GliderCENTRAL

Broken foot

Posted By: Anonymous

Broken foot - 01/14/09 10:48 PM

Unfortunately sometime on Monday, my sugar glider Velcro accidentally broke his foot. Since then we've had a couple visits to the vet. Surgery is scheduled for tomorrow (1/15) for amputation at the ankle, since the break is pretty severe. I'm pretty nervous. Right now he is on antibiotics and pain meds, and taking them willingly from a syringe. He's still eating and drinking. His little foot is in a cast right now to keep it from getting dirty and infected, since a little bit of the bone was exposed.

Can I get any advice possible on successful recovery? He isn't bugging his cast so I think that's a pretty good sign he'll handle the new cast well, after surgery. He has been with me constantly during the day so that I can hand-feed and hand-water him, as well as administer the meds. Is there anything else I should take into account with a "special needs" suggie?

Thanks.
Posted By: LSardou

Re: Broken foot - 01/14/09 10:53 PM

Usually they will recover nicely within a few weeks or so. You might want to PM Dancing, she has delt with similar and will be able to offer you some suggestions.
The only concern I have is keeping a 'cast' on for fear of necrosis. I have heard of complications with using a cast long term.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Broken foot - 01/14/09 10:56 PM

Hello!
Well, I don't think the cast will be very long term at all. But what do you mean by long term - several days, or several weeks?

I will definitely get in touch with Dancing.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Broken foot - 01/14/09 11:05 PM

Hi, my glider also boke his leg just recently. I had purchased mine from ppp and when i got him something did not seem roight with his back leg. When i took him to the vet the xrays showed that the bones had already fused themselves back together somewhat and a piece of his bone was pushing through hi leg. it was a pretty big hole. my vet did a procedure and pulled the bone out made the hole a little bigger, cleaned it out really well and then we put a piece of (opsite) which is a clear very thin plastic to keep the wound clean and dry. he healed within 4-5 days. the hole just closed up. he has no problem with his leg at all now.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Broken foot - 01/14/09 11:08 PM

My vet had also tried to cast his leg but it didnt stay so thats when i suggested the opsite plastic, I am in nursing so I knew enough about that to think it might work better than a cast that wouldnt stay. I wish you lots of luck! Let us know how it goes.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Broken foot - 01/14/09 11:09 PM

Thank you Michelle - if for some reason the cast doesn't work out, I will mention the opsite plastic to my Vet.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Broken foot - 01/14/09 11:10 PM

Also since the opsite is clear, you can see the wound and if it starts to look yucky you can take it off and flush it with saline. Its better to see whats going on in there.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Broken foot - 01/14/09 11:15 PM

One more thing, your vet would probably best know the opsite as (Tegaderm). Sorry 4 got to write that b4.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Broken foot - 01/15/09 03:01 PM

Ah! Ok, thanks. That sounds like a great thing.

Velcro has been dropped off at the vet; he goes in for surgery this morning. Please keep your fingers crossed for him.
Posted By: LSardou

Re: Broken foot - 01/15/09 03:06 PM

I will be keeping him in my thoughts and prayers today. hug2
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Broken foot - 01/15/09 03:13 PM

He's doing very well so I'm pretty confident ^^ He took his antibiotics like a good little boy, and had a couple 1-cc syringes full of water, before going "backstage"...
Posted By: CharmedSuggies

Re: Broken foot - 01/15/09 03:24 PM

Awwww, i'm so sorry Velcro is going through that hug2 Bless his little heart! I wish his surgery well and a speedy recovery.
Posted By: Anonymous

Velcro is out of surgery!! - 01/15/09 06:45 PM

He did well...

He's awake and bouncing around right now. After initially waking up, he freaked out and went for the incision. They fitted him with an ecollar (I was impressed when the tech told me this, because I wasn't expecting them to have one) to get him to stop, but he promptly ripped the ecollar off. Now they have him under constant supervision and he seems to be doing fine.

