hello I have a very sick glider that I took to the vet today. I had been force feeding her applesauce and chicken baby food but the vet said that might not be enough for her to recover on. What should I be feeding her if she is unable/unwilling to eat normal meals?

The vet doesn't sound like one that specializes in sugar gliders. Did they give any explanation at all as to what was wrong???

How old?
How long have you had the glider?
What is the usual diet?
What are its current symptoms?

Keeping it hydrated with pedialyte (refrigerate and it is only usable for 24 hours before needing to be replaced) given by an eye dropper or tiny medicine syringe may help get some fluids going. Other soft foods such as yogurt (natural no artificial sweeteners) may help in addition to the applesauce and chicken baby food.

Sorry, it's just impossible for us to give much advice without knowing more of what is going on.

Can you fill in some details? Thanks and good luck!

Sorry, was on phone earlier. She is around 16 months to the best of my knowledge, I have had her for about 2 months, her and my other gliders diet is pellets and fruits and veggies currently. I am going to switch to the BML diet as soon as the supplements for it come in from amazon. She was unfortunately sat on, and has a broken femur in her back leg as well as possible brain damage as she tends to only turn in one direction. The vet said that time is probably the best remedy for her and that we can only hope to see improvement. The vet also gave me metacam to give Piper for pain, but I think it may have caused diarrhea. Any help would be very appreciated as I want to give her the best possible outcome I can.

I am so sorry you all are going through this.
I may get some not happy replies for my reply but
When my bby girl wouldn't eat or drink and nothing caught her
Attention, orange Gatorade (watered down) worked.
I was desperate, we had tried everything.
I'm not sure if this would help in your situation
I just thought I would throw this out there.
Once my Lala started feeling better she started eating a bit, and
Fully recovered. Best of luck to you guys.

I'm so sorry to hear about your poor girl.

Unfortunately, it sounds like you are going to have a lot on your hands trying to nurse her back to health. The diet she is on has not provided her with much to help her through such a traumatic injury, even the healthiest of gliders would be a struggle to get through this. The pain medicine will slow her down a bit and help with the pain, but as you've seen it is causing other side effects compounded with this shock to her system.

You will need to keep her hydrated, especially now that she has diarrhea in addition to not taking in food. Keep up with the pedialyte. Also offering some juicy fruits such as melons might tempt her into eating and will provide her with some fluids as well.

The BML staple will have a consistency that you will be able to feed it with a syringe. Remember that their bellies are very tiny, about the size of only the tip of your thumb. Be patient in feeding her this way to keep the stress down and try to do less food and more feedings. You can go ahead and mix the BML staple if it will be awhile before the supplements are delivered. This will at least get you started on getting something into her. Try getting some yogurt into her, which may help with the diarrhea caused by the meds. If it continues many people have had success with a tiny bit of canned pumpkin, but you will have to be cautious not to go the opposite way and have her constipated.

She's going to need steady care to get through this. I wish you the best of luck. I'm sure some others will have some suggestions for you.

Its not really that she doesn't want to eat, I think she may have bruised or hurt her jaw also and that it is causing her some pain as she keeps trying to grab at one side. I've been able to get her to eat a lot of yogurt, and she seems to have more energy right now, though I am sure things can quickly go back down hill. I have been trying to do more feedings and less food and that has seemed to help too. Thank you for the recommendations!