Treating mange in the wild

[Vandercook]

I'm curious about mange in the "wild", here in our neighbourhood of Toronto, Canada. We have many many black and grey squirrels affected. Is it possible as people who feed a few squirrels off the porch to help the little guys?
Is it ethical? Helpful? We really enjoy the wild squirrels, birds and other fauna inhabiting our part of the city.

[island rehabber]

vandercook, I agree with Gammas Baby you can successfully treat mange in wild squirrels with ivermectin. It can be given on a pecan or walnut and the squirrels seem to not mind the taste. Ivermectin does come in many strengths and forms so let us know what you have available and we can help you with dosage. BTW -- the pill or tablet form does not seem to work very well for mange. Liquid is the best.

[Vandercook]

Thanks for the response. We will try to get some photographs of our squirrels to show what we think is mange. One black squirrel is missing an ear, it appears to have been scratched or rubbed off. There is a balding patch extending down behind his left ear, that looks like it's been chewed or nibbled. The little gray squirrel is developing baldness behind the head on his "shoulders" or the nape of his neck. I definitely will not proceed with any treatment without discussing it here. I am delighted to have joined this board! What a help. Thanks again. Will post here soon, tomorrow if I get a shot of the little guys. Thanks.

[rippie-n-lilgirlsmom]

http://www.squirrelsandmore.com/inde...roduct_id=1561
Ivermectin can be purchased here and one of the rehabbers can pm you with instructions how to dose it!

[Vandercook]

Thanks for the link to the medication. Here is a photo of the black squirrel with the affected area showing. The ear closest, looks like it's missing from any other angle. It's more or less stuck down.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21534012@N03/2294414653/

[pamela lee]

HI and , You could PM squirrelfriend she lives in Toronto and has treated several squirrels with mange. It's just a thought. Good luck finding help. Thank you for taking the time to care.

[Gladbutterfly]

Thanks for the response. We will try to get some photographs of our squirrels to show what we think is mange. One black squirrel is missing an ear, it appears to have been scratched or rubbed off. There is a balding patch extending down behind his left ear, that looks like it's been chewed or nibbled. The little gray squirrel is developing baldness behind the head on his "shoulders" or the nape of his neck. I definitely will not proceed with any treatment without discussing it here. I am delighted to have joined this board! What a help. Thanks again. Will post here soon, tomorrow if I get a shot of the little guys. Thanks.

Are you sure the fur loss is not the “landing strip” that gets produced by male squirrels in mating with females? Also, this time of year, pregnant females remove their “jackets” to line their breeding nests. When I first noticed it a couple years ago, I thought it was mange too, but I called Ministry of Natural Resources and found out that it likely wasn’t mange. The fur grew back as the year progressed, and I’ve seen the same pattern for several years now.

[Mel1959]

Glad butterfly, this is a very old thread...2016. Thank you for responding and to TSB.

[Speigle]

Hi

I was so thankful to find the squirrel board.

We have a squirrel with mange in our back yard. We buy large bags of raw peanut and feed them every day. At first my husband called him the old man because we thought he was just old. He started looking worse and I thought he might have mange. I saw your comments about the Ivermectin so we got some. We cracked a peanut shell on one end and I put some on the peanut inside with a tooth pick. We gave this to the squirrel 3 days in a row. On the last day which was yesterday I gave him two medicated peanuts.

Today he is starting to look better. He looked just terrible. His fir was almost gone and he had a swollen eye and lump on his nose. The eye looks much better today and his skin is not so red except that he has some very sore looking spots.

Do you have any suggestions? Also is there something that I can give him to help his skin heal faster?

Thank you so much!

[rippie-n-lilgirlsmom]

OH!! Only give one application, (the size of a pin drop)then two weeks later you can give another.
3 days in a row could be deadly! Ivermectin is very potent.
Put it on a pecan or wallnut, rather than a peanut, its more easily controlled what amount he will eat.
It just takes time for the skin to heal, nothing really you can do put out pleanty of fresh water they drink a lot with mange.
Please keep us updated on your guy, thanks for caring enough to help the fellow.