Leg injury - infection. Two-year-old wild female grey. Condition deteriorating.

[TheAcornStash]

(Thread copied from Non-life threatening)

Hello,

Gray squirrel (female, 2 years old). Name: Orphan.

First contact: May 2023. She was skinny and hungry. She came to eat from my hand without knowing me. I noticed that her tail was crooked, her fur irregular, that she had slight morphological differences compared to other squirrels, and that the foot of her right hind leg was not flat on the ground, but at an angle.

She has been coming to see me for a year (fall, winter, spring, summer). Her condition has greatly improved since the first contact. Also, her movements and jumps seemed normal during this time.

For the last two months, her right hind leg has had a lesion at the knee (see photos). This lesion has been red, black (scab?), and remains hairless around it (she nibbles at it?).

For the past two weeks, she has not put any weight on this leg, and her movements (jumps, running) are clumsy.

I'm thinking genetic problem or event that affected her development, then got worse with age and finally gave way.

In this condition she won't be able to evade predators for long...

What do you think? What are our options for intervention?

Note: I am equipped to take care of her if she becomes NR (nest box in outside cage under tree, food, etc.). I will try to get her to set up camp there.

Thank you for your help!