Did they not have the ecollar on tight enough? I'm going to ask for extras to bring home, so that I don't have to make my own. And if he keeps chewing them off, I'll just keep replacing them.
Posted By: sugarlope

Re: Velcro is out of surgery!! - 01/15/09 06:48 PM

Glad he's out and doing better. My vet told me that anytime a glider was coming out of surgery, they would immediately go for their incision site (all that she had ever had) and act kind of crazed about it, but once they came out of anesthesia all the way, they usually settled down. Hopefully he will leave his e-collar on now and be calmer for you at home so he can heal up quickly! hug2
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Velcro is out of surgery!! - 01/15/09 07:14 PM

I called the vet back to make sure I could take some extra ecollars home with me... and the lady who answered the phone said they were trying to get a 2nd one on him. He's not totally out of the anesthesia yet... so I'm praying he'll snap out of it...

Ugh you guys *wipes sweat* I am SO nervous.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Velcro is out of surgery!! - 01/15/09 08:30 PM

Ok... my nerves aren't being helped. I just got off the phone with the vet. When Velcro pulled the first ecollar off, he ripped off two of his nails. He actually pulled a couple stitches out of his leg, too. So they put him under again to put the stitches back in and to replace the ecollar. They said this one shouldn't budge, and he's doing ok now.

What if he manages to wiggle out of the ecollar while we're at home tonight?? The doctor said that he's extremely resiliant and no one could get the collar on him while he was awake. He just keeps moving and biting. Poor guy!! Omg. It sounds like he's in such distress right now.

How on earth am I going to do this????
Posted By: Bourbon

Re: Velcro is out of surgery!! - 01/15/09 08:34 PM

call me when you get him, I will help you with the collar my number is in my signature
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Velcro is out of surgery!! - 01/15/09 08:42 PM

Thanks Bourbon... do you want me to call you even if he still has the ecollar on?
Posted By: flutterbye

Re: Velcro is out of surgery!! - 01/15/09 09:38 PM

sending healing thoughts and prayers for you both..
Posted By: Bourbon

Re: Velcro is out of surgery!! - 01/15/09 09:42 PM

sure... that will be fine
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Velcro is out of surgery!! - 01/15/09 09:45 PM

Ok. I'm overall just VERY worried about recovery. The Vet told me he should be fully healed in about 10 days... that is a LONG time.... and if anything happens in those 10 days, it could turn into weeks or months frown

Not to mention we can't even afford the vet bills right now for this surgery. I don't think we can handle anything else on top of it. I am SO nervous.
Posted By: CSteele

Re: Velcro is out of surgery!! - 01/15/09 11:40 PM

sending you LOTS of GOOD healing thoughts!!!!!! hug2
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Velcro is out of surgery!! - 01/15/09 11:51 PM

I hope all goes well for you and Velcro. My vet also told me about 10 days but it did heal much quicker, about 5 days. I do hope it is as simple for you. I slept in the room with him the first 2 nights. I will be thinking of you, so keep posting.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Velcro is out of surgery!! - 01/16/09 03:57 AM

Thanks so much Michelle. That gets my spirits up smile

Velcro stopped fighting the ecollar. He's running around his cage right now... still trying to grab stuff with his "stub" lol. It just keeps wiggling back and forth. He managed to get a couple of his Happy Glider pellets, but I made a veggie/fruit puree for him also, which he has happily taken 4cc of.

I was wondering how much of the puree I should feed him? It's just carrot, apple, celery, spinach, banana, bee pollen, and high protein wombaroo all blended together with juice.

My husband and I are going to make up some BML for him tomorrow; we just didn't have a moment of time to go to the grocery store today.

He's such a little piggy too... he's getting his ecollar rather messy. Should I try to clean it off or leave it be? It's just a couple drops here and there of green puree, lol.

