Monday, August 29, 2011

How to handle a Squirrel

When we arrived home late yesterday afternoon we went out into the garden to check things and found the little fellow below under the garden seat.  I'm calling him a 'he' he could of course be a 'she' but who knows.

He wasn't moving except for shuffling his back paws and wafting his tail over his head.  Our cats were watching from a distance but didn't seem too concerned about getting close to him.  He was shuddering slightly and seemed anxious and a bit dazed.

We brought him a little bowl of water and a few peanuts and sunflower hearts and left him alone for a while but  he was still quite distressed so we decided to give him a quick check to make sure he didn't have any injuries, though  I'm not sure what we would have done if he'd had any!

He didn't much like being held in a gardening glove - well would you?  There were no visible injuries so we left him alone again and after a while he started to move about a bit - we were watching for other cats around the garden as at this point ours were being kept inside just in case - eventually he started to hop about then run a little and finally he disappeared.  I think I've seen him around this morning so he seemes to have recovered from whatever trauma had affected him.  Here's hoping anyway!

14 comments:

  1. Its hard to know what to do in these cases. I wonder if it was concussion? Glad the its OK, no one likes to see animals suffer.

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  2. He must be quite tame as you were able to pick him up. I am glad that he seems to be ok now. x

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  3. It's not often anyone gets the chance to get near a squirrel. Poor little thing, I do hope he or she is OK x

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  4. I do like squirrels, although some people don't I am glad you do too!
    Glad he was ok.
    xxx

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  5. The squirrel was around with a horse chestnut in his mouth this morning, right as can be. Rosie commented; "Wish I had my camera, I could have said he had conkered the problem now!"

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  6. Found a squirrel in our pool earlier this year, just barely hanging on, Mac fished him out and left him on the deck, he slowly recovered, fluffed himself out and left.

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  7. Bet he just had a bit of a knock on the head. xxxx

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  8. Wow! He must have been concussed to let you pick him up. Sure the peanuts helped :)

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  9. How lucky to enjoy the poor little fella's company for a while!
    Your area must be a heavenly place if you can get squirrels wandering around gardens! Only scary rats overhere!
    xxx

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  10. It's amazing isn't it? The only difference between squirrels and rats is the tail (I've looked after and handled both in the past so I know) but most people wouldn't help a rat........

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  11. I sometimes watch them chasing each other round our trees, flinging themselves from one to another, and I've often wondered if they ever fall... Maybe yours did. I'm glad he/she recovered though!

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  12. Poor little squirrel. I'm glad you were able to give him a helping hand.
    Anne xx

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  13. Maybe he fell out of a tree? I've seen some strange squirrel antics, including one that used to come into our garden and dive onto the bird feeder from the wall...then discover that it couldn't get back...and the one that used to cling onto our window screens...they can be a pest at times, but I wouldn't wish them any harm.

    Marie x

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  14. 'Our' squirrel, or Nutter as we call him (for we're sure it's the same old chap, year in, year out) arrives every autumn just as the walnuts on our tree are ready to eat! We don't see him at any other time of the year, but mark my words, as soon as the nuts are there, so is he.
    Margaret P

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