Take all the time you need, Dawn.
Thank you Karen, I think I'm ready...
I want to back up and tell a Dot and Stewie story leading up to the end. More to help others maybe...
Looking back, I suspect Fiona had been sick for awhile. Not because I noticed anything different in her, but from the way Stewie was acting.
For a couple of months, when Stewie wanted Fiona to play with him, he would literally turn their open environment pouch (OE pouch for short) upside down. He showed me this one night when I was looking for Fiona...
I was calling her, couldn't feel her in the pouch, but when Stewie dumped it, she came scurrying out. She must have been under the blankets hanging on the side and hidden... I watched him do this several times after that too.
Fiona liked to sleep alone sometimes and she would boot Stewie out... I could hear him beg to be with her, but eventually he would seek out the other pouch for awhile... They even slept apart all day at times...
So fast forward to 4 nights before she passed...
Stewie woke me up barking around 4 am... I can usually sleep through this, but he wouldn't stop... So I got up to see. He was hanging upside-down on the bars barking just an inch from Fiona's pouch... It didn't matter that I was watching and talking to him... He kept barking.
So I opened the cage door and checked the pouch. There was Fiona. I took her out, checked her over and she seemed fine, normal. She wanted back in the cage, normal for that time of day. The difference that morning was she went back to the sleeping pouch instead of staying out to eat and drink. Ok I thought, and went back to bed. Then Stewie started barking again for it seemed 5 minutes. Then he stopped and from the living room for started barking. She kept this up for at least 5-10 minutes and stopped. And Stewie took up where she left off... This was strange... They have always exchanged barking, but was always brief.
The next night Stewie barked, but by the time I got up, Fiona was out eating. He stopped barking too.
When I got up later that morning and passed by the cage, I caught a whiff of a strong urine smell. " Hum" I thought. But I chalked it up to a night of marking and over marking... A game they have played before... I didn't change any hammocks that day, but I did clean their drop pan, thinking I'll start cleaning there...
That night I fed the gliders, but I was too tired to play with any of them and went to bed. That night there was some barking from Dot followed by barking from the cage in our room. It was brief... Hubby had checked on everyone before he went to bed.
The following morning he mentioned how Fiona was out last night and seemed different. She was eating staple, but looked too tired to move. He did help her back in the pouch. I immediately asked him to get her and when he brought her out, she didn't look good at all. There was a very strong urine smell to her. I smelled her cloatia and it was even worse. Called the
vet and had her there in 2 hours. (An hour trip) She examined her, tried to get any sample from her checked to see if maybe her sugar was off by a PH test from her cloatia... She diagnosed kidney failure.. And that night she died in my hands.
This was a terrible price to pay for me not paying attention to my other two who seemed to try to tell me something...
I have ran my gliders to the
vet for trivial ailments thinking they were gonna die. Fiona hid this well.
vet offices have recently just opened (2 weeks ago) due to the pandemic. All 3 of them missed their well check in March time due to this...
I should have taken them in the week or two before. But would have the
vet caught it... Many things have gone through my head... Guilt on the top of the list... I always thought I was a good momma. I have always taken pride in how I care and love them.
Fiona always got what she wanted. We were
bonded. Very closely. But there were times when she preferred being in her cage with her mates instead of being with me, so we have always let her choose. She was very spoiled.
I've started a thread for Stewie and Dot. I hope you will follow along and see how it turns out with me...
Fiona was everyone's favorite, but now it's time to move on... Thanks for reading...