On Thursday night, when I went in to feed my gliders, Hercules looked AWFUL! The poor baby's left eye was all swollen, and his third eyelid was inflamed. He was very hungry, and had a great appetite, so I let him eat. Then, I packed him up and took him to a wonderful ER vet about ten minutes from me. She stained his eye to make certain he hadn't sustained an injury to the eye itself. It was determined that it wasn't his eye, but a dental abscess. She put him on Baytril for ten days and we were back home at about midnight.

He's now had over 24 hours of treatment with the Baytril, but he still looks pretty bad. His third eyelid continues to be inflamed, and his left cheek is still swollen--though it does seem to have gotten maybe a smidge better.

If he doesn't look significantly better, I'm gonna get him into his regular vet Monday morning. I know that many others out there have dealt with this condition with their gliders. It's a first for me in almost four years (knock wood). I'd like to know if anyone else out there has had their suggie on Baytril for this, and how long it took for their glider to really look better? I know that Herc continues to groom himself (I can hear him in the pouch making his little "spitty" sounds), and is playing and eating well. I'm just so worried about the little guy! I can't imagine how much discomfort he must be feeling right now--and I'm hating the thought of that pain for him.

I've never had this problem. (knock on wood) so i know nothing about it

Wendi, I know that you love your babies and you would do anything for them. I don't have experience with this, but hopefully someone more knowledgeable will come around and post. I will keep your little man in my prayers along with Rocky. I do know that people have gotten their gliders through this and thank God that you had an ER vet who could understand gliders! Although I also agree that your regular exotic vet might be able to help you out even further when the weekdays roll around. Please keep us updated!

Its good that he's on some antibiotics, but did your vet say anything about lancing the abscess? Sometimes, they abscess will rupture and drain on its own - but it can also spread to other places if not treated properly.

I'm a vet tech that works for veterinary dentist, all we do at our practice is dentistry. You can treat the abscess with antibiotics and it will subside temporarily (usually takes 3-5 days to see a decrease in swelling) but unless the underlying issue is treated you won't see a long term solution. Usually that means extraction of the tooth with the tooth root abscess. I would try to find a vet with extensive exotic dental training to assess and (probably) extract the offending tooth. Dental abscesses will eventually cause periodontal disease in surrounding teeth and can affect the body systemically from the constant "bacterial shower" that occurs. Don't know if that's much help. I can ask my doc if he knows of any colleagues that specialize in exotic dentistry in your area if you'd like.

Just realized your profile says where you are. You may want to shoot Dr. Colmery an email, he's board certified in veterinary dentistry and does not charge for email consultations:
www.vetdentistry.com/consult.html
Also, you can go to the American Veterinary Dental College website for listings of other veterinary dentists in your area at:
www.avdc-dms.org/dms/diplomates.cfm
Good luck with your kiddo, sorry you're both having to go through this!

I just awoke to check on Herc and give him his meds. He looks so awful...I just can't stand to see that! If you can check with your vet to see if he knows of someone in my area, that would be fabulous. I'm having a hard time sleeping at night, thinking that my boy's in pain. I mean, like all suggies, he isn't ACTING like he's in pain, but I know he's gotta be. :(

My vet is out of town until late tonight but I've got an email into him and I'll talk to him at the latest tomorrow morning and get some info for you. In the meantime it wouldn't hurt to email Dr. Colmery to get his opinion on things. There are fewer than 75 veterinary dental specialists in the US and it's great when you can either get a specialist to treat your pet or consult with the regular vet because I can't even count the number of times I've seen a vet attempt something they haven't been extensively trained to do and they make the problem worse in the long run. For some reason the majority of vets feel dentistry is easy and anyone can do it, I beg to differ.
At least you realize your kiddo is in pain and needs treatment. If more dog and cat owners were as diligent as the majority of the "regulars" on this forum pets would be much better off. So many clients will put off treatments and validate their decision by stating that the pet is still eating so it can't be that painful. They don't realize that pack and especially colony animals instinctively mask pain to maintain social standing amongst the pack or colony. Kudos to you for being so proactive in your babies' care! Hercules is a lucky little dude.

I went on the website you recommended above and found a vet in Ann Arbor--the only one listed in Michigan. Now, my only issue is trying to get him in on a day when I can make it work with my work schedule, too. I figure I should be able to take a few hours off sometime this week, since I worked five hours today on my "off" day...ah, the joys of being salaried.

How's Hercules doing? Any decrease in swelling yet?

I'm going to get him an appointment today. He still doesn't look good to me, though I wonder if I'm expecting too much too fast?

It can definitely take some time to see improvement but I'm glad you guys have an appointment. Keep us updated!!!

The soonest I could get poor Herc in is tomorrow morning! Luckily, he is starting to look a little better. If I'm guessing right, the doc would probably want an entire course of antibiotics prior to doing much else...maybe that's just my worry talking.

Poor Herc. I took him to the vet this morning. He has several teeth that were broken off completely!!! I cannot figure out how he would have done this. My vet said that she has seen this injury before with two other gliders. I had Molly with us when we went to the vet, and she showed me what Molly's teeth looked She has a veterinary dentist she works with on a regular basis who comes right to her office who will see Herc, though it may be a week before she can get him back in. So, she put him (for the mean time) on a different antibiotic that she says works better for this type of infection. My poor little guy. Looks like he's probably going to have oral surgery?!

aww well at least its something that can be fixed. can she give him anything to help with the pain or should the antibiotics help with the pain. could his teeth have been in bad shape and rotted or weakened enough that he chewed something (eating or just chewing on something because his teeth hurt)and it broke. did the vet say that molly's teeth look good? could some kind of pellet food (or whatever hard food you guys say is good for cleaning teeth) have helped avoid this? not as part of the diet just a few pieces to clean their teeth. i believe this is what happened to my hedgie (or a tumor) and i would like to avoid going through this again.
good luck with everything.

Yes please tell us what could have possibly caused this, I don't want my little girl to go through this. I will pray for your little Herc.

She said that Molly's teeth looked great and healthy. I know that Herc's diet was pretty poor before we rescued him about a year ago. Still, she seems to think that it almost looks like he was "torquing" on something with his teeth. I've never seen him really doing much of anything like that, although he occasionally chews on the wood perches in the cage.

I was just thinking about the fact that I had recently tried a pellet food in combination with their 50/25/25 they get daily...just a few pieces for them to try out. It is a good quality food, and everyone seemed to enjoy it. However, shortly after was when Hercules started to have troubles. I'm thinking that, even though the vet didn't see any decay a year ago, maybe something was brewing in his mouth already. It must have, unfortunately, been the "perfect storm" of circumstances for Hercules, I guess.

She gave him Metacam that will help with inflammation and pain. It can only be used for a few days, though. I am assuming that she thinks she will either be able to get him an appointment with the vet dentist, or the pain will subside by then. :-(

Hope she gets him an appointment soon and that the pain and swelling goes away. I know he's got the best nurse in the meantime! :) Take care of that little guy.

It makes me wonder if sugar gliders get Tooth Resorptions which are pretty common in cats and weaken the tooth to the point that light finger pressure will break the tooth. Good luck with the oral surgery, and remember that the first night post-op is the worst and it gets easier from there!!!

Hercules has come such a long ways over this past year, I feel terrible about this for him! I know that some of you know Hercules' story, but for those of you who don't know or remember it here's a link:
http://www.sugarglider.com/glidergossip/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=24590&whichpage=1#192633