His eye looks normal today. So, either the antibiotics are doing their job or we irritated it yesterday giving meds. It isn't wet anymore, and it looks completely normal.

Today was a neutral day. He liked the chicken pecan honey mix I made him. But hasn't eaten much. We shall see what he eats tonight. He does seem to get up and do some eating at night. The eye looks the same, no watering, no oozing, but you can see a little bit of the white on it. Like maybe the lid isn't opening all the way. But it has gotten better. I will call the vet tomorrow and ask about it. The antibiotics seem to be starting to work, so maybe if we keep them up and we can get him to eat we can get him through this.

Just reading this post over, and my heart just aches for the both of you! I would imagine if they debrided (cleaned) the dead skin, it is beginning to heal and he feels itchy there. Probably not an option, but has anyone suggested an e-collar (although I imagine that would add more stress, definitly not good.) Prayers going out. Please keep us posted.

Mary, thank you! The wound on his chest extends almost all the way to his chin, so an e-collar really isn't an option, but we are okay, as he hasn't messed with it since we scraped all that dead skin off. Right now he is just miserable because the only thing he is getting from me is force fed meds. At least that is all he see's. We are going to try something new tonight.
Once again, I really appreciate all of the thoughts and prayers.

Shawna, I'm glad Coop is improving. How are you feeling? Do you still think you have staph? Still have both of you in my prayers.

I do think that I am at least colonized. And if I can get an hour away from work, I'll go to the doctor and get the antibiotics for me. I do have the stuff that goes in your nose to help prevent the infection, and everyone here is taking it. I am feeling fine, though, thanks!
Oh, and we tried a new thing tonight with meds. I gave Coopie a yogie before and after his meds. I don't know if it helped or not, but he didn't crab as much. He still is eating very, very little. So, I'm going to try some hand feeding in a few minutes.

Cooper...is...in...his wheel!!!! WooHoo! Okay, he only ran about 2 laps, but he is still in it. And, and, guess what else? I found something he likes (other than pumkin, his poo's are runny enough), rice pudding! I got it in the dairy case at the grocery store and it has all natural ingredients. He sat and ate for 3 or 4 minutes earlier. Which is the longest I've seen him eat at one time since before this started. Oh, the relief, oh, the joy! It may not last, I know that, but...
? about the rice pudding, there is milk in it. How much is this going to hurt him? Remember, we are talking about a glider that hasn't eaten very much at all in like 12 days, so if it's a no-no for fat reasons, then who cares, but if it's going to make him sick, I have some other pudding to try.

Shawna, try adding a few flakes a day of regular dry oatmeal spread out thru the day, couple in the morning, couple in the evening-dip it in the rice pudding if you need to, lol. It should help absorb the excess water in there.

On that note tho, how about trying some cooked instant oatmeal with him (prepared per directions)? (You don't want to offer that dry, but cooked is different and negates the risk of absorbing too quick) Not much cooked, maybe half a teaspoon, but if he likes it it can help with the fiber/diarrhea issue...something like maple/brown sugar or peaches and cream flavor. I've let Riker have a finger of mine a few times and no bad reaction, so it shouldn't block him with it cooked and you could probably offer that a few times a day if he likes it without the worry dry has, but may help slow the passage thru the intestines for other things he eats. Cooked isn't as quick reacting (because it's already absorbed some moisture from cooking it) but it will provide fiber and possibly help. Just make sure it's cooled off before letting him have some.

Well if brat boy will let me know what flavor he likes today, I will try one of those. I just made him some rice cereal with his "favorite" pumpkin, and he doesn't like it. GRRRRRRR.....

Forgot, got a message from the vet. He said that Coops behavior is good news. He wants Coop to stay on the antibiotics for at least a week after he comes back clear of staph. So he will be on the meds for a while, yet.

They are all oral. And with as picky as he is about his food, well, I have to hold him and just shove it in his mouth. Poor guy!
He did get up all on his own last night at about 8:30 and eat some and run in the wheel. Then when I gave him his meds later, he stayed up and ate some more, almost an entire cube of chicken and a ton of peas. YAY Coopie!

Good boy Coopie!!!!

Well, Coop is mostly doing normal meals, and he is getting up most nights on his own to play. But...he has the runs. His hiney and tail are always dirty, and he doesn't seem to care. I am sure that it is the antibiotics causing this, but need some suggestions on how to slow it down. Help! I don't like his dirty hiney.

