thankgoodness some of u are close enuf to be helping her like this,you are all so nice to do that,keep up the awesome efforts and keep us posted! Cynthia
I am also available by phone-just got off work. 435.783.6097 Please let me know how he's doing!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/worried2.gif" alt="" /> Once the collar is on to where it will stay, it needs to be trimmed to 1/2" - 3/4" beyond the end of his nose, so that he can't get at himself. Because he is mutilating his tail, he'll need to be watched closely-frequently they can still get at the tail even with the collar, though it won't be nearly as easy for him. Or you can mark the length you want to cut with it on him, take it off and cut, and put it back on. If you cut the collar with it on him, be VERY careful not to cut any of his whiskers with it. (It will take 2 people). Here is a pic of Riker in his collar so you can see what it should look like(ATTACHMENT) Also-we found that duct tape works best to keep it on.
Last edited by Xfilefan; 07/31/0409:13 PM.
Jen/Colin Commander Riker 12 16 02-10 04 12 you will be FOREVER missed Sinbad, Gabby, Baby, and Alley
TMarie-so glad you were close enough to be able to offer assistance in person, and that he now has the collar on! Please keep us updated on poor Gizmo!! Sending lots of glider <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hug2.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hug2.gif" alt="" /> to him and his people. --Also, easiest way to feed is with the little plastic bird seed/water cups-$3 something (I think) at Wal mart for a pack of 2 (not very expensive, anyway). They break down into to pieces for easy cleaning, too.
Jen/Colin Commander Riker 12 16 02-10 04 12 you will be FOREVER missed Sinbad, Gabby, Baby, and Alley
Thanks for the update Tonia, I've had to work today but worried about this little guy all day. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wave.gif" alt="" />
TMarie thank you for all your help.. to all of you thank you for all your support.. we thought we were pretty knowledgeble with gliders until we met marie. i am leaning towards diet, but we won't know until we can get him to a vet. i have a appointment for tuesday, but if i can get him in there earler i will. the reason i am leaning towards diet is becuse we never feed him anything strictly for protein of calcium.. we have been using pellet's from brisky's that we thought was sufficiant enough. but marie filled us with info about brisky's methods. im just extremely thankfull that i found this site.. you all have helped out alot. i will keep you updated the best that i can..
stacey and jason
Re: our gliders chewing his tail off, please help!
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#24237 08/01/0407:31 AM08/01/0407:31 AM
I am sure glad you came here for help before more damage was done. Way to go Tonia!
Be sure and watch for any color change in his tail. If it starts to turn dark it will probably have to be amputated. Depends on how deep the mutilation is. Since you have found this site you will learn that about 90% of the health problems with gliders is from improper diets. Of course there are other health issues also, but proper diet is critical to a gliders good health. Charlie H
no need to thank me... i give a big thanks to them for trying to find more information when what their vet said didn't work and being open to new ideas on diet....
I am leaning towards diet or possibly the female attacked him that's in the cage with him.. but that is just a thought.
Re: our gliders chewing his tail off, please help!
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#24239 08/02/0410:36 AM08/02/0410:36 AM
well everyone, i have a update for you guys. I took gizmo to tmarie's vet today. she did some test, and found out that is not any parasites. we were so happy when she told us that was not the problem. the bad news is that gizmo is pretty under weight. he only weighs 60 grams, a male his age should weigh 110 grams. She said that we need to ditch the brisky pet food (just like tmarie said). She gave us Neocalglucon for calcium, we are gunna start giving that to all our gliders (we have 3). we also need to start getting them more protein. As for the tail, she said that although it looks nasty to look at, there was no real damage. he has chewed it down to the mucle, but there is no bone exposed, and he did not damage any arteries. to help heal the tail she gave us tritop (it's a ointment to put on his tail). and for the pain that the little guy is in she gave us torbugesic. She said it's gunna take about a month for it to completly heal, but it should heal without any problems. He still hates the e-coller, but he is getting used to it. He is still extremly active, he's so active in fact, that i need to make him a new e-coller. he cracked the one he's wearing from running into the cage walls:) tmarie you were absulutly correct, dr seman is a extremly nice, and knowledgeble vet. she tought us alot today. thank you again for all your help. and just so you know my wife won't stop talking about your gliders, she want's to come see them so bad.. I just keep telling her "Your not buying any more". lol
to everyone. thank you all for you support, and i will keep you all updated as to gizmo's progress..
jason & stacey schrecengost
Re: our gliders chewing his tail off, please help!
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#24241 08/03/0401:34 AM08/03/0401:34 AM
Hmm she's never mentioned the neocalglucon to me before... is it a liquid calcium supplement... I might have to hit her up for some of that.
I'm so glad ou went to see her. She is by far the sweetest and most knowledgable vet around here for exotics (she said she'd even treat a lesser bushbaby if i had one) and she will always do her best to squeeze you in and to call you back if you leave a message... she's great.
Did she want you to monitor what you feed him and keep track of the weight gain of him and all your gliders for that matter? I'm doing that with another pair of mine right now and going back in another two months to talk with her about how it is going.
hehe you should tell her those little blonde babies are oop and they are adorable. They have officially detached. You are more than welcome to stop by tho, especially if you wanted to try any of that insectivore fare out or see what I feed my crew. Keep in touch and keep me updated. Thanks.
