Neala came to me close to a year ago. She and her cage mates had been found in a yard and she was sporting a wound. The wound had gone untreated for several months after she was found but was in surprisingly good shape.



I began using Quickderm and almost immediately, I noticed a change for the better. Shortly after, I began alternating the Quickderm with emu oil and again, I saw marked improvement. However, in the last couple of months, the wound stopped progressing, even growing a bit again and now we're at a stand still. The tissue is healthy and does not seem to cause her any discomfort. She has remained with her cage mates, they groom her and keep it clean but have not caused the wound to become worse.

Today marks Day One in a series of six (6) laser therapy treatments to see if we can get things jump started again. We go back tomorrow, then we'll spread the rest of them out over the next week and a half.

I'll take pictures to chronicle our short little journey and post them with (hopefully) some good improvements

Wish us luck!

Day One:

I feel like the laser therapy will help tremendously!! I've used it on two particularly bad injuries on my horses and in both cases the healed very fast and very well - on otherwise harder to heal areas.

I'm anxious to see the results here. Poor Neala, she deserves to get well!

We do expect that it will work and we're hopeful that it will do so sooner rather than later for my sweet girl.

One thing to note should you need or have the desire to do this at any point - because the laser is a little warm and can apparently sometimes cause some minor irritation in smaller animals, my vet opted to put some lidocaine on the wound after the procedure. I didn't realize they were going to do this and would have asked that they not had I known prior to them doing it. I'm not sure if this is normal for most vets, but if so, you'll want to keep your glider apart from the others for several hours (6-8) because if the others groom the wound (and they most likely will), their tongues will become numb.

I'm glad to hear that Neala has someone like you to watch out for her. I'm not trying to make light of what she's going through, but I had to laugh at your last post when an image of a colony wandering around with their tongues hanging out popped into my head.

LOL! No worries...can't say the image hasn't run through my mind either.

She's a sweet girl and has been through a lot. But she was very fortunate that the person who found her in the yard was a very good person and took pretty darned good care of her until she came to me.

How many gliders were found in the yard? It is absolutely amazing that someone was able to catch them and save their little lives. That wound on poor neala looks awful. I'll keep the poor lil girl in my prayers. I'm glad she found a home that is able to help her and be so knowledgable.

There is 1 laser on the market that does not produce heat, it has been independantly studied and has been proven effective. It's the safest therapy laser because it doesn't produce any heat.

Lasers that produce heat have the potential to burn any size pet. I'm a huge supporter of laser therapy, but the right laser as well as the tech or DVM giving the treatment are very important.

To the OP, If the vet uses a laser that produces heat, please drill them about the training they've had on it. With properly trained staff you shouldn't have any worries, even with a laser that gets warm. But lasers are a trendy item for vets to buy right now, and a lot of companies are popping up to quickly sell them cheap, then don't properly train the veterinary staff on safe use.

I'm looking forward to seeing your results!

Thanks for your concern, Jana. My vet has been using laser therapy for a long time now with excellent results and I'm 100% confident in their practices and their abilities.



Connie - three of them were seen, but sadly, only two of the three were captured.

Neala's wound is actually not awful at all and is a relatively small wound (even at the beginning) than some. It's been healthy with no infections and it doesn't impede her movements at all. I'm a firm believer that unless cage mates have proven to cause issues with a wound, they should remain together, and they have, without issue.

Thank you for your prayers - she's such an awesome girl and I can't wait for her to be "whole" again.

I have personally seen Neala's wound a few times. It looks worse in those newer photos than it is. She doesn't seem to know or care that its there. It doesn't bother her at all.

I do hope the little french fry's wound gets better.

When Aimee told me about her Lazer Therapy session today, I'll admit the first thing I thought was "Why in the world would Aimee want her fur permanently removed?"

In my defense.. Mouse woke ME up and 4 this morning because HE couldn't sleep!!! Then 5 minutes later he was snoring and I was wired for sound... I can understand why some animals eat their young...

Hoping this works for her

Awesome! Have they said anything about hair growth? Might it come back? Thanks for sharing this journey, very interesting stuff!

The would has already healed up a good bit on its own and aside from a small line where it was opened, the fur has grown back. It's likely the rest of it, or most of it anyway, will grow back like the rest.

Neala had her second treatment yesterday and did great again. So far so good.

I'm so happy to hear that she is doing well with the therapy! I hope it works for her!

I hope this works so she can finally heal!

Neala's wound is looking great this evening. Will be going in tomorrow for her 3rd treatment but so far, her wound looks fantastic. Very, very healthy. I'm pleased. Will snap some pics tomorrow to post.

We're looking better today! Look how healthy it is! It has decreased in size already, too.

YAYYYYY!!!

That is amazing! Just how does the laser treatment facilitate the healing process?? Will it scab over, or just kind of magically heal? So happy for Neala and you all!

Mari - what happens during laser therapy is that it dilates the blood vessels. When they dilate, de-oxygenated blood is carried out and oxygenated blood is brought in. The "old" blood takes out the crud, and brings in new nutrients. In Neala's case, she doesn't seem to be in pain, but laser therapy also works on lymphatic vessels (the ones that cause inflammation) so when they dilate, it reduces swelling, thus relieving pain. Laser light also helps to stop the growth of bacteria. So it really works at a lot of different levels.

If a glider is alone or separated from cage mates when they have a wound, especially on their back, then yes, sometimes a scab will form. With Neala, that likely won't happen because she's got two cage mates who continue to groom her wound site, helping to keep it clean and one the things they will do is take off any of the scab material that might form. I also am continuing topical treatment while we do the therapy so the site is constantly kept moist. Her wound will just continue to get smaller and smaller until (hopefully), it just disappears.

That is awesome! How fortunate for Neala that she doesn't seem to be in pain, it sure looks painful. I can't believe she has had this so long, and the change that has taken place in such a short time! Hope she continues to do well, she has overcome so many adversities, she is a fighter!

That she has. Though by a lot of standards, Neala's wound is very small compared to many. It does not impede her movement, nor has it changed her behavior. We've been fortunate that there has been no infection or issues beyond it just being a pain to get rid of.

I'm so glad she is getting better but that sore still looks awful. Poor baby girl!!!

Oh my gosh, it doesn't look awful, it looks so good! It's healthy! She's awesome and is doing just fine.

That does look good! Fingers crossed for more improvements.

So far so good - Neala is doing great with her treatments and the tissue is looking fantastic! We've got two more treatments left next week and then we'll continue to watch and see what happens. I'm pleased with the results so far.

That's great to hear!