Help Sabrina the Squirrel Battle Chronic Infection
Donation protected
Sabrina is a very special rescued squirrel that has both endured and overcome so much in her first 2 years. It took me and a community of squirrel lovers around the world 20 days to rescue her, and I'm blessed to care for her everyday. She had severe malocclusion that required several surgeries after her rescue, but thankfully that issue has been mostly resolved (aside from needing weekly teeth trimmings). Still, she's in wonderful spirits with an extraordinary will to live. Despite her many issues, she finds ways to bring joy to people around the world and deserves to enjoy a long infection-free life.
After more than 10 veterinary appointments, 7 surgeries in the last 3 months, Sabrina's medical care to combat her chronic infection has reached the point where I can no longer afford this ongoing battle on my own and unfortunately need to ask for your help.
Every penny raised will go exclusively towards Sabrina's medical expenses, which include: anesthesia, surgical costs, medications, lab work, x-rays, a one-time tissue biopsy and one-time CT scan or MRI (still debating which method will work best for us as squirrels are much more complicated than cats/dogs). At some point, we also need to invest in a higher quality air purifier. I currently have a Germ Guardian upright air purifier and frankly we need something better due to Sabrina's destroyed nostril acting as a huge nasal vacuum that collects any and all bacteria. If we can maximize her air quality, it could prevent further infections later on.
We have a wonderful vet, perhaps the best squirrel surgeon in the country, going above and beyond to help my baby girl but we're aware that this is a marathon and not a sprint. Sabrina's necrosis has been subdued, but several bacteria stubbornly remain in her system (Enterococcus and Morganella Morgannii for the aerobics, Bacterioides for the anaerobics, and a still unidentified yeast/fungus). Dr. Emerson has explained in our vlogs on YouTube ( (https://www.youtube.com/seymourthesquirrel)https://www.youtube.com/seymourthesquirrel) that she has a thorough plan in place, but it requires incremental steps.
Once the yeast/fungus has been identified with a sensitive medicine, we can address that and the bacterias with soaks during her upcoming visits along with at-home oral and/or topical administrations. Our next visit will also involve addressing the infection in Sabrina's "good nostril" and will be much more than just a checkup. We anticipate the upcoming steps after that will involve sending tissue samples to the University of Florida for biopsy to determine if the infection is deep in Sabrina's tissue. Regardless of those results, we'll then need to decide on having either a CT scan or MRI performed to uncover any hidden pockets of infection. Dr.
Emerson is absolutely capable of debridement of the infection, but we need to know where it's hiding after exhausting our "Plan A" efforts (which we're close to reaching soon). I saved every penny I could for nearly all of 2018 (even electing not to fix our broken air conditioner during the Florida summer) and brought Sabrina to Dr. Emerson around the end of November in what I anticipated would be 2-3 appointments/procedures. I wasn't prepared for Sabrina's body to reveal not just necrosis in her bad nostril, numerous pockets of infection that required different surgical paths/incisions, culture results that revealed we're dealing with 2 of the more resistant bacteria possible and later on finding out there's an anaerobic bacteria & yeast as well.
On the surface, it may sound like each visit brings more bad news and this is a lost cause. What I've tried to explain to everyone in our videos is that the infection is in fact minimal right now, she's barely got any infection gunk in her nose compared to before and she's in better spirits now more than ever. We've encountered many hiccups, but our momentum has continually progressed and in my opinion we're very close to defeating Sabrina's infection(s). The last bit of the infection is the most difficult part to eliminate, and unfortunately also the most expensive as we need to find every possible area of infection no matter how small in order to reach our ultimate goal.
Please check out our Youtube channel for the surgery vlogs and various Sabrina-related updates regarding her issues, and thank you for your time.
Hugs, Sabrina, Serena, Seymour, and Brad
After more than 10 veterinary appointments, 7 surgeries in the last 3 months, Sabrina's medical care to combat her chronic infection has reached the point where I can no longer afford this ongoing battle on my own and unfortunately need to ask for your help.
Every penny raised will go exclusively towards Sabrina's medical expenses, which include: anesthesia, surgical costs, medications, lab work, x-rays, a one-time tissue biopsy and one-time CT scan or MRI (still debating which method will work best for us as squirrels are much more complicated than cats/dogs). At some point, we also need to invest in a higher quality air purifier. I currently have a Germ Guardian upright air purifier and frankly we need something better due to Sabrina's destroyed nostril acting as a huge nasal vacuum that collects any and all bacteria. If we can maximize her air quality, it could prevent further infections later on.
We have a wonderful vet, perhaps the best squirrel surgeon in the country, going above and beyond to help my baby girl but we're aware that this is a marathon and not a sprint. Sabrina's necrosis has been subdued, but several bacteria stubbornly remain in her system (Enterococcus and Morganella Morgannii for the aerobics, Bacterioides for the anaerobics, and a still unidentified yeast/fungus). Dr. Emerson has explained in our vlogs on YouTube ( (https://www.youtube.com/seymourthesquirrel)https://www.youtube.com/seymourthesquirrel) that she has a thorough plan in place, but it requires incremental steps.
Once the yeast/fungus has been identified with a sensitive medicine, we can address that and the bacterias with soaks during her upcoming visits along with at-home oral and/or topical administrations. Our next visit will also involve addressing the infection in Sabrina's "good nostril" and will be much more than just a checkup. We anticipate the upcoming steps after that will involve sending tissue samples to the University of Florida for biopsy to determine if the infection is deep in Sabrina's tissue. Regardless of those results, we'll then need to decide on having either a CT scan or MRI performed to uncover any hidden pockets of infection. Dr.
Emerson is absolutely capable of debridement of the infection, but we need to know where it's hiding after exhausting our "Plan A" efforts (which we're close to reaching soon). I saved every penny I could for nearly all of 2018 (even electing not to fix our broken air conditioner during the Florida summer) and brought Sabrina to Dr. Emerson around the end of November in what I anticipated would be 2-3 appointments/procedures. I wasn't prepared for Sabrina's body to reveal not just necrosis in her bad nostril, numerous pockets of infection that required different surgical paths/incisions, culture results that revealed we're dealing with 2 of the more resistant bacteria possible and later on finding out there's an anaerobic bacteria & yeast as well.
On the surface, it may sound like each visit brings more bad news and this is a lost cause. What I've tried to explain to everyone in our videos is that the infection is in fact minimal right now, she's barely got any infection gunk in her nose compared to before and she's in better spirits now more than ever. We've encountered many hiccups, but our momentum has continually progressed and in my opinion we're very close to defeating Sabrina's infection(s). The last bit of the infection is the most difficult part to eliminate, and unfortunately also the most expensive as we need to find every possible area of infection no matter how small in order to reach our ultimate goal.
Please check out our Youtube channel for the surgery vlogs and various Sabrina-related updates regarding her issues, and thank you for your time.
Hugs, Sabrina, Serena, Seymour, and Brad
Organizer
Bradley Gene
Organizer
Crystal River, FL