Liezl--Gizmo is so lucky to have a wonderful mommy like you. I hope you've been able to get a little rest, and so has he. I'm continuing to send lots of prayers in your direction!

Giz seemed to be doing great at first when we took him out for playtime, he was alert, and happy to spent time with us. He made a huge poo, which was great, I am just wondering why it is cuppachino color? He took his medication like a good boy, and played a bit on his wheel. I noticed that he quickly becomes exhausted ....running slower and slower, then walking.

We moved Boesman's cage to the other side of the room to give Giz a bit of a break from that..... he called out to Boesman, but again, his barking sounded as if he was almost out of breath.

He refused to eat throughout the night, except for the 3ml of yoghurt and 2 mealworms. He is still shivering.

Yesterday I forced fed him with a syringe a total of 50% of what he normally eats during night time. Could this be the reason why he refused to eat last night? Or should I be concerned.




Thank you for your friendship and support Wendi!

Last night we thought we were loosing Gizmo...

I tried to force feed Gizzie with the syringe last night but he just did not want to eat! He cried, pushed away, turned his head. Just was not interested at all. I managed to give him about a ml of food and some rehydrate. We then placed him in his cage.

At 1am we stood up and Gizzie was in his hammock, very strange, as he is normally running his wheel at that time of the night. He was cold, his eyes were dull, even his coat had a dull look. Liezl made him warmer and we gave him some more rehydrate, again he did not want to eat anything. We told him that we love him so much, that his new cage and cage set just arrived... but we were actually preparing ourselves for the worst. Liezl was crying and Gizzie came out from his hammock, stood up against her cheek and kissed her tears. That was so amazing...

Right after that "AMAZING MOMENT" Giz headed towards his cage to show mommy he could still run on his wheel. After his first spin, he looked at us for some comments. So we praised him. And off again he went running. You wouldn't say this was the same glider as an hour before.

He ate some fruit and veg by himself.

Today we are keeping him warm and will keep on giving him fluids.

Please keep on praying for Giz.

Liezl and Casper--What a testament to Gizmo's love for you both! Casper, thank you for writing to give me an update. I sincerely appreciate it, because you all have been on my mind so much lately. I am continuing to send lots of positive energy in your direction.

Does the vet have any more idea than she did the other day as to what is going on with Gizmo?

We will be contacting the vet again tomorrow, to give her an update, I am not sure if the antibiotics are working. She will do more specific tests if the medication does not change anything by tomorrow. He is weak again today.

Sending out many, many, prayers for Gizmo

Pat, Boo-Boo, and BJ

(((((HUGS))))) Praying for y'all!!

We've done a lot of research on some of the possibilities Gizzie's doctor mentioned. As for aflotoxins - three months ago we started giving our boys meal worms from a new local supplier. Is it possible that only one of the boys will be affected by eating a meal worm exposed to aflotoxins? As a precaution we removed the worms from their diet.

We went through all the possibilities as to what could have caused his illness, and discovered a small patch of rust at the bottom of Gizzie's cage. Does not seem to be reachable by him, but you never know. We removed the cage and set up a new one for him today. Is there any possibility that this could have caused his sympthoms?

Why is rust toxic to a glider and what are the sympthoms of a glider intoxicated by exposure to rust?

What kind of bedding does that supplier use? Could it have been moldy or have corn/corn cob in it?

What we always do is to replace the bedding of the worms coming from the supplier with oats. The bedding used by the supplier is "digestive bran". We also immediately replace the food with fresh food.

A month ago we ordered HPW, and it should arrive this week. Then the mealies will not be necessary anyway.

As Gizmo does not want to eat, is it OK if we give him plain yoghurt? (He is willing to eat plain yoghurt). And if OK, how much of it can we give to him? Since him not eating, we give him whatever he wants to eat (safe food obviously).

It makes me FURIOUS that HPW has not arrived yet...they told me at my post office no longer than 10 days...

I am sorry I havent seen this until now, send me over the things to pass on again to Tristan and I will let you know as soon as I hear from him what he thinks.

Thank you Peggy, you are always willing to help. We highly value the knowledge of both you and Dr. Tristan. This was evident in previous involvement with Gizmo's deep sleep occurrences.

Thank you for that, please know I WILL help in any way I can.

We know Peggy, you are a gem! Same goes for Dr. Tristan.

We will discuss this with the vet tomorrow, thank you.

I am just getting caught up after your PM...

if the cage is set up to where Gizzie could not actually access the rust, I do not believe it would be cause for concern. However, if he was exposed to even a small amount for an extended time and his cage was not the kind with a grate separating the body of the cage from the floor pan there is a possibility that there could be some toxicity issues there.

Since you are changing the mealie bedding upon arrival of the mealies, that should make a difference- but since both glidrs eat the same mealies and only one of them is ill, it seems less than likely that the mealies are to blame here.

