DISCLAIMERS:
1. This is a rant but a sincere and heartfelt one.
2. NO this is not aimed at any individual - it is for EVERYONE. EVERYONE. Don't take it personally
3. We care about your gliders and what you are going through. sure we want to hear about what is happening and want to get updates and wish you and your glider well. Do don't think we don't care. We do.
4. This is about doing the right thing. - Yes that's a judgement.
5. The longevity of membership on glider social sites is less than a year. Why? because despite their proclamations glider enthusiasts lose their impulse/fad interest, give up their pet, or the pet dies, and sooner or later the majority slink away and are never heard from again. The ones who slink away the quickest are the ones who's animals have died after people beg for them to go to the vet and they stubbornly try home remedies and well, guess what happens? The minority of members who are still here year after year are the ones who pick up on trends and sad realities. The crowdsourcing of urgent medical advice is one of those trends. It is what it is and many of us would like it to STOP.

[Rant starts here]

OK after many years of being a member here, I am so saddened to have to post this like so many of my contemporaries have over time. It just builds up over time and then one of the old timers is compelled to step in and post this generically when we just can't stand it any more. OK so it's my turn this time. I'm sorry, I am just seeing too many posts of people asking for medical advice - as if a social networking site is the right place to go for that.

Please everyone if you have a glider that is: sick, hurt, has puffiness, blind, limping, not eating, not drinking, dizzy, bleeding, drooling, mating wound, falling over, stuffy, swollen, bit by a dog or cat, open wound, has had watery stools for more than a day, trouble breathing, screeching, self-mutilating, over-grooming to the point of bleeding, dragging its hind legs, eye scratches, swollen eye lid, broken finger, terrible odor, amputated tail, necrotic flesh, abscess or draining wound, shaking uncontrollably,

etc. etc. etc. etc.: PLEASE GO TO A VET OR PET EMERGENCY HOSPITAL.

DON'T HAVE ONE IN YOUR AREA? Then honestly you should not have have an exotic pet unless you are willing to travel for medical care. For goodness sakes locate a qualified vet now before an emergency happens and be willing to travel. Don't say "Oh I have no vets in my area so I guess we'll just see what happens" (GRRRRRRRRR/UGGGH!!!!)

I mean really. Why would you WASTE TIME on a glider social networking site asking if anyone else has "had this happen" and "what should I do?"

Really? You're going to "crowdsource" socially and wait around for a magical answer to the problem and in the meantime your pet is in pain and getting worse?

OK so here is the answer to all of those "what should I do's":

Ummm.... GET IN YOUR CAR OR CAB OR BUS OR BICYCLE OR ATV OR TRACTOR OR TRAIN and go to the vet!

Why? Because every minute could be crucial depending on the situation.

Now! Not after waiting around for hours or even days for some online expert to tell you what to do. Now!

Despite the fact that there are people here who care for a lot of gliders such as rescuers and rehabilitators - WE ARE NOT VETERINARIANS!!!!!

Of course if you have in fact already been to the vet, please tell us up front.

Honestly social networking is no panacea for doing what you know in your heart you have to do - get professional medical attention if something is wrong with your pet. All you do by posting here at the onset of a problem is create unnecessary drama for everyone else who is shaking their head thinking "holy &*^%$ is this person serious? Jeez man, get your animal to a vet!!" - and worse - adding to the problem for your pet by delaying much needed medical care.

What's the downside of just going to the vet first? A few dollars unnecessarily spent? It's worth it for these helpless animals. If you can't afford to go to a vet then you should re-home your animals to someone who can afford it so they do not die in your care because you can't give them the medical attention they deserve. And that includes having to take a day off or spend vacation time so you can fit it in to your schedule. Sorry, pets are not a good idea if you son't have the wherewithal care for them. Find someone who can for the sake of your pet's safety.

Don't sit around here for hours after hours waiting for some magic answer from one of us while your pet languishes in pain and just gets worse. PLEASE!

[rant over]

100% Agree! Thank you!

And there is the truth.

Truth Truth Truth!!

They think the medical section is for us to treat there glider over the internet, IT'S NOT. The medical section is for AFTER you go to the vet, to come back and explain what is wrong with glider, and what is going on, so we can learn & send prayers well wishes.

~Erica~

Amen to that!!! People should not have ANY pet if they don't plan on taking care of it including vet visits. The cheapest part of owning a pet is the cost you pay for the individual animal.....be responsible!!!

