1004]

So the photo holding the nut is earlier and without the nut more recent?

If so, that looks like improvement to me, although I defer to Spanky!

Lighting is different, etc. but photo with nuts looks more inflamed, etc.

Yes that's right.
I just saw him and took another photo of him. He looks more tired today.

[olorin19]

Looking at this last photo, it now appears to me that any apparent color difference in the two preceding photos may have just been lighting.

[pengee1004]

Looking at this last photo, it now appears to me that any apparent color difference in the two preceding photos may have just been lighting.

I just tried capturing him with a trap but he would hide himself in the corner of a building. He is curled up and looks like he’s trying to fall asleep..

[olorin19]

Is there any space (shed, garage, cage, etc.) where you might be able to confine Dami temporarily?

This could either be by luring him there or moving him there via the cage.

If he has a safe space with food, water, a warm dry place to sleep, protection from predators, etc. and of course his meds perhaps Dami could heal up there?

While I have only treated the one wild (Mama Squirrel) and did not capture here (she had pups at the time), with previous releases when the injuries have been serious enough, I have confined them in various places - typically in a release cage during warm weather or in my enclosed porch during cold weather.

This lets them rest and heal, and sleep much of the time without needing to expend lots of energy heading out in search of food, etc.

The confinement area needs to be safe in the sense that there is nothing there where chewing on it would harm Dami. And nothing there that you would be too upset about Dami chewing.

[pengee1004]

Is there any space (shed, garage, cage, etc.) where you might be able to confine Dami temporarily?

This could either be by luring him there or moving him there via the cage.

If he has a safe space with food, water, a warm dry place to sleep, protection from predators, etc. and of course his meds perhaps Dami could heal up there?

While I have only treated the one wild (Mama Squirrel) and did not capture here (she had pups at the time), with previous releases when the injuries have been serious enough, I have confined them in various places - typically in a release cage during warm weather or in my enclosed porch during cold weather.

This lets them rest and heal, and sleep much of the time without needing to expend lots of energy heading out in search of food, etc.

The confinement area needs to be safe in the sense that there is nothing there where chewing on it would harm Dami. And nothing there that you would be too upset about Dami chewing.

The back yard he usually hangs around is my neighbor’s apartment that I don’t really know and it’s a wide area where a lot of other squirrels hangs around too.. so i dont think there’s a garage that I can lure him into.

[pengee1004]

The back yard he usually hangs around is my neighbor’s apartment that I don’t really know and it’s a wide area where a lot of other squirrels hangs around too.. so i dont think there’s a garage that I can lure him into.

He actually just went into a burrow that he usually uses to rest