Recovering Sugar Glider

[Rumplestizkin]

Hi,
Does anyone have any idea on this please. We have had our siggies since January 2010 with no feeding problems what so ever. They are brother and sister an the boy has had the snip before e got them. March this year Hunter the boy went downhill very quickly. We took him to the vets who had no idea how to treat him. They advised to treat conservativly with anti biotics. For one week we were up every 2hrs giving honey and liquidized baby food or sugar water. We thought he was making a return to good health but did a dramatic u turn the friday of that week. Back to the vets again, this time vet said to give injections for anti biotics daily in case the anti biotic was putting him off eating his food. Well second week in, he is now off anti biotics but I cant seem to get him to eat any fruit or veg. He only wants to eat chicken, wax worms, mealworms, papaya, yoghurt drops. he cant live on just chicken. I have been sneaking protein mix into bug smoothies for him along with calcium. Wondered if anyone out there new a good recipie that could get him back on his feet and eating fruit and veg again normally. He is a fussy eater when fruit and veg is concerned, but at the moment he is not eating anything. Also wandering if the seperation from his sister has anything to do with it. Vet said to keep them apart for another week. Which would mean they have been sepearted for 3 weeks in total. His sister is perfectly fine eating drinking and running around like a normal suggie does.

Please help.

[Marie]

Anti Biotics are nasty things, necessary but not only do they kill off all the bad stuff they kill off the good stuff too, so that means all the good bacteria in the gut has been destroyed and the apetite is lost. 

TBH, I would for the minute feed him what he likes until he is visibly improving physically, feed him chicken, and papaya and make sure you give him supplements and calcium on a daily basis.  To encourage the gut flora to return give him a teaspoon of LIVE BIO yogurt daily.

Did the vet actually find out what was wrong?  I think TBH I'd look for another vet that is glider savvy or one that is willing to learn about them.   

[Rumplestizkin]

 
Hi thanks for the reply. Vets is a nightmare. Before I got them I specifically rang my vets to make sure that they could treat my suggies if anything happened to them. I was assured that there was a vet who knew his stuff. When I took Hunter to see the vet all he could advise was that he has never seen an ill suggie before they have only ever dealt with castrations and if the anti biotics don't do the trick to send him away to Swindon for further tests. Too my horror this as not what I was expecting. I feel like I have done more for my babies than the vet did. Is there a particular brand of bio live yoghurt that would be beneficial. Can I use probiotic yoghurts? We still don't know what is /was wrong with hunter I am very worried about how and when to put him back with his sister as there is no way for me to know if he eats food on his own or goes back down hill again. At the moment he is in the bedroom with us. I know he does eat early hours of the morning as the chicken is always missing when I wake up to play with him before I go to work.He will also eat if I give him wax worms, but he wont take fruit or veg from me. Can you feed them locusts? He doesnt like crickets. He does like mealworms?

Thanks

Lynda

[Marie]

Yeah, they can eat locust. I often give my suggies bio yogurt, the type I use is Onken Bio, it's gorgeous! But anything that promotes healthy bacteria is fine. Try and avoid low fat ones as they often contain aspartame which should be avoided.

As for putting him back with his sister I'd hold off until you are sure he is eating properly, he does need to go back sooner rather than later though. But you don't want to find him on the bottom of the cage one morning.

You could also try weighing him weekly to make sure he is gaining.