Hello,

It's been a while since I posted, and it only seems to be when something is going wrong.

Rory, my 10 year old boy who I got from Val Betts in 2009, has outlived both his sisters and was seemingly chugging along without any major health issues (except for being overweight, which we were trying to work on) when he suddenly started making pawing motions at his mouth. Then he started overgrooming the area around his jaw, pulling out a lot of the fur.

Worried, I rushed him to the vet, where he was diagnosed with periodontal disease. The vets he saw put him on clavamox and gabapentin as a sedative after the metacam gave him diarrhea. And until this last week he was still eating solid food, but he stopped eating solid food last weekend, though I have been able to get him to eat ensure and yogurt and mealies.

During my last visit with my regular vet, she referred me to a specialist, but I wasn't able to get him in until yesterday. She prescribed a stronger antibiotic, metacam, and hydrocodone(!) and gave me a food sample like Carnivore Care to take home and mix with water to feed him twice a day. But he's lost 40 grams already! He is down to around 140 grams now, which isn't terrible but it's a huge weight loss and I am worried about how his liver is taking it. He really needed to lose weight, but not like this!

I feel so terrible, like I wasn't aggressive enough fighting this illness and now he is in worse shape. I am fighting to keep him hydrated, and he will drink water mixed with ensure and eat the Carnivore Care from an oral syringe. He was getting lethargic before, but now he is sedated a lot from the meds, so I don't know if he is really feeling awful or just drugged a lot.

Does anyone have any experience bringing a glider back from this kind of illness? I want to believe he will bounce back, even though he is elderly. His current cagemate Booster came to us from Cora two years ago after his sister Danni passed from liver cancer, and he loves his big brother so much.

Thanks for listening.

EDITED TO ADD: The specialist is Dr. Theilin, who just opened up next to the emergency vet in Southlake TX. She seemed pretty knowledgeable and awesome, and I think she can see regular patients as well as referrals. But she is worried he may also have an abcess, as there is a weird shadow around the root of his bottom teeth, as well as some issues with some of his side teeth, and she is asking for info about vets who do extractions in case we end up needing to do one.

Did she take x-rays? X-rays need to be done to see what shape his jaw and teeth are in.

He may need extractions. They bounce back rather quickly once the bad teeth are gone and they are all healed.

Please keep us posted and add some Avocado to his diet for now.

She did x rays, and one showed a shadow that she thought was problematic around his lower left incisor. And this is the area he has been overgrooming around.

Does anyone have any recommendations for vets who do extractions in the DFW area? Cora suggested Dr. Reese in Whitehouse, TX, and I think Dr. Jaffe in Red Oak does them, but is there anyone closer to the central DFW area who is really good at tooth extractions?

You may want to contact Animal Clinic of Farmers Branch. They used to have a great vet there that did a lot of work on gliders. Many of the other vets I have worked with have recommended them in the past.
Animal Clinic of Farmers Branch.

If this wont work and the vet you are seeing now is willing to do vet consults you can find a list of vets that are willing to do so here
Critterlove - Choosing a Sugar Glider Veterinarian

Thanks, I am familiar with them. However, the extraction cannot go forward yet because he aspirated while drinking Sunday and I ended up having to run him back to the emergency vet. He was treated for aspiration and the vet wants to make sure his lungs are 100% clear before trying the extraction.

Hopefully they will keep him on antibiotics until they can do the surgery.

He is on Baytril and Zydaclin until they can do the surgery. He goes back into the vet Thursday for a recheck.

Prayers for Sweet Rory. So much for a little one to go through

Thank you.Well, after his recheck today, the vet said she consulted with some other vets who have done these kinds of extractions, and after seeing the x rays, they think the jawbone is too damaged from periodontal disease to be able to safely extract any teeth. He will probably be on antibiotics and metacam for the rest of his life. He is 10 years old, and I am going to try to give him a chance to fight for however long he has left.

However, he is also glider patient zero for a periodontal treatment which has been successfully used on ferrets, and the vet will continue to monitor his progress in that respect.

The good news is, after days of meds and syringe feeding, his activity level is almost back to normal.
I will let you all know how he is as this continues.

Thanks!
Here he is! The woman in the first pic is one of the vet techs.

https://imgur.com/a/DKPaabw

Handsome fella he is. Thanks so much for putting a face with Sweet Rory

See Rainbow Memorials for the rest of Rory's story