Posted By: Anonymous
Why we quarantine... (sorry, long.) - 10/11/06 10:53 PM
A little background for those who don't know my story:
I picked up Piper from Alicia on Sept. 22 planning to have her be a cagemate for Peepers. Peeper's cagemate Jeepers, had died in August.
Shortly after Jeepers died (2 days) Peepers came down with her 3rd bout of trichomonad infection. Trichs are a parasite that cause diarrhea, loss of appetite, and sometimes (as in Peep's case) vomiting and general lack of activity. I treated Peepers with metronidazole for 3 solid weeks and have been "religious" about keeping her cage sanitary during and since the treatment. I had a fecal run on Peepers a couple of weeks or so before I got Piper (this was a couple of weeks after I finished her metro) and it was clean. We're good, right?
So on the 22nd I picked up Piper. I had decided to follow the 1 month quarantine period before introducing them even though I'd had at least one clean fecal on Peeps and I knew Alicia takes very good care of her gliders so it wasn't like I was getting her from a pet store or a breeder whom I couldn't trust. The Friday after I got Piper, like a good glider owner, I took her in for a well check including fecal and while I was there, I had them run another fecal on Peepers. Both checked out fine. Super! Peeps is still clean and Piper's nice and healthy, just as I expected.
Fast forward to last Sunday night. Syd is complaining (good naturedly) that Piper always manages to poop on her when she plays. I look at the poop and think maybe it looks a little soft, but it's hard to tell because it's smashed. I also think about the fact that Piper hadn't been cleaning her plate the past couple of nights, but then again it was a full moon and she seemed fine otherwise. The next night we get a fully formed but still a little soft poop. Still not eating great, but she was eating all of her PML, just not the fruits and veggies. She'd still take licky treats like yogurt and even mealies. Last night I checked her poop and it was definitely soft, but holds its shape. Not liquid but not firm either. I'm getting the feeling that this is starting to seem familiar, but am I just being paranoid since I just went through several bouts of trichs and losing Jeepers?
So last night I thought that I'd make an especially tempting dinner for her and if she didn't eat well, I'd take her in. She ate all her PML, most of her pears and very little of her avocado (but I think she's one of those rare gliders who isn't crazy about avocado). I almost decided to watch her one more day (hubby's getting grumpy about the over $700 I've spent on glider vet bills in the past few months) but I came home at lunch and got her out to weigh her and she gave me a nice stool sample (fully formed but still soft) and I just had time to get it to the vet's before I had to pick up the kids. Okay, I'll run it across town and get them to run a fecal direct and float.
I get a call a little while later and what do they say? Piper has trichs!!!!!!!!! AAAARRRRRRGGGGHHHH! Here I thought I was doing everything right, and she still got them! At least I'm glad I haven't put her together with Peepers, but I had been switching pouches. I thought if I kept them in separate cages, across the room from each other and didn't mix food dishes or water bottles or let either of them be exposed directly to each other or to each other's poops, we'd be okay. I didn't even really believe the quarantine period was necessary since they both appeared to be so healthy. I was just kinda going through the motions because that's what everyone says to do (although it's not necessarily what everyone does do) and the vet still recommended doing it even as he was looking at their fecals and saying they were clean. You just never know.
So far Peepers is showing no signs of being infected herself, but if she's not, where did Piper get the trichs? I'm starting to suspect my water supply. Both of their cages have been disinfected with 10% bleach water as recommended by the vet more times than I can count. Almost every morning I wipe the cages down with Clorox wipes. I just don't know what else I can do!
The moral of the story: Well, actually there's two morals. 1.) Follow quarantine procedures and get well checks on all new gliders no matter how wonderful the person is that you got them from and 2.) If your gut tells you something is wrong, go with it. The signs this time were so subtle and I was really doubting myself, but last night I lost a lot of sleep worrying, so I just took the fecal in for my own peace of mind. I'm so glad I did because now I can get her started on treatment and not end up (I hope) with a really sick glider in the middle of the night on a Friday when no vets are open. Hubby may grumble about a $35 fecal test, but it's a lot better than a $100 midnight run to the e-vet!
