This is a part of something I posted a couple of days ago in another thread. The question I have is at the end.

"""The other night (I swear the full moon was to blame, I dont care what the experts say) one of the girls attacked Binky. They were rolled up in a ball in pit bull mode. My sweet, sweet male Louie was just standing there watching them. I picked them up (and got bit a few times in the process) and then out of nowhere Louie latched on to me and would not let go. It really shocked me because he is a close 2nd to being my sweetest glider. My son said he was the referee. Anyway he hung on for at least a minute and let me tell you those glider jaws have power. I was bleeding like crazy and the next morning my hand was quite swollen."""

That was the gist of the story. Here is the rest of it. After he bit me and I had every thing back to normal, except for my bloody hand wrapped in a towel that is, I washed up with soap and peroxide and water. There was actually less puncture wounds than I thought, because I was bleeding like crazy I thought there would be a lot more. My pointer finger is a little swollen, its a little red, it's numb and I am having a hard time bending it. I am not a wimp by a long shot and I have a high tolerance to pain. To tell the truth it hurts pretty bad and has gotten me a little concerned.

My question is this....... Has anyone ever had really adverse effects from getting bit? It seems strange that I have never seen anyone write about this before.


Edit. Changed the headline to STILL

I don't know, Belinda. That is a new one to me too! I hope it isn't getting infected. :(

Yes, Ed (LuckyGlider) got bitten by a glider and ended up in the hospital over it. Glider bites are a lot like cat bites in that they heal from the outside in leaving any bacteria under the skin/

I'll let Ed come here and tell you his glider bite story.

Much like their nails, those long teeth can deeply tattoo your skin with some nasties. You might be better off having bled some. A deep bite could cause nerve damage, could go to the bone and will most likely cause a little local infection and inflammation. If you have any personal immune or allergenic issues, I'd go visit a doctor tomorrow. I am unaware of any cases of rabies in these critters but that is not to say that healthy gliders are clean and safe. Yours could easliy have a bug from the breeder or gliders in general could still have something we are unaware of to this day.


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If you're having numbness you definitely need to go to the doctor, as stated there's a possibility of nerve damage. And infection, regardless of your properly cleaning the wound.

Part of trial and error, but you should never use peroxide for a wound. When I was in nursing school I got yelled at for looking for peroxide during a clinical rotation. It kills all good AND bacteria.
So I don't know what exactly to suggest to you.
My best advice is to go to a doctor.
Also, for future reference, heaven forbid anything like this happen again, wash the wound VERY well, place an antibiotic ointment on the wound ONLY ONCE (do not place over wound daily or multiple times per day) as this too can kill all good and bad bacterias, bandage.
Good luck.

quote:

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Originally posted by Megs06

Part of trial and error, but you should never use peroxide for a wound. When I was in nursing school I got yelled at for looking for peroxide during a clinical rotation. It kills all good AND bacteria.
So I don't know what exactly to suggest to you.
My best advice is to go to a doctor.
Also, for future reference, heaven forbid anything like this happen again, wash the wound VERY well, place an antibiotic ointment on the wound ONLY ONCE (do not place over wound daily or multiple times per day) as this too can kill all good and bad bacterias, bandage.
Good luck.

---

You would not have found peroxide in a hospital anyways. They use normal or sterile saline to clean wounds, but not everyone has that laying around at home. Also they won't use peroxide in an emergency situation with bleeding because it breaks up clots the help to stop the bleeding of a wound. Hydrogen peroxide or alcohol is just fine for use at home in minor cuts and scrapes.

Antibiotic ointment should to be placed on the wound every time the bandage is changed, which should be daily so that the wound can be inspected for infection, or whenever the bandage becomes soiled. Keep in mind you're not supposed to use gobs of ointment and should be rubbed in thoroughly. If the wound isn't very deep it's usually best to leave OTA (open to air) so that the site can heal quicker, but at the same time kept clean and dry.

But in this situation I highly recommend going to the doctor as I already said, because of the numbness.

[Had to edit to add something because that RN side of me had stuff running through my head while I was going through other posts]

Must be the moon, my daughter was bitten hard by one of our most docile Rats for absolutely no reason. It was very deep and bled like crazy and it too swelled for a few days. She let it bleed to clean it out, then cleaned it well with paroxide and then put bacitrasin on it and it is already healed well.

These wounds can become infected just as easily as a dog bite or a cat scratch. I would just keep an eye on it and if it seems as though it isn't healing in a day or two,or it is oozing any fluid, contact a physician.

One of our most experienced wildlife rescuers here in Victoria for many many years has a story to tell here. He has wrestled full sized kangaroos, tackled wombats and has been in hospital emergency room for quite a few broken bones but it took a single bite from a tiny wild sugar glider to put him seriously ill in hospital! Yep those bites can become infected very easily.

Thanks for all the helpful advice and links. I have an appointment with my eye doctor today but I am going to call my doctor and see if they can see me tomorrow. It doesn't seem any better today, maybe even a little worse. This happened Saturday night so it seems like it should be getting better by now.

Was I supposed to find an exotic doctor for humans when I got these gliders?

To funny Belinda! Yeah how many doctors are familiar with exotic wounds? My guess is that it is a simple infection which could happen from any deep scratch or bite from anything animal or material. I got bit a few days ago, bad enough that as I lifted my hand the glider came with it. The next day I also put an ice pick through the skin on my finger and out the other side. Both were similarly deep wounds and the ice pick wound is actually healing muh slower than the glider bite wound! I don't know if this helps or not.

