GliderCENTRAL

Ariel won't really eat all of a sudden

Posted By: Sanctity

Ariel won't really eat all of a sudden - 02/03/15 08:12 PM

Has anyone experienced this? She's roughly 6 weeks oop and we have been feeding her bml. Well all of a sudden she just turns her head away.she will eat a drop or two but that's it. Is she trying to tell us she's ready for solid food? Vet wants to run tests but since my fiance got fired the day after we paid for her we just don't have the money for the tests. Even tried just a bit of honey on my finger and she just turned her head.
Posted By: Terry

Re: Ariel won't really eat all of a sudden - 02/03/15 08:53 PM

I thought she was on special nursing joey formula, ah well. How long has she not been eating bml?

All the liquid portions of diets are to be fed with f/v combination. If you are using BML you should be offering the specific and only the specific ones given in the serving instructions, the way it instructs. If you are feeding a specific formula for young joeys, then follow guidelines for that and begin the regular recipe and follow instructions to the letter. It's important to balance the diet, bml needs the specific vegetables and fruit to balance the calcium in the liquid.
Posted By: CandyOtte

Re: Ariel won't really eat all of a sudden - 02/03/15 11:43 PM

Quote:
She's roughly 6 weeks oop and we have been feeding her bml. Well all of a sudden she just turns her head away.she will eat a drop or two but that's it. Is she trying to tell us she's ready for solid food?


Are you hand feeding her or does she eat from a dish in her cage over night?

Are you trying to feed her during the day? Most gliders do not wake up to eat during the day so she may be telling you it is not time to eat.

Does she have food in her cage all night long?

At 6 weeks OOP she should be going to the food dish on her own to eat both the BML and the mixed vegetables and fruit. This is something joeys learn from their parents by following them to the food dish starting about 4-5 weeks OOP.

You might try mashing the fruit and mixed vegetables some with a fork and mixing some of the BML with it to get her interested in them.

What type of testing was the vet wanting to do?

Were fecal tests done when you took her to the vet the first time?
Posted By: Feather

Re: Ariel won't really eat all of a sudden - 02/03/15 11:45 PM

How long have you been giving her the BML?
Posted By: Sanctity

Re: Ariel won't really eat all of a sudden - 02/04/15 06:54 AM

Didn't realize to start her her on the veggies and fruits yet. And she's been on the bml for a week or 2 now. We got her appointment for first thing in the morning though with the vet. And we fees her at all kinds if intervals day and night. I just got home from work so I'm gonna try again.
Posted By: CandyOtte

Re: Ariel won't really eat all of a sudden - 02/04/15 04:14 PM

She needs to have free access to the food all night long and if you are feeding her BML - she needs the mixed vegetables and fruit to balance the amount of calcium in the BML staple - this diet is too high in calcium without the high phosphorus mixed vegetables to balance it.

A random feeding schedule day and night may not meet her nutritional needs. She may not want to eat if you wake her up during the day and she may be looking for food at night when none is available for her.

She is small so it is not likely that she will eat the full 1 TBS BML, 1 TBS mixed vegetables and 1 TBS fruit - but you can start by putting 1/2 TBS of each in the cage in the evening. Gliders have very small stomachs - about the size of the tip of your thumb so they do not eat much at one time, but they do eat several times over night.

Let us know what the vet thinks about her progress.
Posted By: Sanctity

Re: Ariel won't really eat all of a sudden - 02/05/15 03:50 PM

We took her to the vet yesterday morning as soon as they opened. They had us just leave her there most of the day so they could try getting her to eat. She was down from 32 grams a week ago to 25 grams. They got her eating and had her back up to 29 when we brought her home yesterday evening. Shes still fighting a lil bit but shes doing much much better today.

EDIT:One question I have though is since her parents arent here to teach her how to clean herself is there any way we can clean her up? Shes getting really dirty and we wanna give her a bath or something.
Posted By: CandyOtte

Re: Ariel won't really eat all of a sudden - 02/05/15 06:58 PM

If she has food on her fur you can use a warm damp cloth to clean the area.

