Has anyone seen this before ...

I have lots of squirrels that come to my yard daily to eat from the dishes of food on the ground. They like the peanuts and sunflower seeds the best. Most of the squirrels do not come near until I am far away.

Last year, I had one little squirrel (which I thought was possibly a youngster) that would come much closer. Not too close, but would follow me until I filled the dishes with seeds. It would sit quietly near me (about 4 feet away) and wait patiently. I got in the habit of throwing this squirrel a peanut which he/she would munch on while waiting. This squirrel was always the first one out there in the morning. He/she would come down the tree and come right over. The other squirrels didn't usually show up for another 15 minutes or more. This little squirrel figured out that the early bird gets the worm ... or rather ... the early squirrel gets the best seeds! :-)

I have gotten used to looking for this little one every morning. He/she is my little morning greeter! I didn't see this squirrel recently for about 3 or so days. When I finally did, I was horrified!!! Something apparently attacked him/her.

This message was edited Oct 4, 2009 11:47 AM

When I saw the squirrel yesterday, his/her eye was almost completely swollen shut. One ear was also chewed and there was fur missing on the top of it's head. I was thinking maybe a Hawk might of tried to grab it and it put up a fight. I didn't get a photo yesterday. These photos are from today.

Well, this morning it showed up as usual, but both ears are now missing. And more areas appear to have been bitten. It freaked me out! I couldn't imagine this squirrel going anywhere that it might be attacked by a predator. Not two days in a row.

And then it occured to me ...My kids had dormouse for pets many years ago. We had two males together in a cage. We didn't know at the time, that was not a good idea. One of the mice chewed the ears off the other and continually attacked it. We did finally separate them, but after the damage was done.

So is this possibly what is happening to my squirrel? Do you think that another squirrel is attacking this poor little thing? If so, will it continue to attack it until it is dead? I hope not. Much to my disappointment, this is happening to the squirrel that I have befriended.

Any advice?

Last photo. The eye does look better than it did, but I sure feel for this poor bullied little one! (sigh)

{{{Becky}}} I just saw your post on the home page :o)

Oh no, this poor little guy (or gal) is going through a lot. I sure hope someone can help you out with an answer as to what may be going on.

What a great little friend you have found though. You are so good to all God's creatures that come into your yard for goodies!!

Sending prayers and warm fuzzies to your little one :o)

Hi Melissa! Great to see you posting! :-)

Thanks! This poor squirrel sure needs all the prayers and warm fuzzies it can get! And lots of protection too! :-)

Oh! The poor little thing! :-( Unfortunately for these wild ones, you have to let nature take it's course. However, there are places who take in injured animals and nurse them back to health before releasing them. You might try finding someone?

Oh good idea creek!!

Becky out here in Cali they have an orginization called Project Wildlife... I wonder if you have something like that in your area?? hmm Might wanna check with Florida's Fish and Game??

Glad to be back BTW... gonna be posting on the MSN check in thread (don't wanna clog up this thread with all my mumbo jumbo!!LOL!!

creekwalker - I had thought of that, but would have to catch (live trap it) first. It's really skittish right now, so not sure how easy that would be. I might call the wildlife place. Unfortunately, it is about an hour or more away. I already know there are no rehabbers in my area. Maybe I should just let nature take it's course as you said. Such a bummer! Maybe this squirrel will figure out to stay away from the bully. There is another squirrel that has no tail.

If this is a male squirrel, maybe it is competing with a meaner male for a nest or a female? Perhaps the fighting squirrels are siblings? I have just never seen this before with squirrels in all the years I've been feeding them.

Melissa - I will find my way over to the MSN thread sometime today... :-)

Parasites can cause the swollen eyes or other "boil type" lesions. they will usually heal if they're healthy and safe. perhaps you could mount a squirrel house for him!

I have seen some very disturbing things since moving out to the country. Mother Nature is not always nice. Some of the squirrels I have had are very aggressive towards others. Feral cats are another possibilty aside from the usual predators. They do not appear to have a long life span in the wild.

Hope your little friend mends. I have had a couple of special ones ove the last 2 years.

One day last year I took the dog 'out back' for a walk in the field behind my home... upon opening the gate, he made a mad dash to the back tree.... I saw a hawk fly up -- he was on the ground.
Buddy just stood there - i was still quite a distance away, but i could tell he was sniffing something.

