We have a 3.5 year old glider named Ace. We have had him close to 2 years.
We have him under vet care, but I am wondering if anyone has seen anything similar in a glider. And if so what was the diagnoses and treatment?
I will list the symptoms from oldest to newest...
He has always been overweight, since I got him. The weight is carried oddly in that it he doesnt really have a neck. His head goes out to his shoulders with no taper to his neck.
I believe he is sterile. He was with a female at least a year with no sign of pregnacy. I got him neutered because I didnt know why there were never babies, but I believe he was with the female a while before I got the pair as well.
He started developing thick nails, I cant remember when this started but I know I mentioned it to the vet when he got neutered in April of last year. This has gotten a bit worse over the year to the point that I almost cant get them trimmed down now.
About 6 weeks ago I noticed some minor hair loss which quickly got worse. I thought it was stress and/or humidity levels in the bedroom. We moved him to a new room with less stress and more fresh air on Feb 22nd but he has shown no improvement. This hair loss is mostly in the trunk of his body and tail.
Ace was bred by My Little Gremlin and his oop date is 12/01/04.
Again, he IS getting vet care, I'm just wondering if anyone has a similar experience or has seen these type of symptoms because any information that I can give my vet will help her help him.
Have they done a blood panel on him yet? That is one of the things I would highly recommend doing.
It looks like the nails may be a bit yellowish, this would make me concerned about the liver. If it is the liver slowing down, the first cause needs to be found.
Does look like overgrooming for the hair loss, but I am thinking maybe he is feeling a bit of pain and therefore overgrooming those particular areas? Usually stress overgrooming seems to be focused only above the eyes first and that is not seen here???
Definitely a very pretty glider though. I hope some ideas can be thrown out for you and your vet to figure out what it may be.
She was looking for a lab that can run the blood tests she wants done but what she found was that the cost will be 400-500 and since she knows we can't afford that right now she's suggested starting treatment instead... on top of that she says the stress of putting him under to draw blood could kill him.
My vet thinks he has cushings disease. She is working on a getting the correct meds and finding a company that will give us a long term contract to provide them.
I'd never heard of that in a glider so I'm more looking for info on if anyone has seen a glider with these same problems or some of them. What was the treatment if it has been seen.
The liver comment is very interesting.
I took him in and pulled him out and she immediatelly said it looked like endocryn disease from the weight and pattern of the hair loss. When I mentioned he was probably sterile she said that made sense because it attacks the reproductive system.
We made plans for me to bring him back in for the blood test but she couldnt find a lab that was close enough to get the blood to without a special courier, which would add signifigantly to the cost.
So I brought him back in last night when I had some neuters done and we decided to go to treatment instead. The treatment is expensive too but if we are going to dig up money for something we need it to be his treatment.
I just cant believe that this is a unique situation.
Ace's cagemate is overgrooming her head while her body fur looks clumpy. The vet thinks she is mostly healthy but in distress over Aces illness.
I say mostly healthy because she thinks that Ivy has some issues from birth, she has weak bones and at first I thought HLP but she thinks it's something she was born with. We didnt really talk a lot about that beyond her suggesting I give her more calcium.
So that's everything. I was being vauge on what my vet thought because I wanted to see if anyone brought up the same things my vet said with the endocryn and cushings.
Thanks... I will certainly mention the liver thing to her.
Re: Hair Loss and Other Symptoms
[Re: ]
#504026 03/14/0802:09 PM03/14/0802:09 PM
Obviously you want to rule out any medical issues and I don't have a clue where to start.
But...
Attached are some pictures of Reep. When he came to me, he was skin and bones at 119 grams. He is the type of glider that would be HEALTHY at 160-180 grams.
For Reep, his condition, determined through process of elimanation, was diet, Stress and MORE stress. He is very much THE family man and the person I got him from was breeding him. He does NOT do well with stress of any kind. He would grieve severely each time one of his joeys was taken from him. Changing his cage neighbors causes him to loose hair. Not hanging the toys in the same place each time, causes him to lose hair.
His nails were very very thick. It took over a year of clipping them and the new diet but now his nails are back to normal again. It wasn't just a matter of clipping the tips of his nails. The underside of them (where there shouldn't be any nail) had to be clipped back too.
Since he has been with me, I try to keep things as consistant as possible, had him neutered and have him on a diet that came about BECAUSE of him. (Reep's diet)
He is now a very chubby 200 gram glider who has all his fur and is doing beautifully.
