Sick glider- post surgery decline

Recently one of my sugar gliders (Arora) got a hair wrapped around her paw(we think, sure not sure the cause as her cagemate was fine) she chewed off all 5 fingers. We took her to the vet immediately and they put her on antibiotics/pain meds and wanted her to heal for 2 weeks before they did surgery to remove any dead tissue. She started out rough- wouldnt eat much didnt move around much but at the end of 2 weeks she was almost back to normal and was eating a TON to make up for the healing process. (sans a hand with some black tissue). The vet did the surgery, during which Arora stopped BREATHING and they had to resuscitate her. The vet continued the surgery without even calling to ask me if I wanted to continue.... So needless to say I was [censored]. Then when we go to pick her up they had bathed her (we put a cone on her b/c she would latch onto her hand and not let go) so she cant groom and gets dirty, but they left her sopping wet and stuck her in the hospital cage... she was shivering violently when we got her back.. overall terrible experience. The issue is now, post surgery shes doing terrible. She started to have diarrhea so I found a different vet and they gave us some meds for a giardia infection. (strongly think the previous vet gave her tap water after surgery). But now she refuses to eat... isnt active... I can barely get her to eat a few bites of avocado (fav food of hers) and shell eat one or two mealworms and then is done... Both my sugar gliders LOVE meal worms and this is the part thats really concerning me. I feel like shes slowly going downhill and the the vet isnt really sure of the cause... The one thing I noticed is her injured hand shakes, not sure if thats indicative of anything but any advice is welcome.

Anyone deal with this before? Am I overreacting?

Hi and Welcome to Glider Central.

Bless your little one's heart...

Did they give you anything to Arora for pain?

Do you have a syringe to feed her and give her water?

Is she dry and warm enough?

Can you send a pic of the injured hand?

I haven't experienced this, but thought I would ask you a few questions for more info.

Yes shes on pain medicine, one antibiotic for the giardia, and one antibiotic to stave off infection in her hand. The vet is thinking on stopping the giardia meds and the pain killer to see if her appetite improves.

We have needle-less syringes that we give the meds to her with, and I hand feed her 3 times a day. I use to put in food during the night as well, when she was doing so good, and she would eat it all (on a tilted tiny plastic plate so she could eat with her cone on) She drinks water well but if needed I can force feed her water.

Shes in a hospital cage right now (so its pretty small), we made her a fleece tunnel pouch so she can enter it with her cone on (I will give pics). Shes also separated from her cage mate, do you think a heating pad under her cage is a good idea? Its a constant 70 degrees in our house. But we take her outside after her daily bath and she loves the heat/sun.

Hand and cage:

https://imgur.com/a/UjtmA

Awww... you are a good Mom! You thought of things I would have never thought of. Angled dish, tunnel pouch. Looks cozy. Do you have blankies in there?

Her stump has a good color I think. Again I am no expert, but the pics are perfect.

Is she cold when touched or warm?

When does she go back to the vet?

Heating pad... We usually don't recommend those. If she is feverish it could be too much.

When you give her a bath, do you hold her till she is warmed up and dry? Gliders don't do well in direct sun.

Thank you She's a normal temperature when touched, vet check is this Friday so we'll see what they say. And yea we sit outside in the shade and I make a little towel cave. Occasionally she'll hop onto a little lemon tree we have and crawl into the sun lol. I usually take her back into the shade after 5 minutes so she doesn't get too hot.

Been having issues with her getting mats in her fur even though we're bathing her, any suggestions?

A soft toothbrush. Just softly brush through her fur.

She will enjoy the message she gets from it too.

Oh thank you! thats a great idea. And I missed the part about blankies but yes I use to put in little fleece squares but she kept catching them in her cone and either getting stuck or accidentally shoving them against her food/water bottle. I guess I could try cutting them up smaller hmmm

Dawn has given you great information. IMO your vet that did the surgery should have just taken the whole arm off, but surgery is done and there is no sense putting her under seeing as she did stop breathing during the surgery.

I would also lay off the giradia meds, her diarrhea could very well have been from the antibiotics.

How does she react when you touch the stump? If she shows signs of pain I would continue with the antibiotics, if she doesn't you could stop those also as pain meds can be very hard on their liver and kidneys.

I would also give her some yogurt with live cultures, high fat and no artificial sweeteners. I usually give them Original Yoplait.

Please keep us posted on your little one and what the vet says at your next visit.

P.S. When you give her a bath try real hard not to get her stump wet.

Thank you, ironically all she will eat right now is the above mentioned things and mixed berry yoplait (original).
Albeit not a lot, Im thinking of moving her appointment up and getting them to do an X-ray, worried maybe she has a stomach obstruction.
Do you think it would be worth it to have a vet consult listed on this site talk to my new vet? They seem to be experienced but everyone has different opinions on treatment options.

I would print the list out and take it with you. It may be easiest to get in touch with Dr. Bradley.

