Wild squirrel with eye injury?

[tmarie15]

Thanks TMarie! Please tell Chunk that I said hello and Sadie too! I looked at Sadie's photos and I'll just give my opinion on the pregnancy/babies question. This is the time when babies can be expected but still relatively early! I do suspect, however, that Sadie has given already given birth and is nursing babies. The reasons for my believing this are that Sadie's abdomen does not seem particularly enlarged as it would ordinarily be if she was pregnant and the fur surrounding her nipples seems somewhat separated from around the nipples and flattened and matted somewhat. For squirrels who are not lactating and feeding babies, the fur around the nipples tends to appear as fur anywhere else and is pretty much fluffy rather than flattened or matted.

I feel the same way you do about watching Squirrels! I never tire of doing so! They are fascinating little creatures!

Regards,
SamtheSquirrel

I will absolutely tell them you said hello! ◡̈
I’m hoping Sadie’s babies will soon make their way over! Turns out I have some photos of her from mid October and her nipples are showing there too! I’m not sure how I didn’t notice back then!
Unfortunately, it looks like you were correct about Chunk’s eye being infected. I was able to get a closer look at it with the sun coming back out and you can clearly see the fluid. I’ve been trying to get the Ofloxacin drops in again, but it only seemed to work out that first time, now it just goes on his fur! Not sure if it’d be easier to try some of the Terramycin on a q tip and at least get some in the tear duct area. This poor guy, I feel awful for him!

[SamtheSquirrel2018]

I will absolutely tell them you said hello! ◡̈
I’m hoping Sadie’s babies will soon make their way over! Turns out I have some photos of her from mid October and her nipples are showing there too! I’m not sure how I didn’t notice back then!
Unfortunately, it looks like you were correct about Chunk’s eye being infected. I was able to get a closer look at it with the sun coming back out and you can clearly see the fluid. I’ve been trying to get the Ofloxacin drops in again, but it only seemed to work out that first time, now it just goes on his fur! Not sure if it’d be easier to try some of the Terramycin on a q tip and at least get some in the tear duct area. This poor guy, I feel awful for him!

Hi TMarie:
I'm sorry about Chunk's apparent infected eye! This is obviously a potentially very serious complication to an already disastrous injury! There is no doubt that Chunk has lost vision in his left eye and IMHO, there is no reasonable likelihood that even under the best of circumstances, that vision in that eye could be restored! Ideally, it would seem to me that if we look at potential miracles beyond the restoration of sight; the next best thing would be for Chunk to have a surgical removal of the eye (called enucleation) as the open wound is a portal of sorts for bacteria and it appears that an infection has already begun. I do not know if this is still localized to the eye but if it was and would remain so, possibly all may still end well except for the loss of vision. My concern now, TMarie is that the infection way very well spread beyond the eye itself and begin to involve the surrounding skin and bone and may even spread into the skull or even spread much further through the blood. Again, I hope that Chunk will prevail and this will all resolve and he will go back to being a normal Squirrel albeit with one eye!

One option might be to try using an oral systemic antibiotic. This is always very difficult in wilds and often impossible for a number of reasons beyond the obvious. Trapping is always stressful but that may be an option and IF there is a knowledgeable Squirrel-friendly Veterinarian who will see him or even an experienced Rehabber although surgery is not the usual purview of a Rehabber there may be a potential benefit in doing so! Possibly either could facilitate regular antibiotic dosing or even provide systemic antibiotics that can be given into the muscle. That being said, if you feel inclined to try dosing an antibiotic for Chunk, do you have do you have any antibiotics available (yours or from family or friends)? For "hit-and-miss" dosing, and antibiotic that kills bacteria by concentration of the antibiotic (a "high" dose) rather than by the total time the bacteria are exposed to the antibiotic (this requires regular consistent administration of an antibiotic at therapeutic levels. One of the most likely antibiotic candidates might be Ciprofloxacin (use in human medicine) or Baytril (enrofloxacin which is a Veterinary antibiotic very similar to ciprofloxacin and which is actually metabolized into ciprofloxacin when inside the body).

Another option, of course is to continue as is. The ofloxacin or terramycin may be of potential benefit as well.

Thanks again for your care and concern for poor chunk!

Regards,
SamtheSquirrel

[tmarie15]

Hi TMarie:
I'm sorry about Chunk's apparent infected eye! This is obviously a potentially very serious complication to an already disastrous injury! There is no doubt that Chunk has lost vision in his left eye and IMHO, there is no reasonable likelihood that even under the best of circumstances, that vision in that eye could be restored! Ideally, it would seem to me that if we look at potential miracles beyond the restoration of sight; the next best thing would be for Chunk to have a surgical removal of the eye (called enucleation) as the open wound is a portal of sorts for bacteria and it appears that an infection has already begun. I do not know if this is still localized to the eye but if it was and would remain so, possibly all may still end well except for the loss of vision. My concern now, TMarie is that the infection way very well spread beyond the eye itself and begin to involve the surrounding skin and bone and may even spread into the skull or even spread much further through the blood. Again, I hope that Chunk will prevail and this will all resolve and he will go back to being a normal Squirrel albeit with one eye!