Hope all goes well Belinda, you're right! We were all so worried about having vets, but what about us?!

And oh my gosh Filly! I hope you're okay as well!

Lol, yeah it is no big deal. I'm on painkillers from my car accident so it isn't that painful!

You need to get to the emergency room or to an infectious disease doctor immediately. If that bite got into the tendon sheath, the infection will travel.

I know. It's happened to me. Cultures from the wound came back positive for strep a. and abiotrophia.

I was in the hospital for a week on an antibiotic IV after hand and finger surgery.

My palm and index finger are now deformed and scarred and it's been 9 months.

Don't wait.

P.S. I am writing an article for the Gliderpedia on zoonotic diseases and will be covering this in more detail

P.P.S. Oh, by the way, Dr. Brust in his mill-breeder-backed video says gliders don't bite deep. Yeah right. On the lucky glider rescue YouTube site, we put up a video in our series on mill breeder lies that debunks this outright.

Yeah right. Those little suckers can hang on like a pit bull.

Ed that is something that would need to go on this site...and yeah i saw that video too and i was like well they have kinda big teeth dont you think they would go deep?

BTW Ed. I copied, pasted, and printed out what was on your previous thread.

here is the video called: Mill Breeder Lie 6 - Sugar Gliders Don't Bite Deep

quote:

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Originally posted by Belinda

BTW Ed. I copied, pasted, and printed out what was on your previous thread.

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if it is still swollen and read I mean it you need to get on antibiotics. I almost lost my hand with my infection. They had to cut my palm open and feed a catheter up into my finger to flush out the area. The catheter was in for five days. You can possibly avoid all that if you catch it soon enough. I let my wound go for four or five days using all of the macho home remedies and it wasn't good enough...

Two nights ago, Weasel got overly zealous because of a fat juicy mealworm I was offering her and she bit the end of my finger and drew blood. It still hurts when I type.

Like I said before, their bites should be looked at exactly like a cat bite. Their teeth are like needles and pierce deep into our flesh. It then heals quickly on the outside trapping any bacteria under the skin.

Ouchie.... I got bit by Aussie the first time I held her but I let it bleed out a bit and then I put rubbing alcohol and medicated ointment on it and all was well....

These little buggers do have a heck of a bite don't they.... I gotta say I MUCH prefer the bark to the bite....

Seriously though, I hope you feel better! I would get to a doctor ASAP!

Belinda, Kazko just formatted and posted the new Gliderpedia article on Zoonosis I told you about. You may wish to share it with your doctor:

http://www.sugarglider.com/gliderpedia/index.asp?Zoonosis

Did you go to the dr? How is your finger?

well, on the next full moon, you might start to grow soft hair all over your body and delelop extra skin on the sides of your stomach running from your hip to your armpit. and you will grow a tail. but in the morning you will return to normal... you might wake up in a park with a lot of trees, and bugs on the breath... just keep in mind this will only happen once a month.

wonder why your gliders did that hope your hand gets better.

quote:

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Originally posted by LuckyGlider

Belinda, Kazko just formatted and posted the new Gliderpedia article on Zoonosis I told you about. You may wish to share it with your doctor:

http://www.sugarglider.com/gliderpedia/index.asp?Zoonosis

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Great info. I did take it to the Doctor with me on Friday. He still looked up sugar gliders. LOL. I figured they might. He says it's not infected but D@mn it hurts more tonite than it did a week ago. Still swollen and a little red. It's weird. It feels like my bone hurts.

quote:

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Originally posted by meghankwheeler

well, on the next full moon, you might start to grow soft hair all over your body and delelop extra skin on the sides of your stomach running from your hip to your armpit. and you will grow a tail. but in the morning you will return to normal... you might wake up in a park with a lot of trees, and bugs on the breath... just keep in mind this will only happen once a month.

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I will be sure to let you all in on the experience.

..............a wereglider? weresugarglider?...............

I like wereglider

quote:

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Originally posted by suppressedtearz

quote:

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Originally posted by Megs06

Part of trial and error, but you should never use peroxide for a wound. When I was in nursing school I got yelled at for looking for peroxide during a clinical rotation. It kills all good AND bacteria.
So I don't know what exactly to suggest to you.
My best advice is to go to a doctor.
Also, for future reference, heaven forbid anything like this happen again, wash the wound VERY well, place an antibiotic ointment on the wound ONLY ONCE (do not place over wound daily or multiple times per day) as this too can kill all good and bad bacterias, bandage.
Good luck.

---

You would not have found peroxide in a hospital anyways. They use normal or sterile saline to clean wounds, but not everyone has that laying around at home.

---

I was in a nursing home. The one I was at had a lot of things I later learned (while working in the ER) that they really should not have had.
But we also have crappy medical care here.
So it suits.

I went back to the Doctor today. My regular Doctor. My woman Doctor.

Sorry guys but male doctors do not listen to women. Jerry I copied and pasted your post on to a word document and he didn't pay any attention to anything I had to say. I am not the kind that questions a doctor. Up until now that is. I am not going to take it anymore.

My doctor didn't even need to see what you had posted. She listened to me describe my animal and then came to the same conclusion about their little teeth causing the infections you describe. She didn't like the way my knuckle was swollen, numb and feverish, still, or the restricted movement of my finger. She had another doctor look at it and she didn't like it either. They wanted me to see the hand surgeon that was upstairs from their office but he was in surgery. They want me to get in tomorrow and are going to try to set that up.

I will let you guys know what comes of that.