I took Gizmo to the vet last week because her right eye was infected and swollen shut. There was also a swelling underneath that eye that felt real hard. All of this happened to her almost overnight. The vet that I use specializes in exotics. He said he wasn't sure what the swelling was without doing x-rays, and other tests which would cost upwards of $500. He said "it didn't look good" and recommended that I just give her pain medication to keep her from scratching her eye and the swollen area. So I've been giving her 2 drops of Naproxen each day for a week now. He did say that she had an ulcerated cornea and was in a lot of pain. She's not getting any better. After reading some info on lumpy jaw syndrome, I was wondering if this could be what is wrong with her. I had her on the Brisky diet which I now know is a "no no".I know she needs to go back to the vet, but wonder if any of you had experienced this in your gliders and if you did, did the swelling go away and did their eyesight recover? She is eating just fine but spends most of her time sleeping, not playing as much as she did before. I feel like crying every time I get her out because she is such a pitiful sight. I hate seeing her suffer.
I hope someone out there has some experience with this to help me with my question.
Thanks
Lynn

Sorry but unless you dont at least get a culture & sensitivity test done, and get her placed on the most effective antibiotics, it will probably not improve.

Your vet is right. It is hard to determine the cause of something like this, without further exploratory exams and possible xrays. It could be a range of things including dental issues. Unfortunately to do these sort of tests, it does get expensive as usually it involves the glider to be anaethatised for these test to be done. It can get very expensive but hopefully some basic tests will pinpoint the problem without getting to the more expensive ones. In my case, unfortunately it took all the tests plus some before we found an answer.

My glider had an identical problem, and without going into too much detail, she had the most knowledgable of care, had ALL the tests done, four anaesthetics, xrays plus numerous antibiotic treatments and the end result was there was no improvement till they actually removed the eye as the last resort. The moment her eye was removed, her health improved dramatically and all infection and swelling disappeared. The tissue surrounding the back of her eye was dead and the hub of the infection based there where the antibiotics was not able to penetrate fully and do it's job.

This IS a probably a worst case scenario and Im hoping your glider has a less serious reason for the swelling and eye damage. However, unless at least some antibiotic treatment is started, it may got a whole lot worse so at least get some basic tests done and some antibiotics started.

It's nearly a year since my glider's issues. She copes well with one eye. She has become very spoilt and a much loved member of the family.

Naproxen, isn't the same as OTC pain meds? That isn't going to help your glider's eye. It could be just the eye, dental or sinus. Only the vet can determine that though. Will your vet not check the poor glider out and at least give him meds for this?

Another thing that I've seen, working in vet Medicine, is dogs and cat's that come in like that and have something lodged deep down in their eye!

Or also it could be an inflamed or infected scratch across the eye! Was that ruled out? Either way, there's gonna need to be antibiotics given! That's a must! so get that little one back to the vet no matter you have to do to make it happen! It doesn't take long for infection to take over their little bodies so the less time you waiste the better!

Yep Naproxen is the medicine found in Aleeve. I am allergic to it

Daniel

Naproxen is a HEAVY Pain med! It's not even given to humans unless by perscription in it's full strength!!

Well, one thing's for sure, I'm taking her back to the vet!
I'll have more knowledge this time around and will take her to another vet if I feel she's not getting the help she needs.

I strongly suggest getting her on antibiotics as soon as possible. There is an obvious infection and without treatment it can and mostly likely will go systemic (throughout her blood system) and be fatal. I would urge you to try to contact Xfilefan about this as she has had experience with this and can best advise you on what types of antibiotics and proceedures to have done.

Aleve tore my stomach all to pieces when I tried it once. UGH I remember where I knew the Naproxen from now.

It helps a lot of people with arthritis (sp?) but I just can't take it. Part of 1% of population that has "adverse side effects" on. Nasty stuff -- hopefully they can find something better for the poor glider?!

Daniel

NO MORE NAPROXEN!!
Plus, no matter what the vet says (because the glider has been on naproxen sodium) DO NOT USE METACAM AT ALL

(I'm not yelling, it's very, very important! They can cause permanent liver and kidney damage if used more than 3-4 days, and this glider has already been on it way too long )

The eye may be infected enough secondary to the jaw to have to be removed, but infection needs to start being treated first. I have a vet who will consult, if yours won't cooperate, I highly suggest finding another one who will.

Infections in the jaw and sinus frequently (almost always) harbor anaerobic bacteria-that needs treated along with any others that may be in there. There may be more than one kind, also. I'll make recommendations as if this were one of mine.

Most abscesses (the lump) can be cultured. If there is a pocket, it HAS to be opened to drain, either via a removed tooth, if that is the cause, or externally by the vet lancing it, or both. A sample of any drainage or pus will need to be sent for a Culture and Sensitivity (C&S)...but DO NOT wait for that to start antibiotics. Those can be changed if the culture/sensitivity results indicate it's necessary later.

The facial infections I've dealt with have responded best so far to a combination of CLINDAMYCIN and FLAGYL (aka Metro or Metronidazole)-this combo covers a range of bacteria that includes gram positive, gram negative, and anaerobic. When Riker's was bad, and hard to treat, we also had him on Baytril along with the other 2. Because of the severity of your little one's infection, and the fact these are notoriously hard to treat, which means they infect bone and take longer to cure, I would go with a course of treatment between 4 and 8 weeks in length-NO LESS. Here are the names of the meds without all the clutter:

Baytril
Clindamycin
Flagyl

Buprenex or Torb for pain

The vet may need to remove the eye-there is another member whose little one lost his infected eye and has been doing very well (somewhere in Health)-I'll try and look that up as soon as I have a chance, or you can try a search.

