Can squirrels hurt my dog? Here’s the Answer

My Dog Killed a Squirrel and the Squirrel Bit Him!

Squirrels have strong, sharp front teeth designed to crack tree nuts. If a squirrel bites your dog and breaks the skin, clean the wound thoroughly with an antiseptic solution to prevent infection from setting in. Apply antimicrobial ointment to the wound several times a day until the wound develops a scab. Keep an eye on the bite for signs of infection such as redness, swelling, and failure to heal properly. A veterinarian should treat deep, puncture-like squirrel bites. The wound may need a stitch or two if it is deep enough. Puncture wounds also require more intensive cleaning than surface wounds.

In most cases of a squirrel biting a dog, the squirrel often sinks its teeth in a dog’s nose or lip. When the bite is on a furry part of the dog, you should remove the fur around the wound with a small pair of scissors. Cut the coat down to the skin as close as possible to make it easier to clean the wound and keep it clean.

My Dog Killed a Squirrel! Why Do Dogs Kill Squirrels and Sometimes Eat Them?

Millions of years ago, your dog’s ancestors werewolf-like carnivores prowling their territories at night, searching for warm-blood animals to kill and eat. Although your Labrador or Border Collie may greet everybody with tail wags, licks, and excited whines, they still carry a strong instinct to hunt, kill and eat small animals. Some dog breeds “hunt” more aggressively than other dog breeds, especially terriers, hounds, and spitzes.

Don’t be alarmed if you catch your well-fed dog catching and eating a squirrel. It’s got nothing to do with what you feed your dog. It’s just in their nature!

The Odds of a Squirrel Killing A Dog

One squirrel vs one dog, and we know what the likely outcome of this fight would be. Dogs have a size advantage and can be as fast as their counterpart. Although squirrels compensate with technique, if the dog can catch it, then the fight is over. But what are the chances of the dog getting all the disadvantages in a fight?

According to a BBC report in 2005, a dog in a Russian park was killed by a pack of squirrels. This happened because the stray dog started barking at the squirrels. The pack killed the dog and ran away with chunks of dog flesh. There is no footage of the said attack, so we don’t really know if squirrels are capable of this. All kidding aside, can a dog get sick by successfully killing a squirrel?

My Dog Ate A Squirrel | DogVela

Dogs dream of capturing and consuming squirrels. At least, our dogs do. Left to their own devices, they stand on their hind legs and bark up trees, utterly incensed that these little rodents can scale great heights and they, the dogs, cannot.

But dogs rarely catch squirrels, so the question, if my dog killed a squirrel, should I be worried, isn’t one we ask often.

Sometimes, though, a dog finds an already dead squirrel. Maybe a fox got it first, or a car hit it. If you aren’t fast enough, your dog might be nose-deep in squirrel innards, which naturally begs the question, should you be worried?

This is the primary concern for many people who realize, to their horror, that their dog killed a squirrel.

If my dog kills a squirrel, should I be worried? If you’re asking this question, the answer is no. Not only are squirrels too small to survive with rabies. This is true of most small rodents, including:

This makes sense when you think about it because if animals this small could spread rabies, the country would be overrun with cats whose hunting instinct caused them to contract the disease.

Instead, if a squirrel receives a rabid bite, the infection kills it before it has time to infect anyone else.