hello! My name is Allison, I am 21 and an owner of 2 female gliders around the age of 2/3 each.
My one glider Petree has had CONSISTENT issues with her cloaca, and I cannot figure out what it is that's causing it. It will bubble up and she will start to prolapse a little and then I need to go to the
vet to which they express her glands, put her on stool softener, antiinflamatory and a antibacterial medicine and then she's usually fine for a good while. The
vet said sometimes gliders just have common issues like this, but I want to know why!
I am concerned that this may be a product of my other glider overgrooming her cloaca but I'm not entirely sure. I've tried to get down to what the issue is, I have tried cleaning the cage more often, taking out certain items in the cage that could be causing possible problems, changing
diet (currently on the HPW
diet from Exotic Nutrition, with exotic nutrition pellets as well as general fruits and vegetables specifically Broccoli often as well as Bell Peppers and proteins like eggs) and I haven't been able to pin point why this happens. The last time this happened I believe my other glider Momo wound up BITING her swollen cloaca and making it bleed (not sure if on purpose or not but expected that she was trying to groom it or figure it out).
Currently Petree has an extremely swollen cloaca. It seemed as though it blew up overnight, in fact this problem happened not too long ago and the
vet just called to see how shes doing and I told them she was fine because she was, it usually blows up in one night. Her cloaca is red, its like a bubble. She hisses when she goes to the bathroom, however, every time her cloaca has puffed up like this she has seemed pretty fine with her behavior as in she still runs around at night.
i've quarantined her in my travel sized cage so that the other glider cannot interfere with it any more and gave her some of the stool softeners I still had (dont worry I checked the expiration). My
vet told me that the best bet is to do warm compresses and to keep it moist with a lubricant like coconut oil until I can get their help so that is what I'll be doing today.
My
vet is closed on Sunday, (today) and I'm not really sure what to do.
Can anyone help me figure this out or does anyone have any advice for me?
Can I get some advice from someone else who's glider also has or has had consistent cloaca swelling issues and what your solution is/was?
Her hair isnt being overgroomed or thinning anywhere so it would JUST be overgrooming specifically of the cloaca but if this WERE a product of overgrooming from my other glider, how would I try and stop this from happening without them having to stay apart from each other?
Please help a young worried glider mom out!! I am so worried for her