When i got there, there was a squirrel on the ground ... there was no blood, so it looked like we had gotten there in the nick of time. The poor lil guy was in shock a bit -- and for good reason. I must have had a jacket or sweatshirt with me, because i recall picking him up, using something to grab him. I lifted him up to a branch where he sat for a long time, but eventually ran off.... i guess after he got his 'wind' back.

We definitely saved the lil bugger that day.

I hope your lil guy gets better.... Yes, mother nature can be cruel... I'd just be glad not to witness it.

Thanks everyone for your concern for my poor little squirrel.

tcs1366 - Glad to hear your squirrel got a second chance. Sounds like your dog saved his life. Right place at the right time. Lucky squirrel for sure!

I have been looking for my squirrel every morning when I fill the dishes with seeds. Here is how he/she looked two days ago.

The swelling had gone from it's eye to it's cheek. It has also scratched off much of the fur around the back of it's neck. Might have been due to the irritation of the swelling. I had thought it had it's ears chewed off, but it now appears the ears are intact. Perhaps the swelling around it's head had caused the ears to be pulled back to appear damaged.

This photo is blurry, but you can see all the missing fur around the other side of it's face and around the neck area. It's neck looks bald. Poor thing looks pathetic!

In this last photo, you can see the difference due to swelling from one cheek to the other.

I called the Wildlife Hospital about an hour and a half drive away. They told me to catch it and bring it in and they would see what they could do. But they couldn't give it back to me to release at my house if it got better. They would release it there. Since I have no cage and no way to catch it, that was a useless idea. I tried calling Animal Control and never got an answer. The local vets do not treat wildlife anymore I found out after calling them. There are no longer rehabbers anywhere near me since last Fall (a year ago). The lady who used to do it, moved away. So no help for this little squirrel.

I didn't see the squirrel at all yesterday. So, like some of you mentioned, nature can be cruel. I figured it might have succumbed to the ailment.

I did some internet searching and found this:

"Gray squirrels are also subject to a host of parasites and diseases. Botfly larvae can cause enormous cysts on a squirrel before the larva emerges to pupate and metamorphose into a fly. Mange can leave squirrels with patches of raw furless skin. Ticks, fleas, lice, and worms also afflict gray squirrels. Another peculiar ailment that is found in gray squirrels is squirrel pox or fibromatosis. This disease is caused by a virus and results in multiple large skin tumors which may appear anywhere on the squirrel´s body. Normally, this disease will run its course and the tumors will disappear unless secondary skin infections occur. If the tumors occur around the eyes or mouth, the squirrel may be unable to see or feed and may succumb due to starvation. " This information came from: http://newyorkwild.org/squirrels/squirrels2006.htm

So that was not very encouraging news ...

But this morning after filling the dishes, I walked back out after about 30 minutes and there was the squirrel. The swelling was completely gone from what I could tell. It still looks pretty rough with all the bald spots, but it was eating just fine. The other squirrels took off when they saw me approaching. But this little squirrel just stopped eating and watched me. I believe it knows I will not hurt it. I started talking to it and he/she scurried over to about 2 feet from me. And just sat there while I talked to it for about 2 minutes and then it scurried off. It looks a lot better! Not sure what it was but it definitely looked like some kind of cyst infection. Perhaps the squirrel scratched it open to allow the cyst to drain. It didn't appear to be infected, so my hope is it's well on it's way to recovery. I can only hope so!

This message was edited Oct 11, 2009 2:14 PM

Something else just occured to me. I wonder if the squirrel got stung by wasps. The squirrels climb in and out of my yard (over the fence) by use of trellises mounted to the fence. I counted 5 nests along the back fence behind the various trellises. I have been stung numerous times lately by those dang wasps. They are awful. I wonder if the squirrels disturb the wasps nests when they scurry up the trellis to exit the backyard? Those stings hurt, cause swelling, and itching. I am really wondering if that may be what might have happened.

Glad it showed up and seems to be on the mend!

Thought I give a last update on my squirrel friend. He is definitely on the mend. And I do think it might have been a wasps sting that had his poor face all swollen. That must have hurt too! Yikes!

In this photo you can see where it's face looks normal (no swelling) and the fur is starting to grow back again. :-)

And here he is all stretched out on the birdfeeder post! LOL!

awww...how cute!

Glad to see he is doing better Becky! He is very cute.