Hello,
I recently adopted my first glider. She is a baby so a lot of the behavior I see I do not find on searches and forums. My main concern is her rear legs and walking. She seems to fall and roll a lot, and will raise her hind legs in the air. She doesn’t this often when using the restroom and other times randomly. She can and does hang from her hind legs, so I am confused. I brought her to the vet last Friday, and she said she looks super small but had no noticeable leg issues. She was thinking malnutrition due to diarrhea. She is now on BML and a prescribed probiotic. She is constantly messy and not grooming herself. So I am not sure if she is not grooming due to illness or age, and if her walking has to do with her dirty coat or masking a problem. I wipe her down with a warm wet cloth a lot, but she can’t stay clean.

Thanks!

Did they do a fecal float to check for parasites? It sounds like she may have a case of hind leg paralysis setting in and would be because of the diet she was on previously but also if she has parasites they would make the HLP worse because the parasites leach the nutrition from her too. Given she has diarrhea and isn't cleaning these may be signs of parasites.

Here is some good information from www.thepetglider.com/pages/the-glider-nutrition-system

The sugar glider's high diet of fruits and vegetables contains inverse amounts of phosphorous to calcium. High phosphorus and low calcium leaches calcium from their bones making the bones brittle and easily broken or fractured. Calcium deficiency will make your glider sick, then will cause hind leg or total paralysis, and will kill them. If you notice any trembling or shaking (on a consistent basis, not just when scared), or any trouble climbing in the cage or hanging on to the perch, contact your exotic animal vet immediately. Neocalglucon or Calciquid (calcium glubionate in a sweet syrup), is an excellent product to rebuild calcium quickly, your vet (one who is very knowledgeable in sugar gliders) can instruct you on how much and how often to give this calcium supplement. Do not feed these high phosphorous foods: beef, most seeds, nuts and cottage cheese

Maybe its partial paralysis of the back legs, are you giving them any vitamins?

I never posted the results, and wanted to do so even after a year.

The first vet said malnutrition and diarrhea.The vet herself did not seem to care much about my girl and implied I was over-reacting. Which was weird for me so I followed her advice and treatment for a few days but kept a close eye on my girl. Before her treatment was over I noticed her behavior was getting worse, so I went ahead and brought her to another vet as an emergency.

The second vet noticed she had a small cut on the bottom of her tail leading to her anus. This was sore and infected but small. This also was causing not diarrhea but rather her anus to start prolapsing. We gave her antibiotics, pain medication, and temporarily added apple juice to her water to increase her liquid intake. She was healthy and is now happier than ever.

On a side note, because of the love my girls give me and the love I feel for them, this experience scared and changed me for life. I switched professions and now work in the animal medicine field.

Happy ending for me, but I do want to warn others that you do not always get the best advice or help even from professionals.