I’m a lineman for a power utility and came to a routine outage call for a transformer outage. In most cases, it’s due to a squirrel touching the high voltage wire and the grounded transformer tank. This always results in death and I’ve seen thousands over the past 13 years. It’s very common.
Yesterday, one made it. Sort of. She suffered burn injuries due to the 7200v contact, though they surprisingly seem somewhat mild on the surface. She also fell 40ft+ to the ground. I can’t tell if the arm is broken but it doesn’t do much. She was dragging it under herself. This same arm sustained the worst of the burns, so this may be the main cause of its inability to function. I offered my gloved hand before I walked away from the job and she desperately wanted the help.
There is head trauma which is causing some neurological issues. There was bleeding from one ear. The eyes twitch constantly and one of them much worse than the other. Her head bobs back and forth when she lifts it as well. She’s a bit smelly because of the burnt hair everywhere but it’s getting better as she grooms.
I honestly thought she would stop breathing within minutes. It has been 24 hours now and she is starting to take small amounts of a blended fruit/vegetable mush mix and water, both from syringes and she ate a peanut when I offered it . She’s been grooming too.
Here’s what I’ve been doing and need advice: She is in a milk crate with a blanket lining it and more than enough to cover her and burrow in. She’s with me in my work truck all day and I remove the crate and bring it in the house after. I offer water from the syringe frequently. She sleeps almost nonstop (understandably) and when she wakes, she welcomes my petting and grooms my fingers. What else should I be doing for her? She’s fighting her tail off and I want to give her anything she needs through this potential recovery. I added a photo of when I first brought her in the truck.