Last Monday, Mark found our sweet squirrel Woody splayed on a tree branch at 7 am. He quickly got a ladder and retrieved the wee guy.
When I woke up half an hour later Mark had already discovered what had transpired. His game camera showed the neighborhood feral cat at 5 in the morning stalking Woody. Ten minutes later the camera showed a blurry photo of it going up the tree. Woody’s nest was askew. The chase went on in the dark for 45 minutes. We can only guess that Woody escaped the cat but fell from a higher branch.
Mark had Woody in a small cage in the garage. He had paralyzed back legs and tail. Woody was calm and took a little water and tried to eat a peanut. I began calling veterinary offices and found Dr. Budd in Tavares. As the hours progressed Woody was twitching his tail a bit and had a some movement in his toes. Both of us were hopeful he’d recover.
At 4 o’clock we had Woody in for exrays. Sadly, the spinal injury was pretty severe and he had a full bladder. I asked about the possibility of surgery … but he was too small. It was a teary 🥹 farewell to the sweetest little guy as he was euthanized. It’s taken us several days to weed through our emotions of what ifs and regrets. In the end, we did the best we knew for a baby eastern gray squirrel. He’s buried under our big oak tree.
Rest in peace little Woody.
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