GliderCENTRAL

Tail Rot? Rescue Glider

Posted By: Anonymous

Tail Rot? Rescue Glider - 03/26/07 02:28 AM

Hi, if anyone has experience with this I would greatly appriciate some advice. I am a registered veterinary technician at a cat/dog clinic. I rescued a 5-6 yr old intact male glider about 3 weeks ago. The gliders penis was necrotic at the tips, so as advised from a glider breeder we amputated the tip of his penis and castrated him. We did not give him antibiotics. He has been on an appropriate diet for the last 3 weeks and had recovered completely. With all the excitement of the other surgery I pushed his tail problem aside hoping it would clear up with proper nutrition. It has not. The tip of his tail (about 1/8 inch) looks like bone (no hair), then for a little over an inch it is bone hard - it feels wrong, but there is hair still growing from it. Today I noticed a 1/4" "scab" sticking up from this part of his tail with shiny flesh where it had peeled up from. I'm taking him to the hospital in the morning & I'm going to [censored] his tail to confirm there is still good blood supply. If anyone knows what's going on, please let me know. He is a friendly glider & I haven't witnessed him chewing the tail.Thank you, Katherine
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Tail Rot? Rescue Glider - 03/26/07 02:54 AM

Upon closer inspection tonight, the area of tail about 1 1/4" from the tip of the tail is now very inflammed and loosing hair/top layer of skin. I am 98% sure the end 1/4" of his tail is dead, I'm thinking amputation maybe on the book for tomorrow - that's a lot of tail to loose - please let me know if I'm going in the wrong direction! -Katherine
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Tail Rot? Rescue Glider - 03/26/07 03:05 AM

Katherine, if you are working with a vet I'm sure you know what you are doing. If it is dead, it does sound like amputation would be a better alternative to infection. I am no doctor but it seems like antibiotics would be a standard protocol there too because from my prior vet experiences if you are dealing with major inflammation or possible necrosis then infection seems like it would be a concern. There are gliders out there in the community with no tails or partial tails and they do quite well, although he may need a bit to work on his balance.

I haven't had any experience with tail necrosis myself, so hopefully someone with more experience may be able to help you soon. Jen (Xfilefan) has done a lot of rescue work so if you PM her she might have some related experience?

Good luck smile and keep us posted!
Posted By: BeckiT

Re: Tail Rot? Rescue Glider - 03/26/07 03:12 AM

Katherine, he could very well have self mutilated it before you got him. If the tail gets infected, it can quickly become septic and kill him worried Is there a reason antibiotics weren't given with the penis amputation? You'll most likely need an ecollar for him, which needs to be specially made for a glider. You'll also want to make use of a straw to cover the tail to prevent any further damage (because even in an ecollar they can access their tails).

If you register, I can move this to Health and Hygeine where you'll be able to get more targeted responses to his issue. It'd free and easy to register, and will also allow you to be able to post in all the forums of the board wink
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Tail Rot? Rescue Glider - 03/26/07 03:28 AM

I registered.
We have only cat and dog patients - so we were very nervous about the glider proceedure - we gave him a dose of oral pain control but missed looking up the antibiotic dosage. I'll look it up tomorrow and get him on some. Do you have suggestions for the e collar for gliders and how to keep the straw on him? Thanks, Katherine
Posted By: BeckiT

Re: Tail Rot? Rescue Glider - 03/26/07 03:41 AM

Thanks for registering, and let me "officially" welcome you to GC wave

There is a vet in texas who doesn't mind doing phone consults: Dr. Tristan (361) 994-1145.

Here is a post on a glider who self mutilated their tail, and another good tail amputation post with a lot of good information.

and, last but not least, here are the instructions on how to make an ecollar wink

**Moving this to health and hygeine now since you've registered wink
Posted By: Xfilefan

Re: Tail Rot? Rescue Glider - 03/26/07 07:22 AM

First, antibiotics are a MUST. Also pain med (usually Torb) is needed to be on hand. The damaged part of the tail must come off before infection goes sceptic, and kills the glider. You'll want to have an ecollar on hand as well-they WILL mess with the surgery site, and there's only so much tail. The tissue is hard because it's dying (like the penis did). I'd recommend not waiting on or putting this off-the longer it's like that, the greater risk of death, or of losing the entire tail.

