[video] severe head tilt

[astrll]

hello again

i have a new-ish girl with another head tilt i think it looks even worse than my past neuros (yogurt, patches) because she might have low-vision on her left eye. her left eye is smaller and slightly out of place so it could be that as well.

she came about eight months ago. her head tilt wasn't as severe as in the video below — she was able to adapt and still do her squirrel stuff. the tilt wasn't so bad that she couldn't even sit still. but in the past couple of days her tilt has gotten worse. she's not able to sit still to eat and can't make jumps that were easy for her before.

i know with this kind of trauma it would have been best if she'd gotten maybe prednisone immediately. i'm a little reluctant to bring her to our closest wildlife rescue place. my last experience there was not so great. i don't know if there's any rehabbers in my area either. either way from what i've read in the past here, prednisone isn't very effective if the trauma happened a while ago. on some small sliver of hope though...... maybe it's worth a shot?

here's the video —
https://youtu.be/zDW-3uUPLuM

i'm trying to figure out what the heck is going on in my neighbourhood. as far as i can tell, no one is putting poison out. none of these squirrels have racoon roundworm. they all have access to clean water and lots of trees, plants, and bugs. my first experience with a neuro squirrel was yogurt and then they slowly started trickling in - pogo, patches, gus, boyo, and now baloo.

with yogurt, she got worse before she got better and it took about a year for her to get where she is. i'm really hoping that's what is going on with baloo. all i've been doing with her is the same thing i did for yogurt — fresh water, HHB's, veggies, and henry's vita powder. the only thing i can think of that triggers these "episodes" where the tilt is worse is temperature. i've noticed on rainy days or extremely hot days all my neuros do worse. when it's a moderate temperature they do well.

sorry i'm rambling i feel so helpless!

thank you in advance, all the research i've done through past threads has been so hugely helpful

[astrll]

baloo came back today and had lots of water and she ate some HHB’s and vitamin coated nuts. her energy is still high but she is still falling so much. when she comes by we keep aggressive squirrels (a mama who has her babies in our tree) away from her so she stays for a while. she’s slowly figuring out that she needs to support herself against something but for some reason she seems stubborn to actually do it.

the past few days i’ve noticed her messing around in one of our further away trees so i think she might have a drey there.

here are some photos where you can see her eyes — her left eye is the one she seems to have low vision on.

[Charley Chuckles]

Oh poor sweet babies ❤️
Is that swelling around the neck or just fluffy?
I know your squirrels are so much bigger than our little guys.

[astrll]

just fluffy! she has such a beautiful winter coat. our other black squirrels lost most of their colour but baloo has this gorgeous brown colour wrapped all around her. she reminds me of a sunset!

when she comes by today i’m going to weigh her just in case.

[Charley Chuckles]

Weigh her? She lets you hold her?
There are meds used for balance issues, I'm not positive what they are but others here can help if that in fact is the case
She is so beautiful I wish we had black squirrels 😍

[Charley Chuckles]

I'm sorry I don't know how I missed the video.... something is very wrong, can you get her in a carrier, possibly there is a squirrel safe vet in your area. I am sure someone here will know of one🙏if not maybe you can keep her administer meds ( which someone here can recommend) till she is well?
I'm just trying to come up with ideas.
I think this thread should be moved to emergency area by an admin 👍

[astrll]

I'm sorry I don't know how I missed the video.... something is very wrong, can you get her in a carrier, possibly there is a squirrel safe vet in your area. I am sure someone here will know of one🙏if not maybe you can keep her administer meds ( which someone here can recommend) till she is well?
I'm just trying to come up with ideas.
I think this thread should be moved to emergency area by an admin 👍

yes she lets us hand feed her and i think it would be easy to trap her. i just don’t know where i’d bring her — there is a wildlife centre but i didn’t have a good experience there last time. i’d gladly do anything for her. she’s here right now munching on some henry’s and drinking water. energy is still up but she’s having a terrible time of sitting upright to eat

[SamtheSquirrel2018]

Hi Astril:
I'm obviously arriving relatively late to your thread and along the way, I have had some technical problems connecting to TSB along with work responsibilities but now that I am here; I have my usual few questions, comments and suggestions for what they may be worth.

First of all is my concern that as it appears that while Baloo does interact very closely with you; she is actually a wild Squirrel and while "Mother Nature" is our system for wilds; there is nothing that even faintly resembles love, care, mercy or any other Motherly characteristics about it! I am of course concerned about Baloo's neurologic issues but of immediate concern to me is her safety in the wild-world! Just to respectfully ask, might you be in a position to keep Baloo as an NR or know someone who might? I feel that her disabilities put her at a great disadvantage in the wild and I am quite concerned about her safety and survival potential! I know you have concerns about the wildlife center near you and I would strongly believe that your unease about involving them is enough to DISMISS them from any consideration as your apprehensions toward them are probably "right-on" reliable!