At this point I would not delay-infection, if it hasn't started already, can go systemic and kill quickly. Your little one is two weeks into this without adequate treatment, and there is NO more time to play with at this point. NONE. Get into someone who will consult if needed, and get this glider on the proper meds now. That may mean an ER vet for meds in the morning, then a regular one Monday to follow up.

I am going to PM you my vet's emergency number for an ER vet to use, a regular vet can call the office on Monday (that will follow). Print this out and take it with you.

Dr. Laurel Harris
Wasatch Exotic Pet Care
Salt Lake City, UT
801-485-4736

Sending PM next.

I wanted to add-either Baytril or Clindamycin can be used with the Flagyl, but Clindamycin is better on infections into bone, so if not using all 3, go with the Clindamycin. The Flagyl is the one that goes after the anaerobics.

Topicals to look at if the abscess is opened from outside the face include neosporin, silver sulfazadine cream, and diluted betadine.

Please follow Jen's (Xfilefan's) advice in regards to this. She has a lot of experience with this type of infection in gliders. Unless the infection is properly treated, it can either 1) kill your glider, or 2) continue to recur for months & months on end.
I have had experience with this type of infection in two of my gliders - following Jen's advice is the best option for treatment! I know - I've been there!
Please keep us posted on Gizmo's progress. We're here for you

Any update on this little one?

Sorry for the delay in giving you this update..... computer problem! After 3 vet visits this week, I finally found a vet who is helpful and willing to listen to me. I just got back from the "helpful" exotic vet. Gizmo's abcess was drained under her eye; her mouth and teeth look just fine. Right now we want to try to save her eye and keep the eye and any abcess infection from spreading. I take her back on Friday for a re-check.
The vet prescribed Baytril, and for her eye BNP (Baccitracin-Neomycin-Polymyxin.

Thanks for all your support out there, especially Jen who has shared her expertise and time to follow up.
Bless you all!
From Gizmo and Lynn


Bless you all!

Praying for a speedy, full recovery! I'm so glad to hear that she'll be okay. Gliders can live basically normal lives with only one eye, so she'll be fine. There is a post about it now under Special Needs if you'd like to take a look. Thanks for the update on her

and prayers to you and Gizmo! I'm impressed that you persued with finding another vet. If you had not done so, things would have gotten alot worse. I can feel in your words how much your love her! I just wanted to let you know that your a wonderful mommy and I will be praying for her on Monday.

Awww. I'm so sorry she's going to loose her eye - but that's such a small thing compared to how bad it could be.

I had a one eyed cat who never seemed to notice (he just didn't like the dog coming up on his left side quietly). And I've been reading about the one eyed glider her on GC.

I'm keeping a good thought for Gizmo. And I'm so glad that Ube was able to go along and give her comfort.

Hi,Lynn!

As soon as Gizmo recovers from all of this, you'll need to take her to Clarksville, TN to visit a little glider named "One-Eyed Jack" and his wonderful owner (Bourbon). One huge piece of advice that she'd give you I'll pass on: THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS A HANDICAPPED GLIDER...THERE ARE ONLY GLIDERS WHO ARE HANDICAPPED BY THEIR HUMANS!

Or perhaps you and she and Ube can plan to come to the Gliders Anonymous Get-Together in October. It's around the 12th-13th in (or near) Nashville...sorry I'm being so "space cadet" about the dates & such: I think my brains got put in the blender with the BML ingredients this morning! I'll get some more details and send you a Private Message with the details.

At any rate, you have A BUNCH of glider buddies surrounding you...I'm jealous!

Thanks again for all the kindness!
Yes, I'd to meet "One Eyed Jack", along with Gizmo who we could call "One Eyed Jill"!(See, you folks definitely lift my spirits-I still have some humor left).
Please keep me posted on any suggie getaways in the Nashville or Southern Kentucky area. I'm anxious to meet other glider parents and their furry kids.
Hugs & Kisses,
Gizmo("One Eyed Jill") & Lynn

Gizmo had her eye removed today. The vet just called and said everything went well. I'll be picking her up in a few hours....I'll be SO GLAD to have her back home!

Other than an e-collar, is there any way to prevent her from scratching her eye excessively? The vet said the e-collar would be too stressful for her and that the pain med should help. Gizmo will have a 3 day supply of pain med, and she'll continue the Baytril.

You can try the pain med, but if it doesn't work, the collar is the last line of defense. If she doesn't leave it alone she could cause damage that can't be fixed. Stressful or not, it's better than having that socket torn open.

I'm glad she came through so well. Keep us updated!

for you and Gizmo! I'm so happy to see she is okay!! I've been reading this thread scared of the outcome. Yay!!! She's home!!!

Can you get pain meds for more than 3 days? That runs it till Friday and vets can be hard to get ahold of on the weekend if you run out and she is hurting. 3 days doesn't seem long enough but I don't know.

How is she?

Bless her little heart! I am so happy to hear that she is coming along with no problems. Thanks for the update, I've been wondering how she's been doing.

Glad to hear she is doing well. I used to take Naproxen for heavy monthly cycle cramping, and someone else I knew took it for back pain. I didn't know it was an animal pain reliever as well! I learn something new every day!