I would tend to concur pretty much with Judie here. Hypoglycemic episodes, mineral/nutrient depletion and weight loss despite eatting well can be secondary S/S (Signs and Symptoms) where the primary diagnosis is an intestinal parasitic condition. This is what happened to BooBear. As I think back over the whole situation, I now realize that BooBear had lost a bit of weight over a month or two but fool that I was, I attriubted it to his energetic nature. BooBear was eatting fine, had no loose stools,no vomitting and was his usual energetic self on July 24th. The next morning, BooBear was still active but seemed to feel somewhat thinner & I decided we should go to the
vet. When the
vet did a direct fecal smear, the results were not only positive for trichomonas but so overwhelmingly positive (the
vet had never seen results showing as many trich organisms in an animal as BooBear had) that the
vet felt the parasitic condition must have been there for quite some time: possibly 3-4 months & slowly took it's toll on BooBear's system. BooBear was started on Flaygl but within a matter of hours, the vomitting & diarrhea associated with advanced cases of trich set in causing such severe dehydration that BooBear loss half of his body weight D/T (Due To) dehydration and was gone in barely 24 hours of being seen by the
vet.
BooBear's death was not in vain however as I now regularly have direct fecal smears done every other month and weigh my gliders twice/week in addition to checking the quality of their feces (color, moisture content), how well they have eatten each night, whether their energy levels appear to be normal or decreased. My vigilance paid off when his brother and father were diagnosed with trich within less than a month of BooBear's dying (BooBear was housed with his brother and had regular visits with the parents to keep their
bond established). Neither showed any S/S of trich (except for Pip's fecal color changing to a golden color). Because of the new proactive stance I've taken, both were started on Flaygl before the trich parasites were able to compromise their systems and they had an easy time overcoming the trich since their immune systems were still functioning WNL (within Normal Limits).
Believe me, I know that when we lose a glider and do not know why, we think about things such as their
diet and wonder if something
diet-wise caused our glider's death. I know I was thrown for a loss when Tia died at the end of January because she had no symptoms prior to being found on the floor of her cage and her fecal smear had been negative just two weeks previously. As much as I wanted to just go out & bury her next to her mate, I knew I had to have a necropsy done to determine the cause of her death. My
vet was more than willing to do it for free as a learning experience & pinpointed congestive heart failure as the primary cause of death. He then sent all organs off to Dr. Smith in Tennessee at my request for further studies to be done & I am presently awaiting results of those studies.
I guess what I'm getting at here is that we must be as proactive as possible with respect to our gliders' health especially since they tend to hide S/S of illness until they're literally almost at death's door. Things that can help us take a more proactive stance include:
1) monitoring weight at least once/week.
2) monitoring how well they have eatten every night.
3) monitoring their energy levels daily.
4) obtaining fecal smears/floats and bacterial cultures
every two-three months.
(it's a lot less expensive to have the testing done &
medication started early than to wait for S/S which may
necessitate overnight
vet stays for rehydration therapy,
etc.)
5) Have necropsies done on gliders when there is a question
as to cause of death in order to pinpoint the primary
cause of death in case it is bacterial and/or parasitic
condition that could be transmissable to our other
gliders. As hard as it is to have let a necropsy be done
on our little ones, it will give us peace of mind knowing
why they died and keep us from conjecturing as to
possible causes. The necropsy may cost you nothing if
your
vet has never necropsied a glider before and wishes
to gain experience/further knowledge of glider physiology
and
anatomy.
Tazgirl states:
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I am posting here concerning something that seems to be happening more and more..I know of at least two instances here in Florida and I am not sure if there is any other instances anywhere else or not??
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My gut feeling is that many sudden glider deaths may be due to bacterial/parasitic conditions that can take gliders' lives within 24-36 hours. Without necropsies on these gliders, there will always be a question as to the cause of death and concerns about whether the deaths were
diet-related. However, if owners take a more proactive stance with their gliders and consider a necropsy in sudden death cases, we may eventually be able to pinpoint if there tends to be one most prevalent cause involved in sudden glider deaths.