Paralyzed Squirrel

[PoppyGirl25]

Earlier this week, I had an intake of an adult female fox squirrel who is paralyzed in the back end. She does have pain response in both feet. She tries pulling her legs away when pinching her toes. I work at a vet clinic, so we took some xrays. Since we haven't often taken squirrel xrays, there are a couple of places that we aren't exactly sure about. Was wondering if anyone who has any experience reading squirrel xrays might take a look and just give us your thoughts? Since she does have pain response, I plan on giving her time to see what happens. She was given Meloxicam upon intake for pain and inflammation. We're going to stop that and start on Prednisolone. I've been syringe feeding her Critical Care formula, and she's been very cooperative about that.

[PoppyGirl25]

I did try posting the xrays, but they aren't showing up... hmm...

[DavidW2]

It’s great that she still has pain response—that’s a promising sign for potential recovery. Prednisolone is a good next step for spinal inflammation, especially with potential spinal trauma. If you can share the x-rays, there are a few wildlife rehabbers and exotic vets who may help interpret them more precisely. In the meantime, continue supportive care, keep her stress low, and monitor for any signs of improvement or deterioration in mobility or function. You're doing amazing work!

[PoppyGirl25]

Thanks! I'm trying my best. And my vet has been a big help too. I started the prednisolone tonight. She actually ate and drank a little on her own today. She's been a very cooperative patient so far. Hoping for a miracle for this sweet girl.

[supersquirrelgirl]

Can you give background information on what injury lead up to paralysis ??

[PoppyGirl25]

I believe she fell... not sure from what distance. She had pulled herself across the street and was trying to get up a curb, but couldn't. There were cats trying to get her. She was started on antibiotics just in case they were able to bite her before she was contained. She had wear marks on both legs, but those have healed already, thankfully.

It gave me a different option to upload the xrays, so hopefully they show up now.

[Centerline]

My goodness! Look at those spots. All on one side in the top view. Any idea what that is? Someone may have taken a shot at her with rat shot?

[PoppyGirl25]

My goodness! Look at those spots. All on one side in the top view. Any idea what that is? Someone may have taken a shot at her with rat shot?

My vet seems to think it's just stomach contents. I have gotten in squirrels who had been shot before... people can be so cruel!

[PoppyGirl25]

Even if no one is able to read the xrays, if you've cared for paralyzed squirrels before and wouldn't mind offering advice on your experience(s), I would really appreciate it.

[olorin19]

Even if no one is able to read the xrays, if you've cared for paralyzed squirrels before and wouldn't mind offering advice on your experience(s), I would really appreciate it.

Refer to post #5 -

https://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/...-baby-squirrel

[olorin19]

Here is a search for threads with “paralyzed” in title -

https://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/...archid=2451540

[supersquirrelgirl]

Even if no one is able to read the xrays, if you've cared for paralyzed squirrels before and wouldn't mind offering advice on your experience(s), I would really appreciate it.

Sorry for the delay on X-rays........

I'm going to PM a TSB person who might be able to help.

MrSSG

[supersquirrelgirl]

PoppyGirl, I just sent you a PM.

[supersquirrelgirl]

Can you post an update on the squirrel ??

(Hang tight on help for the xrays....)

[SamtheSquirrel2018]

Hi PoppyGirl:
I have been out of town for a number of days and unable to be on TSB long enough to view new threads. My attention was called to your thread and today was the earliest I was able review your posts. Sorry! How is your Squirrel doing now and what did you name this Squirrel? Do you have any history on this Squirrel such; is this a client's pet, was there a definitive injury or reason to strongly suspect this, was this Squirrel found "paralyzed" or was this a captive Squirrel that developed what appears to be paralysis? I am not necessarily questioning a paralysis but paralysis of an extremity is essentially the inability to move the limb secondary to problems with the associated nerves, the area where the nerves meet the muscles or problems with the muscles themselves! There may be another reason for your Squirrel to favor his hind extremities and not move them such as a fracture or other injury that might cause pain or significant discomfort! When you mentioned a pain response; what exactly was this response? Did your Squirrel withdraw one or both hind limbs from a painful stimulus? Is one hind limb moving more than the other (if either is moving at all)?

I am NOT a Veterinarian nor am I a radiologist (a specialist in interpreting x-ray images) but I did review the images you posted and I will render some comments but ideally, the images should be submitted to a Veterinary radiologist for review.

A couple of things in general regarding the x-ray images;
I assume that the original x-ray study was performed utilizing a digital format. Are you able to upload the actual DICOM file to your thread or PM them? None of the images that you uploaded are marked with an indicator for determining Left and Right so if there are any abnormalities or potential abnormalities on one or more of the images, it would also be necessary to know which side was being looked at! On one of the Ventrodorsal (VD) or Dorsoventral (DV) views (it is impossible to determine without marking the film as whether the Squirrel was positioned DV or VD), the image extends rostral (toward the nose) enough to show some of the chest and there is a "suggestion of a heart shadow and the apex of the heart normally points to the left side but again, it would be best to have markers!

The whitish spots in the abdominal region that have been called into question appear to me in my humble non-vet, non-radiologist opinion; to be kinda what your Vet has proposed but in the intestines and not limited just to the stomach. These whitish densities are small and of different sizes and densities and I doubt that they represent shot from a gun. I very simple and scientifically elegant means to demonstrate the association of these densities with the gut would be to take another film and check to see if they have moved and if there position relative to each other has changed. IF these were fixed foreign bodies such as gunshot fragments, they would not move or change position relative to each other as they would be withing the body tissues. Also, if they were in the skin, a tangential view would be ideal in evaluating whether or not the densities were in the superficial skin.

