Just sharing what I learned recently. I ran into this beautiful spotty mama squirrel the other day. But I was a little shocked when I first saw her because I hadn’t seen such a squirrel before. Her left chin was swollen and sagging. Otherwise, she looked healthy. By the way, the spots are expected: UC Berkeley marks them as part of a study they do. I loved her spots as a polka dot lover. It reminded me of a puffa fish and I love them too.
Since I don’t carry a “squirrel rescue kit” the only thing I can help them with is feeding (I always carry a “squirrel feeding kit” ;)). So I fed her lots of seeds and peanuts.
After hanging out with her, I asked my rehabber friend about her cheek and this is what I learned:
It looks like she possibly has a pretty bad abscess under her cheek.
She needs her immune system boosted to fight that infection. Giving her lots of walnuts and almonds would help.
They said that she would benefit from antibiotics they have at their place but pulling her will orphan her babies.
They offered me the antibiotics to feed her which require twice a day feeding. I would love to do that if she was one of my balcony squirrels. But she lives at UC Berkeley so it’ll be hard for me to do that. I hope she’ll recover by herself.
The squirrels’ immune system is incredible. I’ve met an unbalanced squirrel and watched him manage to recover by himself at UC Berkeley so I have high hopes for this one too.
Thank you for reading! Have a squirreltastic day!
-Chelsea