I wanted to wait and see what the outcome of my glider's mishap was before I posted my story here. Just to set the tone, this story has a happy ending as Gadget aka Brother Gadget, is alive and well this evening sleeping in my shirt (as usual).
On the evening of December 4th, 2002 while driving through a big winter storm on my way to Washington D.C. I decided to call home and see how everyone, including the gliders (whom we consider family) were doing. My wife answered the telephone and simply blurted out "There is a problem with the gliders!" and hung up. Now usually this means one of them has disappeared and is playing hide and seek, or that they have moved to a new sleeping place in the cage. So I waited a while and called back to hear that Gadget was stuck in the pouch and could not be removed. It was determined that he had chewed a hole in one of the smaller
pouches inside the big hanging pouch and become entangled in some of the exposed threads. His left hind foot was badly swollen, and had turned a sick-looking shade of dark purple. When found he was lying half in and half out of the hanging pouch, where it appeared he had been for some time and seemed to be simply passed out from exhaustion. Luckily we have an emergency animal clinic one mile from the house and the local exotic
vet a phone call away. So off they went to get the threads cut and extract poor Gadget from the damaged pouch.
Once at the emergency clinic the technicians there carefully removed the tightly wound threads from his foot and leg. There was some damage to his leg, fur, and his foot was swollen to about five times it's normal size. The
vet techs said that some of the color was returning to his blood-starved foot and they thought he would be okay. Still my wife was concerned and I was also not convinced. We decided (she went) to take him to the exotic
vet and the University of Tennessee first thing in the morning. Keep in mind all this is being relayed to me via cell phone on the road, in the snow at night with traffic accidents all around me. I am also VERY
bonded to my two little fuzz butts and this was the first time either of them had ever had any sort of problem.
Gadget was seen first thing the next morning prescribed an antibiotic and received treatment for his torn fur. We then received a mixed report and their outlook wasn't quite as optimistic as the first group of caregivers. We were told that he may regain full use of the leg and foot, or he may regain circulation but no feeling in the extremity, or all may go well and the foot may simply die and "fall off" in a week or two. Now we we really concerned and began a very long two week vigil.
I arrived home late in the evening having driven straight back home after my meeting in D.C.. I checked Gadget and he actually seemed to be okay, but very tired. His foot was horribly distorted, unbelievably ugly and swollen. It was so sad to see him trying to play but not having control over his foot or movements. This is a glider who runs non-stop flex wheel marathons each and every night; he is very athletic and playful. Gaget was set up in the travel cage in our living room (it is actually a tent) to keep him low to the ground in case he fell and provide a softer environment than his regular cage. He did okay and even tried to run in his wheel some that first night.
This went on for two weeks with my wife keeping watch over Gadget all night and most of the day with me taking over after work until 1:00 am or so. Gradually he got better and the foot's color and use returned. He went back to the U.T. exotic
vet after two weeks and they determined he would probably make a full recovery.
Today Gadget still does not have 100 percent use of the foot, but it is much better and the nails which all fell off are growing back. He actually gained some needed weight since I think his nightly marathons were interrupted. I am still a little concerned about him as he does not stay up very long at playtime. He used to get up with his male "brother" Gizmo around 11:00 pm and play at least an hour and a half. These days he still gets up at the same time, but usually looks for a sleeping spot after about forty-five minutes. I have not seem him play on his wheel as much either, so things are not quite the same. I am hoping that perhaps his pattern has changed due to the onset of colder weather, or that he may still be healing and doesn't have all his strength back yet. Anyway I am very grateful that he is alive and doing better.
So what is the point of this story? Well let me say that I doubt you will find a more dedicated,
bonded human-to-glider person than me. I spend an average of six to seven hours a day during the week (unless traveling) and twelve to fourteen hours a day on the weekends with my two fuzz butts. I prepare fresh food nightly, stress over every aspect of their cage and comfort, even take them frequently on trips so they have never been glidersat. And still someting bad happened in the space of a few hours...so for all of us fortunate enough to have happy endings and especially for those that did not, we can not control everything and sometimes tragedy and harm to these sweet little creatures will simply happen.
If anyone has had a similar accident or if someone can add any insight as to why Gadget's behavior may have changed, and if it will change back I would like to hear from you.
Take care.
<small>[ 01-08-2003, 09:56 PM: Message edited by: GliderGuys ]</small>