There is a possibility, of course, that Gizzie was not as strong as your other glider immune system wise and therefor caught a virus of some kind while your other gldier remained well. I would think after a few days of antibiotics, however, that the virus would be clearing up at this stage rather than remaining the same if a virus were to blame.

The blood work results are so broad as to offer, in my opinion, too many thigs it "could" be... something that narrows it down more would be more helpful. Perhaps there are specialized tests that could be run on the blood samples to narrow the results more, which is one thing to suggest to the vet.

I also recommend a heart function test- perhaps Gizmo could have obtained a heart rate fluctuation or a murmur.

X-rays are not always conclusive, but from your descriptions, it sounds like this little guy is fairly ill. If the possibility of a blockage has been looked into and no blockage was found, is it possible his gallbladder, his liver, or his kidneys are not functioning properly? Or than he as a twist or torsion of the intestinal tract? These are things your vet can determine as well.

If your baby is continuing to shiver but the warmth of your body alleviates this, I highly recommend keeping him as warm as possible with your body heat and possibly proving additional warmth when he is not immediately on your person if he is still shivering even inside his pouch in his cage.

I also highly recommend that you and/or your vet contact Dr. Tristan here in the states right away. perhaps a 3-way (conference) call between all of you... this way, Dr. tristan can hear results from your vet, descriptions of his behavior and habits from you, and both you and your vet can receive instructions and/or advice at the same time.

Good luck to you and keep us posted- I will be praying for little Gizmo.

Absolutely! Whatever he will eat that isn't toxic to him. I fed Roo yogurt, organic peanut butter, vanilla pudding, chicken baby food and just HPW after he had his surgery and didn't want to eat. Let Gizmo eat as much of he wants of whatever he wants. He needs the calories more than nutrition right now.

Sending prayers for sweet Gizmo!!!!

Thank you for the replies.

We gave Gizzie some yoghurt and fluids. He did make a poo and a wee tonight.

LabNGliderMom, thank you for the suggestions. We will contact the vet in the morning and will update you all accordingly.

As promised, here is an update.

I spoke to Gizzie's vet today. Tomorrow morning at 8am he will be going to a local vet who will be doing a fecal smear to determine the possibility of a) gardia and b) presence of bacteria. As you know, Gizmo's vet is 300kms from here, so we had to make another plan.

Gizmo's vet also prescribed Essentiale and Milk Thistle to help with a possible liver issue. Not sure if Essentiale is known to you, but it contains Polyinsaturated Phospholipids and Vitamins. The pharmacological classification is A7.4 lipotropic agents. Very small amounts of these need to be given to Gizmo daily.

At the moment, Gizzie's condition is poor, however, this morning he looked perked up. It is an emotional rollercoaster. He still does not want to eat by himself. He has been on Ciprobay and the immune booster for 4 days. He just does not seem to get better. We still syringe feed him every few hours, and Rehydrate every hour or so, but he fighting every feed.

We noticed a slight discoloration in his coat as well - light yellow brownish.

We received the HPW and bee pollen today and will make the first batch now. Hopefully it will do the trick.

Will keep you updated. Please keep him in your prayers.

Peggy, I don't know if you are trying to PM Bozeman or myself, but there seems to be something wrong with our PMs. Bozeman did contact gliderdad79. Just wondering if you have any news for us regarding the blood works.

We are going to prepare the HPW now and are holding thumbs that Gizmo will eat tonight.

Leizl, Tim is in surgeries all day today but he promised to get to the stuff I sent him over and figure out the numbers and get back to you as soon as possible.

Peggy, please ask Dr Tristan if he agrees with our vet's suggestion that we use the Essentiale and Milk Thistle aswell. Thank you for all your help. We are so worried about Gizzie...

Hey Liezl, just checking up on how things are going with your baby. It's good to hear Giz made the effort to let you know he was still working on getting better.

Prayers and good thoughts on their way!

I hope that Gizmo gets well! I always hold my breath when I read these stories about sick gliders. It is so unpredictable....I cried when I read about Giz kissing your tears. He loves you so much! He sounds like an incredible owner. My thoughts are with him!
OT: I lived in Kenya all my life, it's great to see another fellow African. =)

Thank you Paige and Bushbaby88

I am waiting for the vet to call me. I am just so scared, Giz is not being himself. In his precious one and a half years so far he has never been sick. It is also our first time dealing with a sick glider as Giz is our first boy. It just hurts so much to see him like this.

I still cry everyday when I think about my sweet boy kissing my tears, .........just love him so.

Will update as soon as I hear from the vet. I will also hear from Peggy and Dr Tristan soon.

Gizmo is always in my prayers.

Check your pm's, just sent you a response from Tim.

Thank you Peggy, I sent you a PM.