squirrel tail degloved! ! help!

[jenelleyesh]

He doesn't seem bothered by it at all at the moment, and he hasn't been acting any different since it happen. He's just like "whatever". He was hand raise from 2 weeks old when his momma was killed and my friend found him and his 2 brothers and his sister, so he's a pretty chill squirrel. He doesn't bite, and loves to play.

[Nancy in New York]

Oh my gosh, thank you so much!
Do you think it'll become infected between now and the time it falls off? I could get a damp cloth and wipe the liquid bandage off if I need to. I just want to make sure he will be ok for the time being. And of course, I don't want him to try and rip it off himself.

I would try to smell it daily and watch for any infection, drainage/moisture.
Run your fingers gently down his tail and smell your fingers.
Sometimes you can actually smell infection, before you can see it, if there is too much fur in the way.

[CritterMom]

If the liquid bandage dissolves in water, you may want to just see if you can hang his tail in water to loosen the bond and it may just fall off on it's own. The skin that the fur is attached to will deteriorate faster than the bone does and it *could* cause a problem. I can guarantee that it won't attach and grow, so there is no reason to keep it there unless getting it off will hurt him more. You can apply the neosporin to the bone that is left behind a couple times a day then.

I dont think this hurts them all that much. It seems insane - it is part of their SPINE for God's sake, but there you go. Resilient little things!

[jenelleyesh]

I'll definitely make an effort to remove it without doing damage. Thank you to everyone who replied. It's sad that his beautiful tail will be no more, but in light of all this, he will be super cute with a stumpy tail

[jenelleyesh]

How long after the injury would it start itching for him? It doesn't look like he's tried to chew at it or anything, but it has only been a day.

[CritterMom]

It may never. I would think you would see it early on though. My squirrel never even looked at his until he obviously trimmed the bare blackened stump off. Just keep it clean and try to keep the neo on it.

My squirrels winter tail is now squared off on the end, and his summer tail ends in something that looks like a little devil's tail with two forks at the end.

[jenelleyesh]

So Neosporin won't hurt him if he ingest it? Someone said on a thread I read online yesterday not to give it to them. But they also said that the skin and hair would grow back and it would look normal again, which obviously won't happen.

[jenelleyesh]

Oh and should I wrap it? How do I keep the bone from continuing to rot, or will it just stop rotting once it gets down to the uninjured part?

[stepnstone]

So Neosporin won't hurt him if he ingest it? Someone said on a thread I read online yesterday not to give it to them. But they also said that the skin and hair would grow back and it would look normal again, which obviously won't happen.

The Neosporin will be fine, I use it all the time, it's not going to hurt him even if ingested.
I actually had a squirrel that had a good section of her fur pealed up the side of her tail like a banana. It either fell off or she took it off. Her fur did grow back. The difference is it was just the fur, it wasn't degloved. No tissue was involved, no fracture, no exposed bone.

Oh and should I wrap it? How do I keep the bone from continuing to rot, or will it just stop rotting once it gets down to the uninjured part?

Wrapping is not necessary and would only cause him to chew on the bandage which could cause further injury.
Unless infected, the bone doesn't actually "rot." It dries up, gets brittle, and falls /breaks off at the point of injury.

[Mommaluvy]

Neo is used all the time. Although some ( one of my two vets) advise against it. ( she is not fond of antibiotic use in wildlife in general ) But again.. Rehabbers use it ALL the time.

My friend had a squirrel who lost his tail to a chainsaw. It had gone several days before getting to a rehabber. He did just fine with this sort of care.

So while that squirrel was not mine, and the only experience I have with this sort of injury he did fine. So many TSB ers have had this happen in one form or another... Lots of good posts here.

[jenelleyesh]

UPDATE:
I was able to successfully remove the liquid bandage and the degloved tail, without causing further damage. He was not happy about it, squeaked and squawked at me, but did not bite and seemed happier once I removed it. I checked it 9 hours later after work, and the bone had already begun to dry up. I bought Neosporin and have been applying it daily. How often should I put Neosporin on it?

[Spanky]

Just wanted to add that it's my understanding you want to avoid the Neosporin Pain ("Dual Action")... my understanding is you do not want them to ingest the Pramoxine....

[jenelleyesh]

I've only applied the Neosporin (regular, nothing fancy) twice since I removed the degloved part last week. The bone has started to fray (he runs laps in his enclosure, so it scrapes on the sides as he climbs) and he doesn't pick it off. He gives me a hard time when I put it on him, so I thought not doing it as often would keep him from messing with it. He's doing great, and no signs of infection. The skin where the bone begins to show is starting to heal shut, so I may have to clip the frayed bone to it will heal shut.