One option might be to try using an oral systemic antibiotic. This is always very difficult in wilds and often impossible for a number of reasons beyond the obvious. Trapping is always stressful but that may be an option and IF there is a knowledgeable Squirrel-friendly Veterinarian who will see him or even an experienced Rehabber although surgery is not the usual purview of a Rehabber there may be a potential benefit in doing so! Possibly either could facilitate regular antibiotic dosing or even provide systemic antibiotics that can be given into the muscle. That being said, if you feel inclined to try dosing an antibiotic for Chunk, do you have do you have any antibiotics available (yours or from family or friends)? For "hit-and-miss" dosing, and antibiotic that kills bacteria by concentration of the antibiotic (a "high" dose) rather than by the total time the bacteria are exposed to the antibiotic (this requires regular consistent administration of an antibiotic at therapeutic levels. One of the most likely antibiotic candidates might be Ciprofloxacin (use in human medicine) or Baytril (enrofloxacin which is a Veterinary antibiotic very similar to ciprofloxacin and which is actually metabolized into ciprofloxacin when inside the body).

Another option, of course is to continue as is. The ofloxacin or terramycin may be of potential benefit as well.

Thanks again for your care and concern for poor chunk!

Regards,
SamtheSquirrel

I would love to be able to humanely catch him for a vet to help him out, it’s a bummer that none are willing! I unfortunately do not have any antibiotics either. I have seen posts where people have given squirrels fish antibiotics since a prescription isn’t needed. Is that something that can be done for this? I’m not sure how dosing would go for that though! Poor Chunk has decided to refuse the meloxicam in pecans now, so he’s not even getting any pain meds anymore! I may try putting some in peanut butter and see if he’ll take to that.

[SamtheSquirrel2018]

I would love to be able to humanely catch him for a vet to help him out, it’s a bummer that none are willing! I unfortunately do not have any antibiotics either. I have seen posts where people have given squirrels fish antibiotics since a prescription isn’t needed. Is that something that can be done for this? I’m not sure how dosing would go for that though! Poor Chunk has decided to refuse the meloxicam in pecans now, so he’s not even getting any pain meds anymore! I may try putting some in peanut butter and see if he’ll take to that.

Thanks for the update, TMarie! Sorry Chunk! The "fish" antibiotics loophole is for real and some of the antibiotic preparations are labeled identically in strength to those used in Veterinary or human medical practices! The assumption might be that these truly are the same and while they may be; there is no real way to determine that and fish antibiotics are not regulated by the FDA! It may be a crapshoot of sorts. Also, the The US Federal Government is now "clamping down" on this non-prescription use of antibiotics for fish and birds and here is a link to a warning letter sent to several well known Veterinary sources; https://news.yahoo.com/fda-issues-wa...013829431.html

But the bottom line is that, yes; these "fish" medications seem to still be be available in Canada and possibly in the USA. In Chunk's case it may be his only possible means to have the opportunity to take what hopefully would be the true systemic antibiotic advertised! It also appears that if these medications are truly still available in the US or Canada, they do not seem as inexpensive as they once were. Below are a couple of links I found but I'm sure there are others. I have never ordered fish antibiotics and I cannot verify the reliability of any of the companies marketing these preparations. Hopefully, others on TSB may be aware of other markets for these "fish" antibiotics!

https://www.aquabiotics.ca/index.php...uct_group=sale

https://thefishantibiotics.com/aquaantibiotics/

Please keep on with Chunk updates!
Regards,
SamtheSquirrel

[tmarie15]

Thanks for the update, TMarie! Sorry Chunk! The "fish" antibiotics loophole is for real and some of the antibiotic preparations are labeled identically in strength to those used in Veterinary or human medical practices! The assumption might be that these truly are the same and while they may be; there is no real way to determine that and fish antibiotics are not regulated by the FDA! It may be a crapshoot of sorts. Also, the The US Federal Government is now "clamping down" on this non-prescription use of antibiotics for fish and birds and here is a link to a warning letter sent to several well known Veterinary sources; https://news.yahoo.com/fda-issues-wa...013829431.html

But the bottom line is that, yes; these "fish" medications seem to still be be available in Canada and possibly in the USA. In Chunk's case it may be his only possible means to have the opportunity to take what hopefully would be the true systemic antibiotic advertised! It also appears that if these medications are truly still available in the US or Canada, they do not seem as inexpensive as they once were. Below are a couple of links I found but I'm sure there are others. I have never ordered fish antibiotics and I cannot verify the reliability of any of the companies marketing these preparations. Hopefully, others on TSB may be aware of other markets for these "fish" antibiotics!