To give you my usual disclaimer, I am not a Veterinarian (or a neurologist) but I'll still offer my comments about Baloo's head tilt and apparent tendency to circle leftward. In light of Baloo's depressed left eye and other obvious signs; I suspect that Baloo sustained a significant head injury and skull fractures. The suspected fractures, I believe resulted directly in the "sunken" eye and the head injury itself resulted in the head tilt, circling to the left, and ataxia (coordination problems). Head tilting and body rotation are commonly seen with damage to the proprioception system. This damage can be located centrally within the brain itself (the cerebellum and several associated brainstem nuclei) or in the peripheral vestibular region (inner ear and/or the vestibulocochlear nerve which if anyone might be interested, is Cranial Nerve VIII. I further suspect that Baloo's issues are NOT Central and are secondary to peripheral vestibular problems. My reasoning (if I can use such a flattering term in regard to an ability that I alludes me most of the time) is that in both instances; central and peripheral;, there can be a head tilt and rotation (usually both toward the same side as the injury) but among the differences between the two; central injuries are often accompanied by at least decreased alertness and oftentimes much more pronounced decreased in consciousness and activity; while peripheral injuries invariably present functional issues such as the head tilt and rotations but are far less likely to affect consciousness. Baloo appears very aware and quite functional even though she obviously has some disabilities!

With ideal option, it would be great for Baloo to be seen by a Squirrel-friendly Veterinarian who is also adept at evaluating neurologic conditions and for her to have a CT of her head or at least a plain film x-ray study! I realize that this is most likely only a dream away!

Steroids have been used in acute (very recent) central neurologic injuries with at times an apparent significant degree of improvement but I doubt that at this relatively late stage in Baloo's condition that they have any even potential benefits and that would leave only risks and humble and non-Vet opinion would be to forgo the use of steroids.

Please keep on with Baloo Updates!

Regards,
SamtheSquirrel

[SamtheSquirrel2018]

Hello again. I should have probably referred to the involved system as the Vestibular System rather than the Proprioception System as this is probably a more encompassing and generally accepted term. Sorry about your problems little Baloo!
Regards,
StS

[Charley Chuckles]

Checking in on baloo🙏
It may be possible for someone to find a safe vet for you

[astrll]

thanks everyone it really means a lot! i never considered that her eye might be playing a role with her balance. i’m currently trying to find a vet who will look at her but i’m having trouble finding someone. if anyone knows a rehabber or vet in the lower mainland in british columbia please please let me know!

baloo hasn’t come to us directly in the past few days — probably because of the weather. i see her everyday in the trees but when i call out to her she looks at me and then goes back to what she was doing. i’m absolutely certain she lives in the tree behind us.

she’s not doing better but she’s not getting worse so i hope that’s a good sign. she clearly wants to keep going!!!

as for trapping her and keeping her — i live in a rental and the landlord doesn’t allow pets. that said the landlord rarely visits… i’d be really nervous to keep her though i don’t have any experience at all with this. i really don’t want to do more harm to her. if i have all the stuff and info i need i would really consider it.

[SamtheSquirrel2018]

thanks everyone it really means a lot! i never considered that her eye might be playing a role with her balance. i’m currently trying to find a vet who will look at her but i’m having trouble finding someone. if anyone knows a rehabber or vet in the lower mainland in british columbia please please let me know!

baloo hasn’t come to us directly in the past few days — probably because of the weather. i see her everyday in the trees but when i call out to her she looks at me and then goes back to what she was doing. i’m absolutely certain she lives in the tree behind us.

she’s not doing better but she’s not getting worse so i hope that’s a good sign. she clearly wants to keep going!!!

as for trapping her and keeping her — i live in a rental and the landlord doesn’t allow pets. that said the landlord rarely visits… i’d be really nervous to keep her though i don’t have any experience at all with this. i really don’t want to do more harm to her. if i have all the stuff and info i need i would really consider it.

Hi Astril and thanks for the update! If your comment about the eye playing a role in balance is in response to my post, I would like to apologize for the lack of clarity my post contained. Vision itself does not play a direct role in balance but lack of vision certainly and obviously can effect the ability to get around because most living things with highly developed eyes such as Squirrels and people rely on vision at least to some significant degree to with awareness of their surroundings! BUT, the eye and vision is not part of the vestibular (balance and coordination) system and what I was suggesting in regard to Baloo's apparently "sunken" eye on the left side was that this was possibly the result of trauma (a forceful bite for example) and this injury fractured some of the surrounding bone structure resulting in the appearance of a depressed eye on the left with the injury also affecting the Vestibular System which includes the inner ear which is completely enclosed by a portion of the skull and is not visible during an examination. The inner ear and the nerve major nerve associated with the inner ear; the Vestibulocochlear Nerve (cranial nerve 8) affect balance and hearing. What I was trying to say was that IMO only; I suspect that Baloo's head tilt and circling to the left is the result of prior trauma to the head that affected the Vestibular system.