In looking at the bones; it appears to my non-vet, non-radiologist eyes that in the VD or DV views; there is a density "above" the the head of the femur on the "right" side of the PHOTO (I don't know if this is the actual right or left side) and it appears that the normally dense ring of the socket for the femur (called the acetabulum) on at least one of the two VD/DV views is incomplete and the femoral head is distanced more on that side from the acetabular rim that is visible than the opposite femoral head. I am wondering if there might be a fracture on the side with this density and the density itself representing a fracture of the pelvis containing a portion of the acetabulum. IF this was what was going on; your Squirrel would have considerable discomfort and difficulty moving his hind limb of that side and maybe even discomfort associated with moving the opposite hip joint. Please understand that I am giving you my very non-professional opinions and I would strongly suggest that your discuss this and the films again with your Vet. Ideally, you could also repeat the studies with MARKERS and obtain some images focused on the pelvic region to better ascertain the origin of the density in question that lies just rostral to one of the femoral heads. Repeating the abdominal views would also help determine if the multiple small densities present in the original views are in the gut lumen (the inside of the stomach intestinal tube) as with normal gut motility, objects within the gut will move! Also, all images could be submitted to a Veterinary Radiologist for review.

I will return to your thread later after I return from work.

Please post updates on your Squirrel! Thank you and your Veterinarian for your care and concern about this Squirrel!

Regards,
SamtheSquirrel

[SamtheSquirrel2018]

Earlier this week, I had an intake of an adult female fox squirrel who is paralyzed in the back end. She does have pain response in both feet. She tries pulling her legs away when pinching her toes.

Hi PoppyGirl:
I apologize for missing some of your original post! This answers my questions about this Squirrel's history! I do suspect the fracture I mentioned in my post and there certainly may be other issues including the possibility of nerve involvement sustained from a fall or other incident or sustained other internal injuries. Cat bites also are very risky if this occurred as their teeth are very sharp and relatively long and these teeth can easily penetrate into the chest, abdomen, spine or whatever and can relatively easily penetrate into bone! Although the multiple relatively small densities appear to be associated with the GI tract, they may in fact be relatively superficial and result from some road particles that were pick up in the fur (hopefully) or in the superficial skin. I'm quite certain that a very thorough examination was performed when this little Squirrel presented to your clinic but it may be worth checking for this possibility specifically! Again, I apologize for missing your post where you detailed this Squirrel's history!
Please post updates on this Squirrel!
Regards,
SamtheSquirrel

[PoppyGirl25]

Hi PoppyGirl:
I apologize for missing some of your original post! This answers my questions about this Squirrel's history! I do suspect the fracture I mentioned in my post and there certainly may be other issues including the possibility of nerve involvement sustained from a fall or other incident or sustained other internal injuries. Cat bites also are very risky if this occurred as their teeth are very sharp and relatively long and these teeth can easily penetrate into the chest, abdomen, spine or whatever and can relatively easily penetrate into bone! Although the multiple relatively small densities appear to be associated with the GI tract, they may in fact be relatively superficial and result from some road particles that were pick up in the fur (hopefully) or in the superficial skin. I'm quite certain that a very thorough examination was performed when this little Squirrel presented to your clinic but it may be worth checking for this possibility specifically! Again, I apologize for missing your post where you detailed this Squirrel's history!
Please post updates on this Squirrel!
Regards,
SamtheSquirrel

Thank you so much for the reply! I’ve gotten quite busy with intakes, so I’ve just now had the chance to pop back on. I will respond in more detail once I get back home this evening.

[PoppyGirl25]

I've been calling her Buttercup! The finder actually saw her fall and pull herself across the street. While a couple of cats followed her over there, the finder was able to keep them away until she was contained, so no suspected cat bites. Initially, she had no bladder function, so I was having to express her bladder for her. On Thursday, I noticed that each time, her bladder was only about 1/3 to 1/2 full. Then Friday morning, it was completely empty and her bedding was all wet. I've been syringe feeding her this entire time because she hasn't shown much interest in eating on her own. Up until now, she's been a sweet little patient, but yesterday morning, she did not want me handling her. It's sort of like once her bladder function returned, she wants me to leave her alone. I don't want to further stress her. Today has been the same... she does everything she can to get away from me, so this does complicate matters. We do believe she has a pelvic fracture on her left side. My vet said that in cats, they are usually able to heal from it by forming a false joint, but she's not sure about squirrels. She has pain response on that side... it's just a little slower. The right side she has been moving some on her own. Rather than moving it away when I've pinched her toes, she would pull it away when I was cleaning her up and the baby wipe touched her foot. I had been doing PT to try and get blood flow to the area and I could really feel the muscles firing when I extended the right leg. These images might help since they are labeled:









At this point, I'm not sure the best way to care for her, especially since she now doesn't want me feeding her. If there's potential she might recover down the road, I'm prepared to give her as much time as she needs to get there.

[olorin19]

Is PT and extending the leg a good idea if there is a fracture? Perhaps StS might comment, but I would be cautious in the short term.

[PoppyGirl25]

Is PT and extending the leg a good idea if there is a fracture? Perhaps StS might comment, but I would be cautious in the short term.

The fracture is on the left side, so I’ve only been checking pain response on that side. I also didn’t think it would be a good idea to move anything on that side too much at this point.