Hello,

I just discovered tonight that my little girl Scout was acting very funny in her cage. I took her out and held her; noticed that she started to squeak and grunt very unhappily when I touched her tail. I brought her over to some brighter light and found that most of the mid-section of her tail was very red and raw. I only have two guesses as to how her tail may have ended up like this. I took her to an exotic vet last Friday (7/21/2017) for her first ever check up with a veterinarian that told me she has worked with squirrels before. I've had Scout for about 4 years (coming up to 5 in October) and I've never taken her to a vet but I knew that I needed to at some point in case of major emergencies. The visit to the vet was a very stressful experience for both me and Scout as she doesn't like to be handled by anyone else but myself. I was not present when the nurses or the vet handled Scout to put her under anesthesia; they had to put her in a modified box that is slightly sealed so that they could administer the anesthesia without her bouncing around too much. I can only theorize that they may have pinched/scraped her tail when trying to get her in the box; again I wasn't there for that part. Or Scout was so stressed about the event that she started to bite on her tail. I will be calling the vet tomorrow for some answers.

In the meantime, I want to try to clean her tail up. Is warm soapy water okay to try and use to clean her tail? Would Neosporin or a comparable antibiotic ointment be safe to try applying to the damaged section of her tail?

Here are photos I could take of her tail:
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