In my previous post, I mentioned one of my gliders had lost a lot of weight and I took him to the vet this week. Unfortunately, they found a mass in his abdomen. They went ahead and did an aspirate and sent to the lab and I got the results today: hepatocellular carcinoma. The vet mentioned that liver tumors are fairly slow spreading and can be removed fairly easily in dogs, buying them a few extra years. However, there isn't enough data on sugar gliders. The glider did not do very well with the anesthesia and had a really hard time waking up, either due to age (he's 8) or being underweight or a combination of the two, so surgery would be extra risky at this point.

My questions:

1) Has anyone dealt with hepatocellular carcinoma in gliders? (From my search it looks like LuckyGlider has) Did you do surgery and how did it turn out?

2) Any extra tips for gliders with cancer regarding nutrition supplements, feeding schedules, when to start administering pain meds (signs of pain in gliders)?

3) Anyone know of any vets who have treated hepatocellular carcinoma in gliders? Either via surgery or just via hospice care at the end? Looking for additional statistics and maybe a vet consult since my vet doesn't see too many gliders.

Just hoping to hear some stories from anyone else who has gone through this. It's an unexpected blow to my most happy and social glider

I'm so sorry to hear this I have no experience with but I know who could give you direction at least. Contact Bourbon Hackworth on facebook she will likely give you her phone number she hates to type a lot. https://www.facebook.com/bourbonh?fref=ts

She can maybe give you some consult vets and might know of someone compiling this kind of information to help other gliders in the future. She is a veteran of the community and knows more glider medical stuff than anyone I know, If I were you she is where I'd start then go from there. Please keep us updated on how things are going

Ps she's online right now

It appears that there have been a number of recent reports of glider's having liver cancer or other liver failures.

This has been a common report in gliders over the years with various diets being blamed - but never proven to be contributing factors.

In the past, the iron content of BML was thought to be a contributing factor - but nothing has ever been proven to link any particular diet.

Others have named diets that are too high in protein as the issue.

Truth is, we just do not know much except that gliders are prone to have liver problems.

Discussions about liver disease have been had in the past - you might do a search on Glider Central to review the past discussions if they are still available in their archives.

You might find some helpful information on the SweetSpot Forum. They deal with a number of health and medical issues.

http://thesweetspot.forumotion.net/

Another concern has been raised in the past about the use of the synthetic Vitamin K supplement Menadione. This product has been banned for human consumption for many years but unfortunately it is the ONLY APPROVED vitamin K supplement for pet foods made in the United States. It is also found in most pet vitamin supplements like RepCal Herpivite (used in BML) and in Vionate (another common pet vitamin supplement)

Because the new CritterLove products are made in the USA - these also contain Menadione as the Vitamin K supplement.

Wombaroo High Protein Supplement does NOT contain Menadione because it is made in Australia and this supplement is banned there for both human and pet foods. It contains a human grade vitamin K supplement instead.


prdycool - What is your glider's diet history? - Past diets for how long and current diet? The discussion needs to be opened to see if there is a pattern that does relate to diets, although your glider's age may also have a lot to do with his illness.

Thanks for your reply, I was out of town so I apologize for the delayed response.

I'm not sure what he was fed before I got him, but I got him very young, 4 months old. The first diet I tried was BML but it was not a big hit so I didn't feed it very long. I'm not sure if he was around for that or if it was just my first glider. After that I fed the Pet Glider (Priscilla Price) diet for several years. A couple of the gliders were underweight and they weren't finishing their food, so either they didn't like it as much or just got bored. For the past 3 or so years I've been feeding LGRS suggie soup, frozen fruit mix, and turkey meatloaf (low fat turkey, sweet potato, bell peppers, carrots, and peas). For both PP and their current diet, I liked that it was easy to freeze and thaw individual portions for them. All of the other gliders have gained weight and look healthy. Other than that I've fed yogurt drops, dried fruit treats, honey sticks, sugar cane, gliderade, crickets, meal worms, grasshoppers, and whatever fresh fruit I've had in the house. I don't really use vitamins except for whatever is in the suncoast milk replacer I use in the suggie soup and rarely gliderade.

It's probably just age since his family has been on the same diets and are almost all the same age, but here it is for public record in case we ever figure out what is causing glider liver problems!