A squirrel (not a pet) with seizures?

[FeebysOwner]

I know that having squirrels in my backyard all the time, especially considering I feed them, means I am going to have to deal with a few deaths - and, I have. But this seems to have gone beyond that.

Yesterday, my husband came across a squirrel just laying out in the open, in the sun, and it didn't move even though my husband accidentally got very close to it. He came inside to tell me about, and then decided he would move the squirrel to behind our fence in a shaded area while I tried to find some wildlife rescue help. When he came back in, he said the squirrel was spasming, which I assumed to mean it was probably in the throes of death. But my husband said he didn't want to move it right at that moment for fear of more trauma to the squirrel. So, he waited a little bit, and then went back outside to check on it. The squirrel's eyes were then closed, and it was not moving at all. So, he moved it into a shady, protected area and said he felt the squirrel was dead. He even claimed it had gone into rigor mortis already - which I thought was probably too quick given the timeline. Nonetheless, he decided to wait to bury it until today.

Now, the squirrel is gone. My husband searched our entire backyard, through all the ground cover and bushes - and nothing. No 'parts', so to speak.

I don't think any other critters found it, and even if they did, there would likely be some 'signs/remnants' of that happening. I can't imagine poisoning, as no other squirrels in my yard are impacted, and I still would have expected it to die.

Really, a seizure?? I know anything is possible, but just curious what others think might have happened.

 

[fionasmom]

I feed wildlife as well and have had similar situations. Of course, I have never figured out what the conclusion was either unless I was sure that an animal was deceased, or injured but able to be transported or picked up by AC or a rescue.

All I can say is that I think that some of them do recover themselves if they suffered a minor injury and manage to move off to a new location. Just this week I had a hawk attack a pigeon and bring it down in my back yard. It escaped, stunned, with no tail feathers and hid on the ground next to a large planter with an over hanging plant. I went out a few hours later and it flew up in my face and into the garage where it perched on a beam. Doors open and a few hours later it was gone. I can attest to the fact that nothing got to it in there, so it clearly lived to at least exit my property.

 

[Cataria]

I used to volunteer at a wildlife rehabilitation center, and seizures wouldn't be impossible! We had a mink we couldn't release back into the wild because she had seizures and we had to medicate her for it. If I remember correctly think we may have had one or two squirrels as well with seizures, but they didn't make it, I don't think.

I saw the mink have seizures a few times and she came out of it pretty quickly (unlike what happened with your squirrel), but I don't know if that would be because it was a different type of seizure or if it was because she was medicated. Wouldn't rule a seizure out though.