620-704-9109 Judge not until you have walked in their shoes and lived their lives. What you see online is only part of the story.
I could have missed the pain But I'd of had to miss the dance
The soul would have no rainbow if the eyes had no tears.
Re: Hair Loss and Other Symptoms
[Re: ]
#504028 03/14/0802:11 PM03/14/0802:11 PM
Personally, I would not treat for Cushing's disease without testing being done first.
You say the glider came from me to someone else and then to you... can you tell me his lineage? Need to know whom his parents were.
Did the vet do any routine testing? Fecal float and Direct Fecal Stain? Since the female appears to have someing going on... she needs to be tested for possible parasites or bacterial illness.
As to the hair loss on the sides... my guess is he is rubbing the hair off in a sleeping pouch. Now here is a thought... being fluffy, the pouch needs to be larger so he has more room to move around in it without being cramped.
I can't really tell, but his hair loss looks a little like Kira's - like a thinning of the fur, versus groomed off? But as I said, I can't really tell. Has the vet felt his body (particularly abdomen) for masses? I'm not saying that's what this is, but Kira has a mass in her abdomen and it has wreaked havoc on her appearance.
As far as the thick nails, Teresa is absolutely right, the entire nail needs to be clipped - I use side cut cuticle clippers and put my nail between the pad of the toe and the nail and clip the nail at an angle into my nail so that I know I am getting everything but not at risk of injuring the glider. Kira has had problems with thick nails on and off for several years.
~Gretchen
If we never loved, then maybe we would never feel pain. Love anyway. It's worth it.
Re: Hair Loss and Other Symptoms
[Re: CSteele]
#504180 03/14/0804:38 PM03/14/0804:38 PM
About two weeks ago Ace began losing weight. By the time a week went by he had lost so much weight he looked like a regular glider. I got ahold of my vet and she was out of town till yesterday and said as long as he could eat, drink, poop, and all that stuff that we could take some time to say goodbye and prepare ourselves.
About 5 days ago I was clipping his nails and discovered a mass in his belly. It was obviously painfull because he bit me hard both times I tried to feel it better.
Yesterday we both took half days at work and took him in to be put to sleep. We fed him mealies and talked to him then we dropped a few in his pouch and when he was inside the pouch eating the mealies the vet gave him the shot. He passed instantly.
My vet did the necropsy after we left. She called me to say the cancer was spread into most of his organs and he also has some internal bleeding from the spleen (I *think* it was the spleen) She had taken samples and said they wouldnt be ready to examine till later that night. She was desperate to understand what kind of cancer this was that he had.
I will post when I know more. He was a very loved little boy and we will miss him very much. It was one of the hardest things we ever had to do, but he isnt in pain anymore.
I am so sorry for your loss. He knew he was loved.
To change the face by your screen name, go to the top right side of the screen, where it says, "Welcome TnR" click on the face icon and a pop up will come up on the left, you can change your mood there.
Oh my gosh - reading your story of his last moments made me cry all over. I'm all snotty and dripping. I am so sorry for your loss. He knew he was loved, loved so much, and he died peacefully, warm and doing what all gliders love to do. I have to go blow my nose now. Godspeed little Ace.
Re: Hair Loss and Other Symptoms
[Re: ]
#563817 06/04/0809:55 PM06/04/0809:55 PM
I am sorry for your loss. Your love helped you make the difficult decision of helping him over the rainbow bridge.
May your memories of him comfort you in the days to come.
Deepest Sympathy,
Kimberley Feathers-Sweetie, Mister Peanut & Big Mack Fur-Guinan, Mr. Spock, T'Mir, Cho, Toothless, Maverick & Maharet T'Pol, Elizabeth & Curzon TY, TJ, Light Fury, Madison & T'Pring Forever in my heart, Gizmo, Tucker, Khayman and the rest of my babies over the
Re: Hair Loss and Other Symptoms
[Re: Feather]
#563835 06/04/0810:25 PM06/04/0810:25 PM
Robin, I'm so very sorry about Ace. I sure wish his outcome had been more like Reep's. Hopefully the vet can determine what type of cancer and we (the community) can learn more about this and perhaps find a way to prevent it in future gliders.
I can only imagine how difficult it was to go through for you and I hope you find peace soon. God's Speed Ace.
620-704-9109 Judge not until you have walked in their shoes and lived their lives. What you see online is only part of the story.
I could have missed the pain But I'd of had to miss the dance
The soul would have no rainbow if the eyes had no tears.