On 12 August, some good Samaritans brought in a baby (~6 weeks old) who had fallen out of a nest in College Town, Ithaca. The nest was squeezed between 2 buildings about 25 feet up. They reported that they heard more babies up there. The little one who they brought in had a few (~5) small swellings that looked like mosquito bites. He was crying, dehydrated and had fleas, both indications that the mother was not around. And indeed, the Samaritans had watched the area all day and not seen an adult squirrel return to the nest.
I brought the baby to the vet that day to have the lumps investigated. They said they looked like bites and the baby should be fine. I put him in with the 3August squirrels, Lila and Lucas (above). The next day another baby fell out of the nest and a volunteer and I brought a big extension ladder and managed to get the other 3 babies from the nest. One look at the other babies made it clear that the lumps were not bites but the dreaded squirrel pox. These individuals did not have small isolated pox but large swellings, covering whole folds of skin. A few of them had Sharpei (the "wrinkly" dogs) like folds of swollen skin. You can see in these pictures that the pox were all over their bodies: front, back, eyes, toes, ears, etc. The original 2 little healthy squirrels were immediately isolated from these 5. WEIGHTS: 1 (EyeGuy), 8/12: 64g 2 (Anna), 8/13: 86g 3 (TummyBoy), 8/13: 90g 4, 8/13: 98g 5, 8/13: 98g |
After frantically calling every rehabilitator I know, one recommended using a topical cream called Zovilax, which she told me would "dry up the pox very quickly". Zovilax is used for herpes in humans and is very strong; I used gloves to apply it to the animals. It is also very expensive. A 15g tube, which was no bigger than the size of my pointer finger was almost $200. Though the vet doubted it would help, as the squirrel pox is not a herpes-type virus, she got me a prescription anyway. I figured it was worth the try. However, I soon realized that this small tube would be used up within days if I used it on all 5 babies. All 5 had pox covering their entire bodies and tails. At this point I made the very difficult and sad decision to have two of the babies euthanized. These 2 little ones had hardly any area of their skin untouched by pox and they appeared to be getting worse. |
WEIGHTS: Lila, 8/17: 100g Lucas, 8/17: 94g 1 (EyeGuy), 8/19: 86g 2 (Anna), 8/19: 116g 3 (TummyBoy), 8/19: 112g 4, 8/19: 114g 5, 8/19: 102g |
25 August 2009
By 25 August the pox lesions in the remaining 3 pox babies were starting to open. They would bleed and scab over, but several were infected (I tried to get all the pus out). Therefore, I started the remaining 3 pox babies on Trimethoprim- sulfonamide (TMS), a sulfa antibiotic, at 30mg/kg twice a day. I also started washing all the lesions several times a day with a mix of betadine, chlorhexidine and water. |
WEIGHTS:
Lila: 137g Lucas: 124g 1 (EyeGuy): 104g 2 (Anna): 146g 3 (TummyBoy): 132g |
|
This was a hard day: 2 weeks after being with the first little pox baby for 24 hours Lila & Lucas suddenly start showing signs of pox themselves. They both have about 4 pox each.
And then, suddenly, the morning of 27 August, Lucas is unresponsive and passes away later that morning. It is unclear why he died, and a necropsy by the vets did not reveal any reasons either. It is unlikely that his death was caused by the pox. I had noticed that his head had an ever-so-slightly strange shape, and it is possible that he had some sort of brain/skull abnormality that caused his death. Despite the fact that Lila now has the pox I decide not to put her in with the other 3 pox babies as their lesions are now open and I don't know whether this may cause her immune system to get weaker. Despite various claims that there are meds that help the pox (such as zovilax), there is no real evidence for this, and as of yet it may be that only a strong immune system can fight this deadly disease. |
The Nystop powder runs out sometime around 9/10. I buy some anti-fungal powder at the drugstore and use this instead. But in my mind the best thing about the powder is that the talc probably helps dry up the pox, so for a few days when I don't have an antifungal powder I use baby powder and GoldBond powder and that seems to do the trick too.
I also get some Chamomile Lotion that I figure will help on some of the worst lesions. Does it? I'm not sure. |
WEIGHTS 9/10:
Lila: 180g EyeGuy: 168g Anna: 184g TummyBoy: 202g |
19 September 2009
EyeGuy is really not looking well, though he is active and eating well. I start thinking about whether I should put him down. It's tough as I don't want to let the ugly presentation of the lesions scare me into putting him down. |
WEIGHTS:
Lila: 200g EyeGuy: 192g Anna: 220g TummyBoy: 248g |
EyeGuy dies. He is 204g.
I have saved his body and hope to do a necropsy on him with one of my vets. I have heard that after a certain point the pox will spread internally and move to the internal organs, but I have not seen definite proof of this. I hope that his necropsy will be able to confirm or deny this report. Stay tuned. (update: no one was willing to do an autopsy on him and he is now peacefully buried in a lovely spot) |
23 September 2009
I start giving the 3 remaining babies NutriFeron which is supposed to boost immune function. I had tried to give them echinachea, but it had a really nasty taste. The NutriFeron comes in caplets. I dissolve 2 in about 600cc of water. I give this mixture to them in place of plain water. There is no taste to it. I also use a little in their formula until 1 October, at which point I figure that they are getting plenty in their water. |
WEIGHTS:
Anna: 240g TummyBoy: 242g (didn't get Lila. This is the last time I get weights as they are becoming more and more crazy and difficult to control & weigh!) |
Lila's scabs come off! And all of TummyBoy's are almost off as well. Anna, TummyBoy & Lila are getting more and more rowdy and I decide to put them in a larger cage (about 4'x4'x2.5'). This will mean that I will not be able to catch them to give them their meds, but I think that they are OK and I decide to discontinue the Acyclovir and topical treatments. However, they are still getting NutriFeron in their water and will continue to do so until release.
I was planning on keeping these little ones all winter, but they are suddenly getting better so fast that I wonder if I'll be able to let them go this year... |
|
|