We researched vets in our area long before we committed to having gliders at all, including an exotic emergency vet. And I am a fan of the old adage: if you can't afford the vet, you can't afford the pet.

thank you Ed

Oh, Ed! This is my new favorite - from working at the Petstore.

Phone rings. Customer says: "I bought an X (rat, gerbil, bearded dragon, guinea pig, etc) there about a week ago. Now it is exhibiting X symptoms (seizures, shallow breathing, severely lethargic, hasn't eaten in 5 days, etc). What should I do?"

Me, replying: blink. blink. blink. "Uh. You've called the pet store. This is not a vet's office."


Me, making a new phone call: "Hello, Hardware store!? I bought a circular saw there a week ago, and now I'm afraid I sawed off my arm. What should I do?"

AAAAAAaaaaaahhhhhHHHHH!!! Makes me insane! So - rant away, Ed. Rant away!

too true

I am new here, and I already have seen people do what you are talking about(on here and on other forums.) I agree 100%!!! I am getting my suggies in about two weeks, and have already found a vet that sees exotics even before I have them. When I see people ask for medical advise online for their pets, I cringe. I am glad someone on this forum posted this. Well DONE!! I hope people take heed to your posting!

Devin S.

It scares me to think of a hypothetical situation were one of my girls is in the same state as described and I waste precious time with you guys rather than getting to the vet as soon as possible.

I go to this man at my pet store with questions all the time I listen to alot since he breeds and sells gliders at the store and only has one bonded breeding pair and he's very knowledgable. But I was a bit upset when he told me to feed my babies this glider pellet *!!!!instead of the bml. I never told him I didn't stop but I actually though about stopping it when he told me. Anyway thought I'd get my one time personal experience that upset me about my crazy pet store man I bug with a question everytime I go in. FYI his daughter is a Vet so I feel comfortable asking him the questions I do to avoid vet bills but if my babies were dehydrated , sick, or hurt I would not hesitate to rush them in to the vet. The one here is only certain days for a certain DR but he travels between two clinics and the extra 30min drive is nothing to travel if he's in the next town over ;)

Hello,

I totally agree, members here are nornal people and should not be asked for medical advise,

But i wanted to share something if this is ok with you guys,

Sometimes u are so desperate that u just want to do anything anyone says so you don't sit around and watch them die, some people have no choice but to have "exotic pets" because they know if they left them in that crappy place they would die suffering, or live in a sad tiny cage eating a horrible diet for the rest of their lives, like the way my gliders were living before i found them,

Can you honestly tell me that you will leave them if you were in my place, knowing that they'll die alone and no one would care,

Sometimes gliders are unfourtenate enough to be living in a place were people and animals' lives don't matter, and their owners know that asking for medical advise in an online forum is not right but its the ONLY option left

I'm not saying that people should ask random people for medical advise, but we should all work together to find away to help each other, ask your vets for phone counselation services for the unlucky gliders around the world, not for lazy people who wouldn't care enough to look for a vet before they get their gliders

Yes my gliders live in a country where there are no 24/7 vets, but thats not their fault, its the people who decided to import innocent animals in a cruel place.


Thank you for all the work you all do to help our loved gliders

quote:

---

Originally posted by fatemah

Hello,



Can you honestly tell me that you will leave them if you were in my place, knowing that they'll die alone and no one would care,

Sometimes gliders are unfourtenate enough to be living in a place were people and animals' lives don't matter, and their owners know that asking for medical advise in an online forum is not right but its the ONLY option left

I'm not saying that people should ask random people for medical advise, but we should all work together to find away to help each other, ask your vets for phone counselation services for the unlucky gliders around the world, not for lazy people who wouldn't care enough to look for a vet before they get their gliders

---

Is it any better when people who don't locate a knowledgeable vet and emergency services before getting gliders let said gliders suffer great physical pain? No, it most certainly is not. I'm sorry, I don't mean to sound, well, mean, but I have great trouble believing that within a 2 hour drive of you, there are NO 24 hour veterinary services. Animals in your country get sick at night, are you telling me that ALL animals who live where you do who get sick at night must then suffer through the night? Really? I can't believe that.

If you (and I'm saying this to EVERYONE now, not one particular person) don't have a vet around you and emergency vet services around you, you shouldn't have the gliders. If you can't afford EACH AND EVERY vet visit at ANY GIVEN TIME no matter how many visits it takes, you shouldn't have gliders. I have an account for my gliders with a total of (and I don't mind saying this) $3,000 in it. Just for them. If something, God forbid, came up with one of them tonight, you can bet your behind, I would be at the vet forking over however much it required to remedy the issue. It's called being responsible and humane. If I didn't have AT LEAST $500-1,000 set aside for them at any given time, I wouldn't have gliders. It would irresponsible and cruel of me to own pets that I cannot FULLY AFFORD to take care of. If you choose to own any animal knowing that you don't have the money for it, you are also cruel and irresponsible.