Do you actually see Baloo up in the trees? If so, this is a very good sign from a neurologic standpoint because it implies and actually demonstrates that Baloo has a very high level of functionality remaining! It was difficult from my initial view of Baloo's level of functionality as seen in your to imagine Baloo being able to climb and function in the trees. I hope that she is this functional as it suggest much better safety and survival odds than being a tree Squirrel confined to the ground!

Thanks for the update on Baloo and please continue them! I'm sorry for my apparently being unclear in my prior post regarding the eye issue. Certainly vision plays an important part in a "visual animal's" or human functioning but just an injury to one or both eyes or even blindness; would NOT result in the particular functional problems seen clearly in you video as these seem neurologically based!

Regards,
SamtheSquirrel

[astrll]

Hi Astril and thanks for the update! If your comment about the eye playing a role in balance is in response to my post, I would like to apologize for the lack of clarity my post contained. ... What I was trying to say was that IMO only; I suspect that Baloo's head tilt and circling to the left is the result of prior trauma to the head that affected the Vestibular system.

ah i see! sorry for misunderstanding

[astrll]

Do you actually see Baloo up in the trees? If so, this is a very good sign from a neurologic standpoint because it implies and actually demonstrates that Baloo has a very high level of functionality remaining! It was difficult from my initial view of Baloo's level of functionality as seen in your to imagine Baloo being able to climb and function in the trees. I hope that she is this functional as it suggest much better safety and survival odds than being a tree Squirrel confined to the ground!

yes i do see her in the trees! she struggles but is able to navigate through the trees. she has a nest really high up in one of the trees and i see her using gravity to her advantage a lot. in the past few days she's learned to lean on stuff so she doesn't keep falling over. i have a video from last week with baloo navigating through the trees. it was originally 15 minutes long so i cut out all the parts where she pauses for a while.

https://youtu.be/mb1_lJ14Ha8

i have a video from yesterday. she hasn't been getting better but i can't tell if she's getting worse. lately, she will lay on her left side to eat. i can't tell if this is her adapting or if it means she's getting worse.

https://youtu.be/sKCa84c3xbw

the video starts with her in a house we have on our balcony. she really really really loves being in that house. the other squirrels don't bother her when she's in there and she will always immediately go to the house when she visits. i think she feels safe in there so i'm wondering if she decides to lay down in there to eat because she doesn't feel like she's in danger. when i see her in the wild i noticed she doesn't lay down at all. so i can't tell if she's worse or not because when she's upstairs on our balcony she behaves differently than when she's in the wild.

with yogurt, she got worse before she got better and adapted the same way as baloo is doing now. but yogurt didn't have any vision issues and she was less than a year old. i'm not sure if age has anything to do with neuro issues but baloo is definitely at least over a year old. yogurt we got lucky with because she came to us when she was maybe five months old and we were able to support her from since she was young. now you can't even tell she ever had a neuro issue. i'm hoping that's the case with baloo too

here is the post where i was tracking yogurt's progress just for context
Young wild with coordination problems (video-provided)

[SamtheSquirrel2018]

yes i do see her in the trees! she struggles but is able to navigate through the trees. she has a nest really high up in one of the trees and i see her using gravity to her advantage a lot. in the past few days she's learned to lean on stuff so she doesn't keep falling over. i have a video from last week with baloo navigating through the trees. it was originally 15 minutes long so i cut out all the parts where she pauses for a while.

https://youtu.be/mb1_lJ14Ha8

i have a video from yesterday. she hasn't been getting better but i can't tell if she's getting worse. lately, she will lay on her left side to eat. i can't tell if this is her adapting or if it means she's getting worse.

https://youtu.be/sKCa84c3xbw

the video starts with her in a house we have on our balcony. she really really really loves being in that house. the other squirrels don't bother her when she's in there and she will always immediately go to the house when she visits. i think she feels safe in there so i'm wondering if she decides to lay down in there to eat because she doesn't feel like she's in danger. when i see her in the wild i noticed she doesn't lay down at all. so i can't tell if she's worse or not because when she's upstairs on our balcony she behaves differently than when she's in the wild.

with yogurt, she got worse before she got better and adapted the same way as baloo is doing now. but yogurt didn't have any vision issues and she was less than a year old. i'm not sure if age has anything to do with neuro issues but baloo is definitely at least over a year old. yogurt we got lucky with because she came to us when she was maybe five months old and we were able to support her from since she was young. now you can't even tell she ever had a neuro issue. i'm hoping that's the case with baloo too

here is the post where i was tracking yogurt's progress just for context
Young wild with coordination problems (video-provided)

Thanks for the update Astril! It certainly seems that Baloo possesses a significant degree of functionality although she also has a significant degree of disability from what , again is my opinion only; a head injury affecting portions of her vestibular apparatus. Looking at the first video of Baloo in the tree made me a bit apprehensive (to say the least!) seeing her hanging from a branch and moving "sloth-like" in the trees but she must have a sense of balance or she would not be able to do this or recover and compensate as she obviously does so well, considering all issues!
Please keep on with the updates!
Regards,
SamtheSquirrel