https://www.aquabiotics.ca/index.php...uct_group=sale

https://thefishantibiotics.com/aquaantibiotics/

Please keep on with Chunk updates!
Regards,
SamtheSquirrel

Thank you so much for attaching those links! I went ahead and ordered some of the amoxicillin to try, hopefully that will be somewhat helpful! We just have to hope Chunk won’t be too picky and refuse it in treats! He’s such an awesome little guy, I’m determined for something to help him out ◡̈

[tmarie15]

Thanks for the update, TMarie! Sorry Chunk! The "fish" antibiotics loophole is for real and some of the antibiotic preparations are labeled identically in strength to those used in Veterinary or human medical practices! The assumption might be that these truly are the same and while they may be; there is no real way to determine that and fish antibiotics are not regulated by the FDA! It may be a crapshoot of sorts. Also, the The US Federal Government is now "clamping down" on this non-prescription use of antibiotics for fish and birds and here is a link to a warning letter sent to several well known Veterinary sources; https://news.yahoo.com/fda-issues-wa...013829431.html

But the bottom line is that, yes; these "fish" medications seem to still be be available in Canada and possibly in the USA. In Chunk's case it may be his only possible means to have the opportunity to take what hopefully would be the true systemic antibiotic advertised! It also appears that if these medications are truly still available in the US or Canada, they do not seem as inexpensive as they once were. Below are a couple of links I found but I'm sure there are others. I have never ordered fish antibiotics and I cannot verify the reliability of any of the companies marketing these preparations. Hopefully, others on TSB may be aware of other markets for these "fish" antibiotics!

https://www.aquabiotics.ca/index.php...uct_group=sale

https://thefishantibiotics.com/aquaantibiotics/

Please keep on with Chunk updates!
Regards,
SamtheSquirrel

Actually looks like I have an unused bottle of 50mg/ml Doxycycline but it expired last month! I’m not sure if that’s something that could be helpful for Chunk. The dose is .12 ml for a 2.7 lb Guinea pig, so it would be a bit less for Chunk. Such a tiny amount! I’m not sure how I’d get that in every 12 hours either.

[SamtheSquirrel2018]

Actually looks like I have an unused bottle of 50mg/ml Doxycycline but it expired last month! I’m not sure if that’s something that could be helpful for Chunk. The dose is .12 ml for a 2.7 lb Guinea pig, so it would be a bit less for Chunk. Such a tiny amount! I’m not sure how I’d get that in every 12 hours either.

Hi TMarie:
The Doxycycline would be a very good option! One of our ADMINS can help you with the dosing. All mixing and dosing instructions are given by Private Message and are NOT put on the Open Board. Ideally, we should have a weight for Chunk to be as accurate as possible for these dosing instructions but a conscientious guess will need to suffice! I'm quite sure that he does NOT weigh anywhere close to the 2.7 pounds of your Guinea Pig! It may take some creativity for administration. I have not used this particular formulation of Doxycycline but I have done a little research about it and found that it often made as a suspension with an oily base which means that it will not mix with a watery additive. For tiny amounts of fluid a 0.5ml or a 1ml syringe can be used. Ensure that you know what each graduation on whatever syringe you do use to "pull up" the dose actually represents in volume!
Thanks again!
Regards,
SamtheSquirrel

[tmarie15]

Hi TMarie:
The Doxycycline would be a very good option! One of our ADMINS can help you with the dosing. All mixing and dosing instructions are given by Private Message and are NOT put on the Open Board. Ideally, we should have a weight for Chunk to be as accurate as possible for these dosing instructions but a conscientious guess will need to suffice! I'm quite sure that he does NOT weigh anywhere close to the 2.7 pounds of your Guinea Pig! It may take some creativity for administration. I have not used this particular formulation of Doxycycline but I have done a little research about it and found that it often made as a suspension with an oily base which means that it will not mix with a watery additive. For tiny amounts of fluid a 0.5ml or a 1ml syringe can be used. Ensure that you know what each graduation on whatever syringe you do use to "pull up" the dose actually represents in volume!
Thanks again!
Regards,
SamtheSquirrel

That sounds great! I’m feeling like he is most likely closer to 2 lbs. Hopefully we will be able to come up with a good way for him to take it! It seems like people are just putting it in a nut and they end up taking it! I wish it’d be easy enough! Thank you so much for your help, I really appreciate it and so does Chunk

[tmarie15]

I was able to get an updated photo of Chunk’s eye today. It kind of looks like it’s almost scabbing over in a way. He has been much more active recently, so I’m taking that as a good sign!