Help with mange/mite and or flea diagnosis of a wild baby?

[LucyV]

Hello. My wild, rock squirrel friend is struggling with some parasites. He's really young, but I am not a squirrel expert so don't know how young. I am guessing he is 10-12 weeks old. I don't know what is eating him, but he is very scratchy and he's losing hair. Most hair loss/tiny scabs/spots are around his ears. There is also a dot on his nose that reminded me of bot fly?? (I keep domestic rabbits so I know a little bit about that).

Can anyone help diagnose from this pics? One is whole body pic (for reference) and the other is the close up of his face.

Side of face https://imgur.com/IZZqX3a

Whole squirrel https://imgur.com/5BqtzTj

I read here some of y'all help the wilds with medicine, so thought I'd ask for some advice.

Thanks!
Lucy

[CritterMom]

It could certainly be mange. Giving him a round of ivermectin will take care of a lot of parasites and is the easiest for wilds. Your best source is equine ivermectin - horse wormer. Here is a link to some at Tractor Supply: https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/pr...g?cm_vc=-10005 There are a bunch of different brands - buy the cheapest as they are all the same stuff. Just make sure that it contains ONLY ivermectin. Some of the horse wormers are combo meds where they have a couple wormers mixed together. Don't get those - any other 1.87% equine ivermectin is fine. Any place that sells horse stuff will have this.

It is usually flavored and may be either a cream or gel. Squirt a little blob onto a plate, and with a toothpick, gather a bit of it up until you have a bit the size of an uncooked grain of rice. It is a very small amount. That is the dose. Put it on something he likes - it is usually apple flavored so most animals eat it right up. Give ONE dose the size of an uncooked rice grain every 7-10 days for 3 total doses. It kills adult mites only so spacing the doses out like that lets eggs hatch which are then killed by the second and third doses.

[LucyV]

Brilliant ! Thanks CritterMom, exactly what I needed to know. He's the same fella from a while back, and the good news is that his little mangled paw healed! I spot fed him with nutritious bits every few days, to keep him out of trouble, and he can run almost as fast as the other youngsters now! I have a neighbor who throws down food for the pigeons, and one day I was horrified to see lil' squirrel enthusiastically dragging a whole sugar cookie (with pink icing) that was about as big as he was, across the yard to under the shed. LOL! I was thinking "No! Don't eat that junk! I'm feeding you organic kale - and you want to eat THAT?!" I don't blame him, I'd eat a sugar cookie over kale too, but it was pretty funny.

Thanks for the tips!

Lucy

[LucyV]

Just a quick update after using a rice grain smear of ivermectin 3 times over 3 weeks. It was slow to have any effect but today he looked markedly less scratchy. The fur loss on the side of his face has improved, although there is some fur loss on the neck that I first noticed about 10 days ago. He has fur loss on the armpit too. The skin looks healthy and pink on the upside, no scabs.

I am fairly sure he's using the abandoned burrows of the another litter to sleep in, which means it's probably crawling with parasites. Probably not more I can do now. I give him some healthy veggies nearly every day so he ought to be nutritionally a little better off. He's still a joy to watch. Might be a she.. has some visible sex organs but I haven't managed to get a pic. That sounds wrong. Ug, you know what I mean.

Thanks for helping out!

[peterjames]

Brilliant ! I appreciate you sharing that information, CritterMom. The good news is that his little wounded paw has recovered, and he is the same guy as earlier!

[dopini]

I hope he stays healthy, you always take good care of him for which we are always grateful color tunnel

[danielusa0106]

good