I would not try to give her a full bath as it may lower her body temperature too quickly.

Even if you clean small areas at a time - be sure to keep her on your body for warmth until she is fully dry each time.

NEVER use a hair dryer to dry a wet glider. They have very, very thin skin on their ears and even just the blowing air with low heat can chap their ears to the point of the skin becoming brittle and sloughing off - much like severely chapped lips that crack and bleed.

Did the vet have any other information to give you. Did they do anything other than just trying to get her to eat?

Have you tried offering her food in a small shallow dish? The top of a milk container would be large enough for her to begin to lap the BML up herself. If she is fighting being held to be fed she might do a bit better with a dish.

Her resistance may be to being held securely for syringe feeding rather than actually resisting eating.

I would make sure the BML is room temperature or very slightly warm. Ariel needs to be warm as well - her digestive system will not work well if either the food is cold or if she is chilled.

If you have a kitchen scale that weighs in grams, I would monitor her weight by weighing her about the same time each day BEFORE a feeding. If you want to gage how much she is actually eating you could weigh her again right after she eats.

Be sure to also offer water between feedings - her weight loss may represent dehydration in addition to not eating enough.
Posted By: Sanctity

Re: Ariel won't really eat all of a sudden - 02/05/15 07:10 PM

Just that she was too cold, probably due to the weather change we just had here. So we upped the volume of the heat. I out a dish of bml and mashed mixed veggies for her but we are doing what the vet said to do which was syringe feeding every hour and a half. And since she spits some out she's getting very messy lol. But she is nowhere near as lethargic as she was. She's much more alert now. Just gotta get her used to eating out or a dish now.
Posted By: Terry

Re: Ariel won't really eat all of a sudden - 02/05/15 10:10 PM

Glad to hear she's eating and doing better. Thanks for update.
Posted By: Ladymagyver

Re: Ariel won't really eat all of a sudden - 02/06/15 02:55 AM

Yes. You are getting a lot of good advise! I feed BML, so I know how messy it can get. Thank you for keeping us updated!
Posted By: Sanctity

Re: Ariel won't really eat all of a sudden - 02/08/15 05:25 AM

Well she rolled around in her food... Shes caked all in it.. Grrrr.. Also still doesnt seem to be eating. Not giving up though.
Posted By: Sanctity

Re: Ariel won't really eat all of a sudden - 02/08/15 02:16 PM

Woke up just now and shes gone. So much for teemo having a friend....
Posted By: CandyOtte

Re: Ariel won't really eat all of a sudden - 02/08/15 03:27 PM

I am so sorry for your loss. God speed Ariel.

You certainly gave her as much love and attention as you possibly could. She just was not ready to be separated from her parents.

If you choose to get gliders again in the future I hope you will be able to find a breeder that is more in tune with the welfare of the joeys.
Posted By: Feather

Re: Ariel won't really eat all of a sudden - 02/08/15 09:02 PM

I am very sorry for your loss. May you find peace and comfort in your memories of her.

Glide Free Little Ariel :rbridge:
Posted By: Ladymagyver

Re: Ariel won't really eat all of a sudden - 02/09/15 02:00 AM

:sorry: for your loss. Please don't give up on finding Teemo a friend. 6 wks oop was very young. Poor baby...

hug2
Posted By: Sanctity

Re: Ariel won't really eat all of a sudden - 02/09/15 05:29 PM

We would still like to find him a friend, but with the fiance losing her job its just not something we are gonna be able to do >.<

And thanks guys smile
Posted By: KarenE

Re: Ariel won't really eat all of a sudden - 02/10/15 06:11 PM

So very sorry hug2
Posted By: yiyo

Re: Ariel won't really eat all of a sudden - 02/12/15 03:15 PM

hug2 hug2
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