And another concern... if I keep hand-feeding him and babying him like this, he's not going to learn to depend on me to feed him, is he?
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Velcro is out of surgery!! - 01/16/09 04:31 AM

I don't know if this holds true with adults but Suz told me that when hand feeding babies, they won't over eat. If you are feeding him by syringe and he turns his head, he's done. If you put it in one of those bird feeder troughs, then let him eat till he's done. HTH
Posted By: LabNGliderMom

Re: Velcro is out of surgery!! - 01/16/09 04:42 AM

Glad to hear he is doing better... prayers are still being sent your way for his speedy recovery!
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Velcro is out of surgery!! - 01/16/09 03:05 PM

We survived our first night!

The ecollar stayed on, and although horribly awkward, Velcro was able to wobble around and he was quite active last night. I took away his wheel, but he was content to climb around and he didn't fall.

Even though the doctor said he most likely wouldn't have an appetite tonight, oh boy was he a little PIGGY!! I fed him about 4 cc of the puree before my husband and I went to bed. Then during the night I fed him another 2 or 3. I woke up about 4 times to go check on him, and sometimes he really wanted it, but sometimes didn't. Then first thing I did when I woke up this morning to get ready for work, I fed him another 3 cc.

Now that we're at work, he had another 1.5 cc and looks like he'll want more. I'll probably give him a cc of water first before giving him more puree; but that has a lot of moisture in it too.

Instead of making BML, could I just grind up some of his Happy Glider pellets in the blender with some water?? I'd like to keep him on the same diet... and the poor guy went absolutely nuts last night trying to eat some pellets... but he only got a couple tiny ones and got so frustrated, I ended up taking them away.
Posted By: LSardou

Re: Velcro is out of surgery!! - 01/16/09 03:54 PM

clap I'm so happy to hear that the both of you got through the night. I was worried about you, I am so glad to hear that so far everything is going well.
I think that while he is healing right now that you should just continue with the same diet that he has been getting. Switching right now might not be in his best interest with all the stress that he's been under over the past week.
Once things start to settle down, you can start offering him small amounts of the BML to get him gradually switched over.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Velcro is out of surgery!! - 01/16/09 04:08 PM

So I'll blend up some of the Happy Glider tonight and feed him that through his syringe. He eats so greedily from it. I'm so glad!

Bourbon, if you read this, sorry I didn't get around to calling you last night - everything is OK so far, and I was running around with my head cut off.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Velcro is out of surgery!! - 01/16/09 05:09 PM

Question: Should I be worried about the mess he makes all over his face?

I just fed him another 3 cc's of the puree and sometimes he does well, but sometimes he spits it back out and it gets all over the inside of his ecollar. I forgot to grab q-tips this morning when I left the house.
Posted By: LSardou

Re: Velcro is out of surgery!! - 01/16/09 05:15 PM

You can try a gently wipe his face with a dampened wash cloth or Baby Wipes (the kind without Aloe) I believe they are the Cottonelle ones, you find in the tissue isle in the grocery store.

Since he will be in the e collar for awhile, I would try and keep as much cleaned off that you can. Especially if it happens to get down under his chin/neck so that his skin doesn't become irritated with constant moisture.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Velcro is out of surgery!! - 01/16/09 05:19 PM

I tried to wipe his face with a plain tissue, but he kept getting upset and when he gets frustrated he starts pushing on the ecollar with his front paws... so I stopped. I'll pick up some of those baby wipes and maybe get a little pack of q-tips, since I was using those last night and they seemed to work well (if I moved quickly enough - haha).
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Velcro is out of surgery!! - 01/18/09 04:18 AM

Velcro gets his sutres (sp? Stitches) out on the 26th. Is that when we can remove his ecollar, too??
Posted By: LSardou

Re: Velcro is out of surgery!! - 01/18/09 06:06 AM

Hopefully so. I would wait and see how well his surgical site looks. If it has healed over and there are no signs of irritation etc...he should be ok.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Velcro is out of surgery!! - 01/19/09 03:14 PM

Thank you... I'll see what the vet says smile
I really hope it can come off, the poor little boy. LOL.
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