What to Do If You Find an Injured Squirrel

• Give A Shit About Nature
• April 14, 2026
• Wildlife
• 0 Comments

Finding a squirrel on the ground that can’t seem to get away is the kind of thing that makes you want to do something immediately. The squirrel looks vulnerable, you feel responsible, and every instinct says to help.

The right response depends entirely on what’s actually happening with that squirrel — and the first step is almost always to slow down and assess rather than reach for it.

Is the squirrel actually injured?

Not every squirrel on the ground needs help. Squirrels spend a lot of time at ground level foraging, and juveniles in particular can look lost or helpless when they’re perfectly fine.

A squirrel that needs intervention will show one or more of these signs:

• It has an obvious wound — bleeding, an injured or dragging limb, a visible laceration, or a wound to the head or eye.
• It’s been in the mouth of a cat or dog. This is an emergency regardless of whether wounds are visible — more on this in a moment.
• It’s a baby without fur, or with very sparse fur and closed eyes, and it’s on the ground with no nest visible nearby.
• It’s a juvenile that’s fully furred but small, with a thin or flat tail (not yet the full brush shape), and it’s not running away from you, seems lethargic, or has been in the same spot for hours.
• It’s circling, tilting its head severely, or showing neurological signs like seizures.

A squirrel that’s fully furred, has a full fluffy tail, and can run and climb with normal speed does not need intervention. If you can run toward it and it escapes up a tree, it’s fine. The squirrels you should be concerned about are the ones you can approach and pick up without them fleeing — because that’s not normal behavior.

Related: What to Do If You Find a Baby Bird on the Ground

The cat or dog emergency

If a cat or dog has had the squirrel in its mouth, treat it as a medical emergency requiring same-day veterinary care.

Cats carry Pasteurella multocida and other bacteria in their saliva. In small mammals, this bacteria can enter the bloodstream through wounds so small they’re invisible to the naked eye — including tiny scratches and punctures that leave no visible mark on fur. Once in the system, it moves fast. According to wildlife rehabilitators, the window for effective antibiotic treatment is roughly 12 to 24 hours. After that, the animal will typically die from systemic infection even if it looks fine on the outside.

Do not look the squirrel over, decide it seems okay, and release it. A squirrel that has been mouthed by a cat and appears uninjured is in serious danger.

Dogs carry similar bacteria, and even a brief bite or grip can cause crushing internal injuries that aren’t externally visible.

Contact a wildlife rehabilitator immediately. While you’re arranging transport, follow the containment steps below.

Baby squirrels: try reuniting first

If the squirrel is a hairless or sparsely-furred baby, the best outcome almost always involves its mother rather than a wildlife rehabilitator — if that option is available.

Mother squirrels will retrieve fallen babies if given the opportunity. She won’t come near while you’re standing there, and she won’t come near if the baby is cold, so there are two things to do first:

Warm the baby. A hairless squirrel that isn’t warm won’t survive and the mother won’t take a cold baby. Place the squirrel on a thin cloth over a heating pad set to low, or on a warm water bottle wrapped in a cloth — so the heat is gentle and indirect. A shoebox with a cloth lining works well as a container.

Give the mother a chance. Place the warm baby near the base of the tree where the nest is, or as close as you can get to where it was found. Leave the area entirely. Come back in a few hours. If the mother has found it, it will be gone.

If no mother comes after two to four hours, or if it’s getting dark, the baby needs a rehabilitator. At that point, keep it warm and contained and find help.

One practical note: if you can locate the nest — a large ball of leaves and twigs high in a tree — and safely place the baby back in or very near it, that’s worth trying before ground placement. Don’t climb the tree yourself. If the nest is within a few feet of the ground, gently place the baby there.

When NOT to attempt a reunion

There are situations where skipping reunion and going directly to a rehabilitator is the right call:

• The mother is confirmed dead nearby.
• The nest has been destroyed and cannot be reconstructed.
• A cat or dog attack has occurred.
• The baby has fly eggs on it — small white clusters that look like grains of rice. These are a sign of fly strike and the baby needs immediate professional care.
• The baby is covered in ants, has maggots, or appears severely dehydrated with wrinkled, loose skin.

Related: Baby Rabbits Don’t Need Rescuing as Often as You Think

Containing an injured squirrel

Whether you’ve found an injured adult or a baby that needs a rehabilitator, the basic containment process is the same.

Put on gloves if you have them. Even small squirrels have sharp teeth and can bite hard when frightened. Work gloves, leather gloves, or a folded cloth provide enough protection for most handling situations. Do not use bare hands.

Place a cloth or small towel over the squirrel to reduce visual stimulation, then gently gather it up and place it in a box. A shoebox or cardboard box with a lid and a few small air holes works well. Line the bottom with a cloth that doesn’t have loops or long fibers that can catch toes and claws — a smooth cotton t-shirt is better than a terry towel.