Hi Shawna, Poor little Coop The only other idea that I can come up with to help with the runny poo would be to try and offer him some cheedar cheese. When Choco had diarrhea, MaryH. had suggested that I give him a little cheedar cheese mixed with chicken or scrambled egg. It helped him at the time. Another idea would be to give him the yogurt called Activia. Antibiotics will eat away alot of the bacteria in the digestive tract, this yogurt contains Active Cultures and helps restore whats being lost in the stool.

For humans, I know that rice, toast, and bananas are constipators...not sure about suggies, though...

He won't eat yogurt, banana's, rice, oats, anything that I can normally think of to clog him up. I'll try the cheese tonight.
Good news, his chest is healing up. He has some fresh skin on there. There are still some raw spots on there, but there is a good amount of skin I just wish we could get rid of the diarreah.

Boil some rice and give him the water only off of the rice. This is the only thing that slowed down the diarreah in a child I kept years ago. Maybe worth a try.

He woke up a second ago, and I handed him a slice of cheddar, and he went after it like a starving rat, so maybe...
Kathy, I'll try that next.

Well, Coops appetite has returned with a vengance! He latches on to food like he is starving, and he probably is, he wouldn't eat for so long. He is getting up in the evenings on his own now, playing in the wheel and having a good time.
Tonight, he was so funny! You know how I've said he doesn't have much experience in a wheel, right? Well, silly man got his stealth going, and then held on and did circles and did it so long he made him self dizzy!!! ROFL, OMG! He got out of the wheel and couldn't walk right, I laughed til I cried. Poor baby! He kept getting his legs crossed up and falling over. I shouldn't laugh, cause maybe that's not really good for him, but you should have seen it! After a few minutes everything righted itself in his world and he was fine, but, oh my! I think he needs more toys now.
His strength is definately up, it is all I can do to get medicine down his throat. Wiggle butt!
The only issue that I can still SEE is his dirty hiney. He won't clean it! I've tried wiping him down with a warm wash cloth, but he won't hold still and it's too hard to do on my own. His poops are still not normal, kind of the consistancy of yogurt and dark green to brown in color. He eats a LOT of peas, he loves them. He is back on a mostly normal diet. Any thoughts on cleaning him?
We will go back to the vet on Saturday to see what is what. Any ideas on how long I should wait before putting him back in the glider room?

Okay, the hiney is clean, but his tail is still dirty. He did it himself He purred in my ear tonight, and tried to groom my neck, in the back, of course! And the hubby caught a great pic while we were having momma and baby time.
If you look at his chest, you can see the scab. The white area where it looks like the hair is real short is actually new skin. That is how much he lost, all the way down to where, I guess a belly button would be on a person. It was pretty big.



He looks great, and is getting bored now So, we must get him a play room, cause I don't have another cage!

Coop had a normal poo tonight, and his tail is almost completely clean, as is his hiney. And, he is up to 74 grams!!! He was at 71 when we went to the vet last. I think it was the 30th, so he's gained 3 grams this week

I gave Mr Coop another toy tonight, which he won't even look at. His appetite dropped just a bit last night and today. I'm hoping it's the usual eat/don't eat cycle that they all do.
He does actually swallow the medicine now when I give it, rather than holding it in his mouth to spit at me LOL!

I haven't posted much of anything lately, and nothing on Coop for a while. He is doing GREAT! He has new fur growing on his chest, and just a tiny bit of a scab. It is about a 1/4 of an inch wide and maybe an inch long running down his chest. He back to normal all the way around, behaviour, eating, playing, crabbing, lol. He crabs at me, always. If I walk past his cage, he crabs at me. Anyone else in the house can walk past...nothing. I walk past, crab, crab, crab. I don't have to be talking, I've even tried holding my breath, still, he crabs. He is so tired of me giving him medicine Poor baby. He does like to come out and play. I hope he gets the all clear from the vet soon, because he is getting depressed a bit. He is all alone in the living room. Coopie needs a friend, so bad. I am going to try for a Sat appointment with the vet. That way we can clear him to return to the glider room.

Thank you all so much for praying for, pulling for, and encouraging Cooper. It means so much to me. This is the first glider I've ever had get sick and live. For all of you that post in the emergency section--there is NO WAY that he would have survived without vet care. NO WAY. I thought it was an allergy, and so did the vet on the first visit. That is why it is important to go, and then follow up. The second visit is when we discovered the real issue. Please keep this in mind when we are shouting at you to please go to the vet.

Update: vet Visit this morning.

Coop has gained a good amount of weight, he went from 71.something to 84.3g today. The vet wants him to stay on the Clavamox for now, the little scab he has needs to be gone before we take him off of the meds for good. And we go back in 2 weeks for a follow up. So good news overall