We recently admitted this squirrel to our hospital. He came in suffering from a slight case of hypothermia, weakness, and hindlimb paralysis. Squirrels are unfortunately very common victims of paralysis, as their lifestyle includes quite a lot of jumping between high places like trees and telephone wires, making for plenty of opportunities to fall and hurt themselves. They also tend to be hit by cars a lot, as they commonly live in urban areas and can sometimes cross the road quickly enough to avoid harm, building confidence that later backfires.

In terms of treatment, paralysis like this is either fairly easy to treat or impossible for the most part. This is because, barring some rare exceptions, hindlimb paralysis results from some kind of problem with the spinal column. Commonly this is one of two things, either the squirrel has serious inflammation around the spinal column, compressing it and causing a loss of function, or it has a fracture of the spine. The first is treatable with simple NSAIDs, which are non-steroidal anti-inflammatories, drugs that reduce inflammation and pain. The second is extremely difficult to treat even in premier hospitals with specialized neurosurgeons and amazing technology. Even for them, if the injury happened more than 72 hours prior to treatment then there is almost zero chance of success. Unfortunately, we simply lack the resources to perform that kind of surgery, and animals with spinal fractures have to be euthanized.

Spinal trauma is often difficult to pick up on during a physical exam, as the fracture can be tiny and non-palpable. To make a final judgment call, our veterinarians take X-rays and use those to definitely tell one way or the other. This squirrel that we just admitted seems to have no spinal trauma that we have been able to identify, so we are very hopeful that with anti-inflammatory treatment and some time he will be ready to get back to his home with no further problems.