Jaw problem.

[snorkrat]

Hi all,

New to the forums and have searched a little but couldn't find anything.

We have about 8 grey squirrels that frequent our garden (UK). A couple of them are very tame and will come inside and sit and eat. This little fellow below I believe was born this year. he has been slowly following the others and coming to the window for some treats, but I noticed 3 days ago that he seemed to have a dislocated jaw. However he was able to pickup nuts and it didn't seem to bother him at all so it couldn't be dislocated if he was able move it right?. The next day, yesterday, and this morning he has come down and it looked 100% normal, which I was very relieved about. However he got a nut, went away and came back about 5 minutes later and it was back to looking weird and off to the side again. I have attached some pictures to show, the 1st being of the first day I noticed it, and the rest being from today. Also a short video of him picking up a nut and manoeuvring it in his mouth lol. As I type this I am watching him chasing another grey around so it really doesn't seem to be causing him pain. He can also open wide to fit a big walnut in, but wondering if there is anything I can do... for whatever is wrong.

Thanks for the help!













https://youtu.be/EVSR_iFiIfs

[Spanky]

I have the same dish in the window of your video! Small world.

His jaw does look a little off but also his lower (incisor) teeth are way too short IMO. I'd guess the teeth and the jaw might be a result of some sort of trauma. If you are ever able to get a picture of upper incisors it would be helpful to eliminate potentially serious teeth issues.

If you have seen him crack into a nut, that would be a very positive sign.

Hopefully others will have insightful feedback...

[snorkrat]

I have the same dish in the window of your video! Small world.

His jaw does look a little off but also his lower (incisor) teeth are way too short IMO. I'd guess the teeth and the jaw might be a result of some sort of trauma. If you are ever able to get a picture of upper incisors it would be helpful to eliminate potentially serious teeth issues.

If you have seen him crack into a nut, that would be a very positive sign.

Hopefully others will have insightful feedback...

I will have a go today and see if I can get a photo, but of all the squirrels that visit us he is the least tame. I just find it weird that it was back to normal for a couple of days then it appeared again. I did notice the bottom teeth looked short, but thought that because he was born this year they might just be a little shorter, but I'm inexperienced so just a guess.

Thanks for replying and giving me your thoughts tho. Hopefully he will be okay!

S

[snorkrat]

Okay so after thinking that his jaw was back to normal for a couple of days I am now fairly confident that it was actually a different/new squirrel that we haven't had before. They are both new to our garden just these past 2/3 weeks. It's getting harder to keep track of who is who now!

So let's assume it never magically healed for a couple of days... Probably nothing I can do as he is wild, but you guys will know best. As mentioned before, if I could see him cracking open a nut that would be excellent. I wanted to see if he could actually eat at all, so that at least I could leave some veggies etc out for him in case he just needs some time to heal, and I seen him eat on some nuts that were out of the shell. So at least he can eat something :/

Thanks for the help.

[Charley Chuckles]

Welcome to TSB 🤗
Great pics of this little guy.
It's hard to say why his jaw is off centered, and I think his bottom teeth look short too.
Hopefully he will continue to come by so you can monitor him.
Wish I could be of more help.
Keep us updated please 👍

[stepnstone]

I've had squirrels with a fracture to jaw that healed like that leaving the incisors misaligned.
With the inability for them to grind them down normally, they will over grow presenting a
serious condition that will become life threatening. Especially when left in the wild.

[snorkrat]

So my little friend visited again today. I managed to get a side on pic and a close up pic of the bottom incisors. Do they look damaged at all? I feel like today his jaw wasn't just as crooked as it had been before. But hard to tell. Unfortunately I couldn't get a pic of the upper incisors.



I gave him a 1/4 opened walnut (as usually if there's a crack in a nut they will open it straight away rather than bury it) to see if he was able to break the shell at all. He sat and ate it, but didn't break the shell. I'm not sure if it was because he was able to get it out without breaking, or if he couldn't due to his jaw. He doesn't seem skinny, so he must be finding food okay, but I'm worried of the possibility of teeth problems if they aren't aligned. From looking as close as I can when he is around, it seems like there is a lump in his mouth? Or maybe he just as a big tongue

Anyway, just thought I would update!

S