So, this morning I went outside to discover one of my old releases (Bloom) was on the ground on her back, somewhat curled up, on my deck. Her eyes were open and she was cold to the touch. I immediately thought she was dead- potentially even attacked by a cat, though I couldn’t see any wounds or blood. Imagine my shock when I picked her up and saw she was faintly breathing, though otherwise completely unresponsive. I brought her inside, put her on a heating pad on low heat, and rubbed honey on her gums with a q-tip. Her gums were completely white and honestly, I suspected I found her too late to do anything but called my vet anyway. Unfortunately, my vet is out of town and the other doctor on duty doesn’t handle exotics, so I’m on my own at the moment.

However, while I was trying to figure things out I was shocked again to see she was now starting to move her head and curl her paw. I went ahead and started her on a warm rehydration solution and watched in amazement as she slowly came around over the course of the next hour. I eventually had to move her box with heating pad into an empty cage in my livingroom so she couldn’t climb out and hurt herself. By this afternoon she was climbing around the branches in the cage, though still a bit shaky on her feet, and by this evening she was eating block again.

So here’s the thing. While she was unresponsive I checked her out thoroughly and could find no injuries, swelling, out of place joints, or anything. I think it’s possible she fell and the cold kept her from swelling, but thus far I really don’t know what happened. What I can definitely tell is that she’s incredibly thin, bony even…which doesn’t make sense because she’s a regular outside that still eats from my hands and I take her and another boy out there hhb Wild Block and treats several times a day, in part because this will be their first winter outside and I wasn’t sure if they were completely prepared. I had noticed before that she seemed slim, but until picking her up this morning I had no idea just how skinny she had gotten. She was still quite ‘chunky’ looking by the end of summer.

Anyway, she’s still a bit weak and shaky, but I now have a relatively wild squirrel in my livingroom that is active enough to escape or bite if I’m not careful (lord knows how I’ll get her into a carrier when my vet gets back in town). I’m leaving the heating pad in there as she’s been going back to it, and am going to keep feeding her/keeping her inside for now.

The question is, what happened? She seemed to be suffering from a glycemic shock and was very hypothermic when I found her, but how if she’s still been getting fed everyday? I had been assuming she was losing weight because of increased competition with other wilds as fall set in, but now I’m not so sure. Is there a parasite or infection that could cause something like this? Coccidia maybe? Do you guys think I should dose her with ABs or anything? I have prednisone, gabapentin, baytril, and doxycycline-oh, also SMZ-TMP, though that ones very out-of-date. They’re all flavored so I think there’s a good chance I could get her to take some from a syringe if I offer it. My vet should be back in town on Mon but that feels like a long time to wait to do more. On the other hand, maybe just warmth and regular feeding will get her back on her feet?

Any suggestions would be much appreciated! I’m very flummoxed just now.