Let us know how the vet visit went.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Tail Rot? Rescue Glider - 03/26/07 09:39 AM

I have several gliders who have had to have tail amputations. We do large scale rescues and get have gotten several females who were chewing on thier tails, probably stress related since there were no other health issues going on, and have only had one male who needed an amputation so far.
My vet is wonderful, Dr Murray at Farmers Hranch Animal Clinic if you would like to call him for a phone consult the number is 972-247-2221. As suggested you will have to put on a e-collar. I would for sure start a round of antibiotics as well as pain meds if needed. The amputation must be between the joints of course. I have gliders with no tail to ones with a nice sized stump. I am attatching a few pictures of Hope here so you can see how she looked.

This is Hope when she came in to Hope for Gliders:
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t196/AngieandJerald/HopesTail.jpg

This is Hope after the surgery and she is all healed:
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t196/AngieandJerald/family%20pictures/Hopehealted.jpg

Please let us kow how he is doing, my thoughts and prayers are with you. Thank you for helping the gliders!
Angie
Posted By: sugarglidersuz

Re: Tail Rot? Rescue Glider - 03/26/07 11:21 AM

(Angie, couldn't get the 2nd link to work dunno )
Kat, I'll be praying for your little one hug2 I have no experience with tail amputations, but Jen & Angie do know and so I'd follow their advice to the letter... both of the vets already listed for consults are excellent and very willing to help other vets out with glider concerns. Please let us know how the surgery goes today.
Posted By: Bourbon

Re: Tail Rot? Rescue Glider - 03/26/07 07:13 PM

tail amputations are a fairly common procedure, as long as you protect it with a collar, squeaky should do just fine.. the instructions on how to make an e-collar for a glider is here
http://www.sugarglider.net/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/69788/page/1#Post69788

scrool down to the text instructions and there is a link to the pics for it.

please keep us updated on squeaky..
Posted By: USMom

Re: Tail Rot? Rescue Glider - 03/26/07 11:21 PM

My Melee had to have her tail amputated several times, in the end, she now has no tail. As long as it's taken care of and watched, Squeeks should do fine. This will be some great bonding time for the two of you!
Posted By: Kitkatt1216

Re: Tail Rot? Rescue Glider - 03/26/07 11:36 PM

Good luck with Squeaky. As you've gotten good advice from people with lots of experience, good luck is all I have to add. Please keep up posted.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Tail Rot? Rescue Glider - 03/27/07 12:26 AM

Squeaky has his tail maputated this evening. We left 1/4" stub. The surgery went great. Thanks for all your support and information. I called Dr Tristin for a consult, he was willing to give us some great tips. He also told me the dosage for the antibiotic and pain meds, so we're on those. I do have a problem with the e collar. While Squeaky was sedated I fit it on him, but the moment he woke up he was able to rip it off. I've had tons of experience with cat and dog e collars - I just cant figure out how he got it off, it seemed tight. Do you have any tips on getting it to stay on? Right now he's without one & I'm nervous about what he'll do to his incision site overnight. Thanks, Katherine
Posted By: Xfilefan

Re: Tail Rot? Rescue Glider - 03/27/07 12:45 AM

First-do you have the double layer of molefoam strips under the moleskin? That makes a BIG difference.

Second...it may seem tight, but with gliders, they are adept at escape.

It's okay if the nose turns red, but not blue. If the glider can breathe/crab-they're fine no matter how they act. It can take several tries, and observation, to get it to stay on. I know it's hard to watch them struggle with it-but it's necessary. Just remember when your heart's breaking that it's for their own good. hug2
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Tail Rot? Rescue Glider - 03/28/07 01:40 AM

I made a lacing through the e collar so I could tie it snug enough, then I used tape to secure it in place and to prevent him from getting his toes caught in the thread - It stayed in place all night and day! He's not wanting to eat though, so I've removed it for a few hours (while monitoring him carefully) so he can eat and rest. I just can't believe how stressful it is on him to wear it! I figure I'll keep him in it for about a week. Thanks a lot!
-Katherine
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Tail Rot? Rescue Glider - 03/31/07 01:38 AM

I just wanted to let everyone know that Squeaky is great! Healing great. He's been w/o his e collar for days now is doing perfect. Thanks again for all your help.
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