Hypoglycemia and hypothermia in Adult/Wild Squirrel

[mel_la_fee]

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.

[Spanky]

Coccidia maybe? Do you guys think I should dose her with ABs or anything?

Have you seen any poops.. or when you see poops may provide some insight. The SMZ-TMP provide cross coverage in event of coccidia and / or a possible cat bite, but is not the med of first choice for either.

[mel_la_fee]

So after a full 24 hours in the cage, I can tell that her stools are firm and normal in color. So probably not coccidia after all. But they are also a little weirdly shaped-kind of bumpy and rough. I don’t know if this would be an expected change given the newly varied diet of being outside, but I can see now why it was so hard to tell how skinny she is. While her hips and arms are completely bony, she actually has a belly/her midsection doesn’t look emaciated at all. Still no other signs of infection, swelling, or injury so I’m pretty sure I’m looking at some kind of parasitic infestation.

I managed to trick her into standing on the scale while giving her a treat and it says she’s 287 g…

Of course she slipped out of the cage while I was trying to get the scale in and out, but that at least allowed me take a decent picture of her without bars in the way. I should note that she’s been very active since coming out of her stupor yesterday and is hungry constantly-sticking her head up and reaching through the bars every time I walk by as if begging for more food. You guys think a panacure treatment is in order? I’d need help dosing her but I know I’ve got some in one of my cabinets.

[CritterMom]

Big belly and emaciated body are sort of SOP with parasites. I think panacur would be a good idea.

[mel_la_fee]

So, my current understanding is that she needs the 1g packet I have to be diluted so that it’s basically 100mg per 1ml of liquid (so in this case I’ll add more than 2 mls to the granules because there are 222mg in every packet) and then her dose would .13 of that. If a senior member can dm me to confirm dosing that would be great. I know the side effects of panacur are limited for an adult animal but I’ve honestly only ever used panacur on skunks and dogs, so I’m not used to dosing it for squirrels. I just want to be careful and at the same time want to get it taken care of asap.

Also, not for nothing, but I’ve been so focused on helping Bloom (the sick squirrel) that I didn’t really start to deal with the pain until now that she seems to be doing better. There was a part of my soul that hurt when I found her, because I recognized her and seriously thought she was dead…did I not do my job as a rehabber? Did I fail in terms of preparing her for the outside world? Was she poisoned? Did she end up on my deck when her blood sugar was low because she remembered that I give her food there…only I wasn’t there in time? Idk. I was choking up when I first found her. The minute I realized she was still breathing, I went into tri-age mode and started trying to figure things out/got very clinical about the situation. Now that I can see her awake and active, the near-loss is starting to hit me.


She’s not healthy, but it’s the difference between the most moonless pitch black night and the rosiest sunrise you’ve ever seen in terms of how she’s rebounded. Omg-if you guys could’ve seen her completely pale ghostly gums, her listless eyes, cold body, and felt her limp bones while she was unresponsive…I was 90% positive I was going to watch one of my releases die.
I know they all die eventually. The lifespan outside of captivity is limited and dealing with that is the emotional price we pay for giving them freedom and happiness away from us to live their lives as they were meant to. And that’s a good trade overall.
But boy am I happy she stayed close to home and I found her when I did. If I had found her even an hour later, I’m not sure she’d be here. It warms my heart to know that I can still provide some kind of care…

And on that note, um…she hasn’t bitten me -yet. But Bloom is not exactly a tame animal anymore. She’s been on her own for most of a year so I have to be prepared for the fact that she was ill and crashed out on my deck, but that in no way means she came out of her stupor and understood where she was or why she’s suddenly in a cage again. She does recognize me and I’m sure that helps with her stress levels, but no wild animal really wants to be contained. I get to help, again, but she’s still not a pet and even keeping her inside for treatment for awhile won’t make her one. Just putting it out there in case newbies come across the thread.