For the beginning of this story, please see this post:
Why we Quarantine Now, about Piper's current condition. She's been on the metro since Wednesday evening, so she's gotten 4 doses. I can't say she's any better and she may be just slightly worse. She didn't eat last night and wasn't interested in her yogurt licky treat I offered this morning whereas yesterday morning she took it fine. Also, last night her stool was still very soft, but formed. I haven't seen a stool from her today, probably because she hasn't eaten enough to produce any. On the positive side, she did take a couple of mealies from me at lunch today, and when I got up this morning, she was jumping around in the cage playing.
I called the
vet and after a long conversation, we decided to start her on Baytril as well as the metro. He says they are not even certain that the trichs are what causes the sickness. They may just multiply in the intestines of a glider who is compromised by something else. I am also a little concerned that she's getting dehydrated so I am planning to take her in later today to see if he thinks she needs a subQ.
For the newbies who are wondering how much
vet care may cost with a glider, here's Piper's bills so far (hopefully my hubby won't see this.
)
9/29/06 Initial well check (a few days after I got her, before she got sick): $26
9/29/06 fecal float and smear: $35 (I also had this done on Peepers that day so double that if you want to count her)
10/11/06 fecal float and smear that I brought in: $35
10/11/06 metronidazole medications since the fecal was positive for trichs: $14
10/13/06 more metro (I initially didn't get enough to cover Peepers too) and Baytril: $30
10/13/06 I will probably be taking her in for an office visit today because I'm concerned she needs a subQ. The OV will be another $26, and I don't know how much the subQ will be if needed.
So far, $166, not counting Peeper's fecal or the subQ. Back in August when Jeepers died and Peepers got sick a couple of days later, I think I spent around $700. I KNOW I spent $400 on
one visit during that time with Peepers because I was desperate to find out what she had so I wouldn't lose her too, so we did everything from culture/sensitivity to x-ray to fecals, exam, etc.
I'm hoping it's just taking a few days for the meds to start working on Piper, but I didn't want to get into the weekend and be stuck with just emergency
vet care if it didn't go well (THOSE office visits are more like $80 instead of $26 and the e-
vet is not as qualified) so I wanted to add the Baytril now.
Oh, I almost forgot. Yesterday, I started thinking about the possibility that my daughter could be the carrier of the trichomonads that keep infecting the gliders. It seemed to fit with the course of events. This is the fourth time we've had to deal with it and each time, they've apparently been cured, then got sick weeks or months later. This time particularly mystified me because Peepers still seemed to be completely fine and Piper is a new glider so she hadn't been exposed to it when it was active before. The reason I suspected my daughter is because she had a little stomach bug that caused diarrhea and vomiting the week after we got Piper and the week before Piper got sick. Piper's her glider, so she's been doing the whole
bonding thing too. Also, Syd has on and off complained of a tummy ache, but I just figured it was the normal kid stuff. I just started wondering if she could have picked it up from Peepers and Jeepers one of the other times they had it and be giving it back to them (and now Piper) periodically. However, both the
vets (two different ones) and her pediatrician seriously doubted that she and they could be passing it back and forth like that. We did send out a fecal sample from my daughter for testing just to be on the safe side though. I should get the results Monday.
Gosh, I'm tired of being worried about gliders.