I picked up Piper from Alicia on Sept. 22 planning to have her be a cagemate for Peepers. Peeper's cagemate Jeepers, had died in August.
Shortly after Jeepers died (2 days) Peepers came down with her 3rd bout of trichomonad infection. Trichs are a parasite that cause diarrhea, loss of appetite, and sometimes (as in Peep's case) vomiting and general lack of activity. I treated Peepers with metronidazole for 3 solid weeks and have been "religious" about keeping her cage sanitary during and since the treatment. I had a fecal run on Peepers a couple of weeks or so before I got Piper (this was a couple of weeks after I finished her metro) and it was clean. We're good, right?
So on the 22nd I picked up Piper. I had decided to follow the 1 month quarantine period before introducing them even though I'd had at least one clean fecal on Peeps and I knew Alicia takes very good care of her gliders so it wasn't like I was getting her from a pet store or a breeder whom I couldn't trust. The Friday after I got Piper, like a good glider owner, I took her in for a well check including fecal and while I was there, I had them run another fecal on Peepers. Both checked out fine. Super! Peeps is still clean and Piper's nice and healthy, just as I expected.
Fast forward to last Sunday night. Syd is complaining (good naturedly) that Piper always manages to poop on her when she plays. I look at the poop and think maybe it looks a little soft, but it's hard to tell because it's smashed. I also think about the fact that Piper hadn't been cleaning her plate the past couple of nights, but then again it was a full moon and she seemed fine otherwise. The next night we get a fully formed but still a little soft poop. Still not eating great, but she was eating all of her PML, just not the fruits and veggies. She'd still take licky treats like yogurt and even mealies. Last night I checked her poop and it was definitely soft, but holds its shape. Not liquid but not firm either. I'm getting the feeling that this is starting to seem familiar, but am I just being paranoid since I just went through several bouts of trichs and losing Jeepers?
So last night I thought that I'd make an especially tempting dinner for her and if she didn't eat well, I'd take her in. She ate all her PML, most of her pears and very little of her avocado (but I think she's one of those rare gliders who isn't crazy about avocado). I almost decided to watch her one more day (hubby's getting grumpy about the over $700 I've spent on glider vet bills in the past few months) but I came home at lunch and got her out to weigh her and she gave me a nice stool sample (fully formed but still soft) and I just had time to get it to the vet's before I had to pick up the kids. Okay, I'll run it across town and get them to run a fecal direct and float.
I get a call a little while later and what do they say? Piper has trichs!!!!!!!!! AAAARRRRRRGGGGHHHH! Here I thought I was doing everything right, and she still got them! At least I'm glad I haven't put her together with Peepers, but I had been switching pouches. I thought if I kept them in separate cages, across the room from each other and didn't mix food dishes or water bottles or let either of them be exposed directly to each other or to each other's poops, we'd be okay. I didn't even really believe the quarantine period was necessary since they both appeared to be so healthy. I was just kinda going through the motions because that's what everyone says to do (although it's not necessarily what everyone does do) and the vet still recommended doing it even as he was looking at their fecals and saying they were clean. You just never know.
So far Peepers is showing no signs of being infected herself, but if she's not, where did Piper get the trichs? I'm starting to suspect my water supply. Both of their cages have been disinfected with 10% bleach water as recommended by the vet more times than I can count. Almost every morning I wipe the cages down with Clorox wipes. I just don't know what else I can do!
The moral of the story: Well, actually there's two morals. 1.) Follow quarantine procedures and get well checks on all new gliders no matter how wonderful the person is that you got them from and 2.) If your gut tells you something is wrong, go with it. The signs this time were so subtle and I was really doubting myself, but last night I lost a lot of sleep worrying, so I just took the fecal in for my own peace of mind. I'm so glad I did because now I can get her started on treatment and not end up (I hope) with a really sick glider in the middle of the night on a Friday when no vets are open. Hubby may grumble about a $35 fecal test, but it's a lot better than a $100 midnight run to the e-vet!