Gliders aren't second class beings - any medical care we would deserve, they deserve the same. I cannot STAND when I see some of the "Einsteins" on the forums describing horrible, painful or life threatening/emergency situations say, "I can't afford to go to a vet, what should I do?" I'll tell you what you should do - rehome your animals ASAP. Other bills aren't an excuse. Loss of a job isn't an excuse. Kids, houses, rent, your own illness - NONE of these are excuse for letting an animal suffer for ANY length of time - minutes, hours, days, weeks.

If you can't afford the vet, you can't afford the pet.

fatemah, for what it's worth I created this post and published it before you posted on your glider. It was a generic post that was not pointed at any one individual but to a whole group of people who's behavior is naive at best and often inhumane. Alas, it will be ignored by most and the history I refer to below will sadly repeat itself over and over.

That said, we do what we can to help as always, as you suggest, such as the advice I gave you on keeping your glider warm and syringe feeding it. But that's not the point.

The point is that time spent asking for medical advice on a social board can often be the time that should be spent in the car driving to a vet's office - before it's too late.

And honestly, if you don't have access to emergency care that's not the glider's fault. Seriously, even owning an exotic pet when you can't get emergency medical help is just not a good idea.

Maybe you could make friends with a vet that lives close to you so you can call in a 3AM favor if needed?

Otherwise you should probably re-home your pet to a vet or someone who can get it 24 hour care if it's needed.

Or maybe you could "export" the animal to a country / non-cruel place where it can get 24 hour emergency care and of course with an owner who is ok with doing that in the middle of the night.

If you do none of these, your mere ownership of that animal could be a death warrant if something goes wrong at 3 AM.

Please ponder on this and decide what's best for your glider(s). I'm sure you love them but I am concerned about an instant replay of this issue in the future. If something like this happens again and again to your animals what are you going to do about it? I hope you can find some viable and humane solution.

Regarding the historical context for my rant, sadly, people stubbornly have ignored this advice over the years and then so many afterwards post "my glider died." And then we ask "did you go to a vet?" and they say "no!" And then it's like well we told you to go to a vet but you just kept asking questions like us non-vets were going to sprinkle magical pixy dust on the problem and make it all better for you over the internet. It is just so heartbreaking to witness this naive stubbornness be the death of these helpless creatures. Don't add yourself to that sad list - get your animal to a vet now.

A few months ago I had a medical problem with one of my gliders. It was a Friday night and I though I had all the bases covered with vet care. I have a vet, a back-up vet and there is another vets office in the town next to me that treats exotics. I called my vets office and they were dealing with an emergency and could't see my little one till Monday. He had a swollen cheek and I wasn't willing to wait till Monday. I wasn't worried because I still had my back-up vet. I called them and they told me that she only worked 2 Saturdays a month and didn't know if she would be able to see him or not that next day. By this point I was almost to a panic state. They gave me some numbers of vets who see gliders. The next one on the list was someone I had known personally (my nephew went to preschool with his kids and I would watch them all sometimes). Thank goodness they could fit me in. So even when you have the best laid plans, they don't always work out. I now have a back-up for my back up. We have a 24 hour clinic here but have not been pleased with their care. Not sure what I would have done had I not been able to find a vets office.

My vet turned out to be my neighbor, so everything worked out great. She happened to be an exotics veterinarian who keeps hedgehogs.

Well stated Lucky...

I completely agree with this and I've seen several posters that do exactly what is being described in the first post. It's one thing to ask questions about behaviors, but another to post about a serious medical issue and expect people on a social network to provide a magical cure.

You did more than get me to give my nod of approval, however. I already have a sugar glider vet, but this post encouraged me to look up a 24-hour emergency vets near all of the places I frequently stay, particularly in California. I made a few calls yesterday, asked each office questions, asked about their glider specialists, etc. and found a 24-hour office within 20 minutes of each of my locations with highly qualified veterinarians.

Mind, I live in California half of the year where gliders are illegal, and I was able to find several vets close to my current residence. If I can find a vet AND afford the costs as a full-time student, anyone can. There's no excuse not to take care of your pets and if there is, you shouldn't have them.

There's that saying that goes "If you can't afford a heated castle, then you can't afford a castle," which rings very true to the whole "if you can't afford the vet, you can't afford the pet" rule.