Riverview Wildlife Report #2

Another squirrel story. Or rather, an adventure.
We've been monitoring one of our squirrels (I think we have four) because it was eating funny. Sitting on the table on our back deck, where we've been putting bird seed and peanuts out all winter, the squirrel would sometimes do some weird head-tossing.
I always thought it looked like it had a sunflower seed stuff between its teeth, but I also figured with the fingers it has, it could pull it out itself.

Last week, this squirrel seemed to be more in distress. I could actually get right up to it as it sat on the table. So I noticed that its thumbs, forearms and belly were completely bare. And I noticed that it did indeed have something wrong with its lower jaw.
That's when I realized it wasn't eating properly (and it was getting thinner). The fur was gone because of all the drooling it was doing.
I emailed the Cobequid Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre in Hilden, NS, to see if they'd take a look at our squirrel. I said as soon as I could catch it, we'd bring it down. They strongly advised using a trap, not catching it by hand, but I was able to. Gloved hands, of course. It was none too happy to be shoved into our makeshift cage: a plastic basket with a large shoebox lid taped down. We covered it with a pink towel and put it in the backseat of the truck for the hour trip down the highway.

Here's one of the photos I sent to try and explain what was going on with the squirrel:

This is what was lodged in the squirrel's lower teeth:

A gob of fur. It doesn't look like much but when you consider how small a squirrel's mouth is, and how small their teeth are... How it got there, and from where, is a mystery. Perhaps it came off its belly, but we'll never know.

Our little friend couldn't return home with us, however, because its lower teeth had grown so long, they needed to be trimmed, and there was no wildlife vet available on Good Friday.
This next photo doesn't show the teeth very well but they look like they are almost poking into his nostrils.

He will return to his familiar territory here. CWRC will call us when he's trimmed up, nourished and ready to be back in the yard. Getting fat on peanuts like all the other squirrels.

For more information on the Cobequid Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre (which once tried to save one of our osprey fledglings after it was attacked by an eagle), check out its website.

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UPDATE: Wednesday, April 24

Sadly, our little friend will not be coming home. Apparently, his lower teeth had grown into his nasal cavity and were too long to fix, he had no upper teeth, and his body was covered in a fungus (perhaps resulting in the hair loss on his belly). So the CWRC staff made the decision to euthanize him. His body is going to the vet college on Prince Edward Island for a necropsy; it seems that what was wrong with him was rather unusual and they want to learn more. So instead of suffering a long, painful death in the wild, our little friend passed away comfortably and will help science.