I was of at the SGGA and every time we tried to get on the puter it would cut out. I'm glad T (TMarie) was there for you. I have been dealing with a SM'er myself so I know how much you are going through. I was a lucky one Teddy never did get the chance to do damage. If for nothing else you can PM for a shoulder to cry on. It does get tough and emotional.
hay everyone, thought i whould give everyone another update. unfortunelty it's not news that i wanted to update everyone with.
After another visit to doctor seman, she decided it whould be in gize's best intrest if his tail was aputated. She went ahead and aputated it a little more than half way. A few weeks went by and gizmo was looking great. He was gaining waight, alot of waight. and was happier than he had been in a while.
Then it happened. Gizmo took a major turn for the worst. He got ahould of his tail again, but this time he chewed it almoast completly off. He also developed a nice sized lump right by his penis. He could berely open his eyes. he looked terrible. This all happend in one night. That same day we started making some phone calls.
We talked to my wife's mom, and decided that it whould be best for him if he went ahead and drove him out to the vet that she worked for in napels florida. The vet is extreamly experienced with gliders, and other exotics for that matter. He worked at the zoo, in the exotics department before opening his on practice.
Her mom rushed out here (ohio), to get him back so that he could start getting the care that he needed. He arrived in florida at the new vet on sunday (10/24). At first glance the vet didin't think the tail was really that bad, he did alot of damage, but felt that he whould be fine. But he was very concerned about the lump that was on his underbelly. So he started doing some test. He discovered that the lump was actually a tumor. They immedietly drained most of the fluid out of the tumor and sent it out to have the lab test it to see if it was cancerous. This was on tuesday (10/26). the results were due to come in on thursday (10/28).
Last night while in the hands of my wife's mom, Gizmo gave up the fight. As he squeezed his little hand into a fist, he took his last breath and passed away. her mom immeditly tried to give him cpr, but it was to late, giz had no more fight in him.
The next day (10/28), a furious mother inlaw, went back to the vet, demanding answers. She felt it had something to do with when the removed the fluid's from the tumor. She demanded to have a optopsy done on him.
The results from the optopsy were starteling. Gizmo was suffering from bone cancer. My wife's mom said that every bone in his body had little pin holes all though them. The vet says that this is something that he has had since birth, by how bad it was. The tumor results also came back, and the tumor was not cancerous. Which we did not understand at all. the way the vet explained it to us is that gize's digestive system was just shuting down, and he was not able to digest his food. that is why the tumor developed. Finding out that he had bone cancer explained why he was chewing on his tail. He was trying to bite off the areas that were hurting him.
Everyone at the vet's office was devistated by the news, not to mention my wife, who is taken the news extremly hard. She feels like it is her fault, cuss if she whould have knew that he had this problem, she whould have put him down so he whouldn't have had to suffer so much. She's taken it so hard in fact that she is even talking about getting rid of our other gliders, becuse she dosen't want to go through this again. We were talking about getting another glider eventually, and now she's saying there is no way.
The vet that was taking care of him was also very upset by the hole situation. He decided not to charge us for any of the care, and even had him cremated for us, and is having the remain's shiped back to us. All I can say is that he is one stand up guy.
In closing i whould like to say this. I feel that some good has actaully came out of giz's death. There are alot of glider owners out there that are also dealing with gliders that self mutalate. with the info that I was able to provide, alot of people with gliders that mutalate will be able to have there gliders checked out to make shure there's do not suffer from the same condition. Everyone that I have asked about self mutaltion, has always said the same thing, "knowone really knows the reason that gliders mutalate". well maybe this is the reason that they do.
Thanks to everyone that supported us through this ordeal, and expecially to Tmarie for all your help.
"in all my years of practice i have never had a nicer glider in my care"
omg this is bringing tears to my eyes.. I am so sorry that this wasn't discovered sooner... I am so sorry. If you need anything at all please let me know. I am here for you and your gliders. I just feel awful about this. You are in my thoughts and prayers and just know that Giz is waiting for you at the rainbow bridge.
I am so sorry for your loss of Gizmo <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/heartpump.gif" alt="" />. He fought hard, and I just know he knew how much you all tried and loved him. Thank you for the update too, how shocking and sad. By posting this though, we may just be able to learn in the future the why's of self-mutilation.
Rest in peace lil Giz <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frostyangel.gif" alt="" />. Karin
Miss Lily and Bud Prada and Armani Tessa, Deuce and Cami
I'm so sorry! Tell your wife that though she feels horible about what happened, she shouldn't feel that it is in any way her fault! You two obviously did everything in your power to get him the best care possible! I mean you had him taken all the way to Florida from Ohio to see a specialist! This is how I felt when I lost my first dog, I cried every time I looked at the one that was still alive. Time truely does bring healing, and though it's been almost 6 years since Killian died, I still cry from time to time when I think of him. Sometimes, it's just their time to go. And, now more than ever, I'm sure you and your wife need your other gliders.
Re: our gliders chewing his tail off, please help!
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#24248 10/29/0409:21 AM10/29/0409:21 AM
I'm so sorry to here that you lost Gizmo. You and your wife are in my prayers/ <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/heartpump.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hug2.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hug2.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/heartpump.gif" alt="" />
Re: our gliders chewing his tail off, please help!
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#24250 10/30/0403:23 AM10/30/0403:23 AM
My wife although still taken it very hard, is finally coming around. She has realized that there is no reason to give up on our other gliders. It has actually made her much closer to the both of them.
Tmarie thanks for all of your support, you don't know how much it's appreciated.