My original post on Serenity's passing - http://www.sugarglider.net/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/321533/page/1#Post321533

I was hoping to have peace of mind once the pathology report came in- but it almost leaves me with more questions.

Serenity's stage of events-
OOP Sept 05
Slowly gained weight & settled at 190grams
Happy, healthy and active glider
Was raised on Pricilla's diet- with avoidance of fatty foods(I hope)
Slowly loss of appetite until last few days before death
Severe dramatic loss of 20grams the last few days before death
1+Ketones in urine
2+blood in his urine

Necropsy report
leaking gallbladder
throughout the liver hepatic plates swollen and sinusoids are attenuated due to uniform fine vacuolation of hepatocytes. Occasional fine granular gipment can be identified within hepatocytes, but is not a particularly prevalent feature.



Serenity's pathology diagnosis- Microvesicular hepatic lipidosis, severe, liver. More commonly seen in cats- though it's not new to sugar gliders. Hepatic lipidosis also known as fatty liver, a syndrome where fat accumulates in the liver.

(information on cats and Lipidosis: http://maxshouse.com/Feline_Hepatic_Lipidosis.htm)

The pathology diagnosis reports the Lipidosis being the secondary condition that caused Serenity's death. They feel it's possible the loss of appetite brought on the Lipidosis. My dr seems to differ and feels Serenity could have had a birth defect that caused his liver to store the fat then leading to Lipidosis.Lipidosis itself can make a glider feel ill, leading them to not eat.

The comments about the blood & ketones in his urine are as followed- Blood in the urine due to renal disease would be far less common than blood subsequent to urinary bladder or prostate disease in the male, although a one plus hematuria is rather small. I guess it would depend on the the appearance of the kidneys, no evidance of leptospirosis is seen, which has been reported in sugar gliders.

So where am I now- but left with more questions. Still don't know the original cause of Serenity's loss of appetite. If Serenity's liver did have a birth defect- could it have been detected that it was storing fats? If so-how?

I'm left with wondering did my Serenity have a birth defect or did he come down with some kind of infection and was so well at hiding it- which then lead on to the Lipidosis. If there's something I did along the way that could lead to the Lipidosis- I wish to know that- I'm not perfect and something could have slipped by me that I wasn't aware was a fatty food for gliders. I don't think that's the case but I can accept that if it was.



Ñancy
~Always on my mind & in my heart Jack, Sally & Serenity~


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