What's up with this squirrel (video)?

I finally saw it…he’s sick. Could it be rabies?

I was thinking possible rabies too.

Yeah…it’s always, always a warning sign when a wild animal approaches humans without any caution. I mean, you’re standing right there….he should be running away. I’d call someone, honestly.

I don’t know about that. I’m always being approached by hungry pigeons and squirrels walking down a crowded sidewalk. I’ve almost stepped on one or two a couple of times, Jeez…

I’m inside, taping through the window. Squirrels come up onto our deck all the time.

@HungryGuy The squirrel keeps tipping to the side.

Oh. OK. (I wish we didn’t have dogs, damn it!) I still think he’s sick.

I would guess sickness, as well. I seem to recall hearing that parasitic infections can cause balance problems in squirrels.

Aw, poor little guy. :( I don’t know how anyone we could call could take care of it, though. There are squirrels everywhere, I think it’d be halfway impossible to find a specific one.

:( Well, squirrels can GET rabies, but it’s rare. I’d stay away from him just in case. So sad, though.

It is true that he seemed a little extra brave, though. My cat walked right up to the window and he didn’t seem to care. Huh.

Even if the lopsided squirrel on your deck wasn’t an issue, I hope you have all your animals’ rabies shots up to date.

Oh yeah. Our cats stay inside anyhow, but yeah, the shots are up to date.

Then you’re safe from rabies. Don’t worry about the squirrel.

Or put the cats out to chase the wildlife away…

They’re terrified of the outdoors. xD

He has what is called ” wry neck” an inner ear infection that causes loss of balance.
Squirrels do not contract rabies, they can, they are mammals, but smaller mammals that are bitten by a larger rabid predator do not survive to incubate the disease.

Most likely he has wry neck, forget the medical term.

@Coloma Wow! Thanks.

@Mariah

It’s a common illness in rodents and rabbits. :-)

So probably this wasn’t the same squirrel that I saw doing this a few weeks ago. Interesting. I love watching wildlife out my window!

So..do they recover @Coloma?

Not usually without an antibiotic. It is a bacterial type infection and sometimes it remains mild enough to only cause balance issues, but often it is fatal. It is also possible he has some sort of neurological issue, a fall, being dropped by a hawk from up high.

Impossible to say but the symptoms and commonality of the disease in rodents adds up, but no way to be certain of course. :-)

It is also not transmittable to other pets or humans. :-)

As long as I am on an animal trivia roll…possums are the only mammal that does not contract the rabies virus as their body temp. is too low to incubate the disease. Sooo, no worries about possum rabies. However they do have the most teeth ( 52) of any mammal, so don;t get bitten. LOL :-)

He seems to have some sort of numerologic issue. He may have fallen from a tree and sustained a head injury, he may have an inner ear issue, or a middle ear issue from parasites, but squirrels are not common carriers of rabies.

We have a cat with a temporary (we hope) balance problem after getting his ears cleaned. He does that.

Also, I suppose that squirrels dying of noncontagious things get out there and hunt for food until they can’t.

@Coloma Well, did you know that ‘possums are actually extremely passive? They are. I almost sat on one when I was peeing in the woods!