Close the box. Keep it in a quiet, dark location. This is important: darkness and quiet reduce stress significantly, and stress is a real cause of death in wild animals. Avoid checking on it repeatedly, having children handle it, or letting pets near it.

If the squirrel is cold, place a warm water bottle or heating pad under one side of the box so the animal can move toward or away from warmth. Not too hot — it should feel comfortably warm, not hot, against your hand.

Do not feed it

This instruction appears in every wildlife rehabilitator guide for good reason: feeding an injured or orphaned squirrel before a professional assesses it can kill it.

A severely dehydrated animal’s body will pull fluids from its system to process food, worsening the dehydration. Baby squirrels require specific formula — not cow’s milk, not human infant formula, not goat’s milk. Feeding any of these can cause fatal diarrhea.

Attempting to give water using a dropper or syringe to a baby squirrel risks aspiration — liquid entering the lungs — which causes aspiration pneumonia. This is difficult to treat and often fatal.

The safest position is: warmth, darkness, quiet, and no food or water until you speak to a rehabilitator.

Finding a wildlife rehabilitator

In the United States, the National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association directory lets you search by zip code. The Wildlife Rehabilitation Information Directory is another reliable resource. Your state wildlife agency’s website will also typically have a list of licensed rehabilitators.

If you can’t immediately reach a rehabilitator, try:

Your local humane society or animal shelter — they often have wildlife contacts even if they don’t take wildlife themselves.

An emergency animal hospital — they may be able to treat the squirrel or direct you to someone who can.

Your state’s fish and wildlife agency — most have an information line and can connect you with local resources.

When you make contact, describe the squirrel’s size, whether it appears furred or unfurred, what you observed (how it was found, any visible injuries, whether a cat or dog was involved), and how long you’ve had it. This helps the rehabilitator prioritize and advise you on transport.

Transporting to a rehabilitator

Keep the box closed and stable during transport. Don’t check on the squirrel or let it be handled during the journey — the additional stress of movement, sound, and light is already significant.

Keep the car quiet. Loud music, sudden stops, and conversation in the car are all stressful to a small animal in a closed box.

Don’t leave the animal in a hot car. Heat builds rapidly in parked cars and small animals overheat quickly.

If the trip will be more than an hour, the main concern is warmth for babies and hydration for adults. Don’t attempt either on your own without guidance from the rehabilitator — just call ahead and ask.

A note on keeping squirrels

Keeping a wild squirrel — even a baby — is illegal in most of the United States and Canada without a wildlife rehabilitation permit. This isn’t bureaucratic formality. Wildlife kept by untrained people rarely survive to adulthood in good health, and even those that do often can’t be released successfully because they’ve imprinted on humans and lack survival skills.

The outcomes for squirrels that go through proper rehabilitation are significantly better than those hand-raised at home. A licensed rehabilitator has the right formula, the right weaning foods, the socialization protocols that keep squirrels appropriately wild, and the experience to recognize health problems early.

If the situation is genuine — the squirrel truly needs help — the most caring thing you can do is get it to someone qualified to give it what it needs.

Frequently asked questions

A squirrel keeps approaching me and following me around. Is it sick? Not necessarily sick, but almost certainly orphaned. Juvenile squirrels that have lost their mother will approach humans out of hunger and desperation — it’s a last-resort behavior, not tameness. Contact a rehabilitator. The squirrel needs feeding and care it can only get professionally.

There’s a squirrel lying on its side and it’s barely moving. What do I do? This is a serious sign. It may be severely injured, in shock, hypothermic, or suffering from a neurological injury. Contain it carefully, keep it warm, and contact a rehabilitator immediately. Don’t try to force food or water. This situation is unlikely to resolve on its own.

I found a squirrel with a broken leg. Can it be treated? Yes, fractures in squirrels can sometimes be treated successfully, particularly in juveniles whose bones heal quickly. Get it to a rehabilitator as soon as possible — the sooner treatment begins, the better the outcome. Don’t splint it yourself.

What if I’ve already fed it? Tell the rehabilitator exactly what you fed it and how much, and when. This information helps them assess and treat the animal. Don’t withhold it out of embarrassment — it directly affects the animal’s care.

Do squirrels carry rabies? Rabies is extremely rare in rodents including squirrels. The CDC notes that small rodents like squirrels almost never have rabies and have not been known to transmit it to humans in the United States. That said, any wild mammal can theoretically carry it, and a squirrel bite should still be washed thoroughly and assessed by a doctor if it breaks the skin.

Is it okay to release the squirrel myself once it seems better? Only if the issue was minor — a squirrel that was clearly stunned and recovers quickly with no other signs of injury may be fine to release near where it was found. For anything involving a cat or dog attack, obvious injury, a baby, or any situation where a rehabilitator was involved, the release decision should go through the rehabilitator. Premature release of an animal that isn’t fully recovered typically results in a slower death rather than a successful return to the wild.