Thank you, just a quick update she's eating a ton better after stopping the giardia meds and pain killers for a couple days. She decided meal worms are delicious and their heads need prompt ripping off so she's definitely herself again next steps are figuring out why she won't stop attacking her hand when we take her cone off-it's not fully healed yet.The vet says it's abnormal that she's still biting it and thinks it may be caused by nerve damage. We tried on her suggestion to leave the cone off for a bit and she groomed for 5minutes and then latched on... Baby steps I guess!

Are the stitches out yet?

So glad her appetite is back!!!

The vet thinks the stitches came out (they are the kind that need to be removed but I think we got them wet) as she couldn't see any but she also didn't really clean the gunk off her hand to look...she didn't want to set back the healing. My concern is the stitches are still in there and the vet hasn't really mentioned what's she's going to do if the hand heals over them...guess something to ask her on Friday.

Short answer:I don't know

Another update... She's acting like going to the bathroom hurts and she sticks her butt wayyy up in the air. I noticed there's a swollen ring around her cloaca that only protrudes when she goes...no idea what the hell is going on now. Maybe a UTI??? She just can't catch a break... She's acting fine otherwise and the checkup is tomorrow so to the vet we go. Someone let me know if this is an emergency-she has an ecollar on so no chewing can occur.

Oh man! Poor lil thing. Maybe it is a UTI or side effect or irritation from all the meds goin through her system. When my Smores was on antibiotics it gave her diarrhea. I don't recall ever seeing her cloaca area looking any different though.

I do hope your vet visit today goes well today and hey can offer you more help. She definitely needs a break form more problems so she can start healing and feelin healthy again.

and to you both.

I agree with Sugarfluff. I hope the vet cleaned the gunk off the end of her stub too.

Just so you know canned pumpkin, no spices, is good for both constipation and diarrhea.

Feather! I'll have to mark that one down!

Thanks for all the advice guys. Shes doing much better on only one stronger antibiotic, no uti anymore. She's finally healing up, the vet kept not wanting to clean the wound so we finally did before the last checkup. Turns out she had some bone still sticking out of her knuckles so they trimmed it off. It's almost fully healed but she will not leave it alone with the cone off, she just attacks it anyone have any experience with this? I'm hoping it's just because it's not fully healed yet.

Thank you for the update! My guess is the same as yours. It needs to fully heal. If they found a bone, she could be reacting to the discomfort.

Im so glad to hear shes doing better. I dont have any experience with post surgery or bad injuries but I've dealt with small ones. I do know that they will pick and pick at the smallest little sore or unusual area until it gets bad. I imagine that here arm/wrist area is still hairless and visibly showing a wounded area and shes just going to go at it grooming and picking unless shes in a collar. It's sad but she may have to stay in it until it's completely healed hair and all.

You're doing great in all you've done for her. Keep up the awesome care and I hope she continues to get better and will soon leave her healing area alone soon.

Another update... The wound would not heal with the amount of bone sticking out so a second surgery was done. two weeks later the vet takes out the stitches and she did not stitch it well... two spots were missing a stitch and did not heal all the way so she glued them... not ideal. After 3 days one of the glued spots popped open and the next day we were changing her cone and she got ahold of her hand... now her entire incision looks like raw hamburger meat from her ripping it.

Im kind at the end of my rope. Ive spent easily 1,000 dollars, been to two different vets, and its been 6 months. Ive done everything the vets advised, and in 30 seconds aurora has undone it all.

Im not sure what is next. I honestly may be looking into another vet. Does anyone have suggestions for north carolina vets with experience in hand injuries?

Im almost tempted to cauterize the wound myself and be done with it.

I'm sorry things aren't going well. Here is what is in our database with reviews.

http://www.sugargliderhelp.com/links/pag...lina/index.html

If you live near a state boarder, You can search in that state too.

I'm not familiar with that part of the country so I not much help.

You could call and ask how familiar with amputation they are. I would also suggest having arm removed to shoulder. She won't be able to use it, but they learn get around with 1 less limb.

Catarizing would not be a good idea. Please keep us posted. I was thinking about your little one just the other day.

Oh I would never try to cauterize it myself, I think the frustration is finally getting to me.

I have seen a couple posts on laser neuter and even laser therapy on this forum so that is where I'm headed next I think. If they can laser it together that would be amazing.
I also bought quickderm per another post on here.

Can I contact the open wound emergency contact? Val b from the sugar group? Or is that frowned upon unless she's in immediate danger?


Thank you for the well wishes

Sorry I was off line. I would get her back to a vet ASAP. If you have an open wound, it needs to be treated. I know an emergency vet can be expensive, but infection is eminent and needs treatment.

You can contact anyone on the emergency contact list. ValB at one time was not taking calls due to some family issues, I believe, however that was a while back. I would try her first. If you get her machine, leave a message and then try someone else on the list.

I'm sorry, saying prayers for you little one!

if u are in Raleigh try nc state vet school they are great and have an emergency dept just go there they will take you or bowman anumal clinic dr d or dr hunt both in Raleigh