Wee Patient with Glaucoma Undergoes Eye Surgery

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A wee squirrel with a severe case of glaucoma will have a chance at survival after Southfield veterinarians performed emergency surgery to remove the animal’s unhealthy eye.

Dr. Susette Aquino, a veterinarian at BluePearl Veterinary Partners who is board-certified in ophthalmology, was asked to perform the surgery on the then month-old squirrel, who had been dubbed Thelma after a client brought her and two other motherless baby squirrels to the Gasow Veterinary Hospital in Birmingham.

Veterinarian Dr. Laura Witherell, who practices at Gasow, knew she had two choices: try to raise the squirrels or humanely euthanize them, according to a news release

Witherell had never attempted a squirrel rescue before, but decided to give the babies a chance at life by feeding them puppy formula and housing them in a cage she called the “squirrel condo.”

One of the squirrels, died, but Thelma and her sister, Louise, survived.

But with a blind, inflamed and obviously painful right eye, Thelma had special problems that were beyond Witherell’s expertise. So she consulted Aquino, who has performed eye removal surgeries to improve the health of cats and dogs, but also a guinea pig and a rabbit.

“We don’t discriminate,” veterinarian Dr. Michael West, who assisted in the surgery, told Patch. “If someone comes in with a squirrel, we’re here to help.

“Glaucoma is a very painful condition,” he continued. “The eye was both painful and not serving any purpose in the squirrel’s vision.”

“It just looks like Thelma’s always winking.”

— Dr. Michael West, DVM

Despite Thelma’s size — she weighed just under a pound — the surgery itself was routine, West said.

The globe was removed, and the eye was closed, skin-to-skin so there’s no gap.

“It just looks like Thelma’s always winking,” West said.

The complicating factors were that feral animals can become highly stressed in captivity anesthetizing a small animal is a delicate matter.

“From a surgical standpoint, this was very common and the surgery was straightforward,” West said. “The biggest worry was anesthesia. On a small animal, that can be very tricky.”

But everything went smoothly.

“We were all very happy, ecstatic,” Aquino said in the statement.

The best part, Aquino said, was when Thelma sipped some formula after surgery — a sign she was on the mend.

West said no one has reacted negatively to the heroic efforts to save the rodent.

“In the circles we’re in, everyone was excited to see the squirrel get a second chance,” he said. “Everyone wants to touch it, and the colleagues we work with are very into it. We’ve received no negative feedback.”

Witherell said Thelma received expert care from Aquino and others at the Southfield specialty veterinary clinic. Thelma and Louise are about 11 weeks old now, and appear to be thriving. Witherell hopes to release them this spring near her parents’ home in rural Michigan.

“They’re wild animals, and I know it’s best for them to be out in the wild. I think they’ll be happier,” Witherell said.

But after working so hard to raise them, she acknowledged, “I might be a little sad to see them go.”

Dr. Susette Aquino, a veterinarian at BluePearl Veterinary Partners in Southfield, led a delicate surgery to remove a baby squirrel’s unhealthy eye. (Photos submitted)