Hi everyone! I have a mature healthy bonded couple named Bonnie and Clyde. I adopted them a year whne they were about 6 years old ( now they are about 7) About two weeks ago i noticed something wrong with Bonnie, just moving a little slow and not active at all! Went to the vet last monday and he said looks like a mild form of calcium deficiency. Gave us some liquid calcium! Unfortunately she became worse over the next few day, i took her back to the vet today and they did an Xray and looks like she has dislocated/separated hip! #128557;#128557;#128557; and in a lot of pain, she lost a lot of weight because she refuses to eat! She was a healthy 105g and today she was 72. Just to clear, Dr said diet was not the cause!! Most likely her leg was caught on something or she pulled it or her and Clyde got in an argument..
Current treatment:
I have her in a home made hospital cage
No climbing and restricted minimal movement
Critical Care food (hope she can eat some tonight)
Pain reliver: diluted Metacam o.03 to 0.06 ml once a day
Calcium gluconate twice a day

My questions:
How do i make her eat? I tried surenges.. no luck!
She had a dose of Metacam at 1pm before the xray, can i still give her some tonight when she wakes up? I think managing her paim may help her eat better?
Thank you!!! Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated

oh no!!

first let me say, your doing awesome!! everything you did and are doing sounds right on point.

33 grams is a considerable weight loss, but she is not quite in the danger danger zone, shes kinda teetering on it though.

Pain meds could actually make her eat less and want to sleep more.

The critical care food they gave you is the best thing to have her on right now, it is packed with good stuff so even if she only eats a little it will help sustain her.

You will probably have to keep trying to syringe feed her and make sure she is getting enough water too, you may have to use a syringe for that as well. Try a lid or bottle cap n see if she will eat or drink on her own if she doesn't then try the syringe again.

Dehydration is a big concern for any glider that is ill or injured so keep trying to get her to take fluids as much as she will let you.

Do you know how to check for dehydration?

Metacam..... I believe is a every 12 hours med, it should say on the label how often you can give it to her but i'm asking my friend to confirm just in case.

She said yes every 12 hours but you can go longer between doses and its preferred to go longer unless the glider is in pain and needs it right at 12 hours

Thank you so much for the prompt and informative response!
I don't know how to check for dehydration, but she will suck on watermelon and i squize some juice of the watermelon and mix the calcium with it and i use a syringe to give it to her! Hopefully this will keep her from dehydration!
THe pain bottle says once a day, but i have read some post that say they were giving it twice a day! The only reason why i want to give her more tonight is so i can change the schedule And be able to start giving it only at night when she wakes up and hope that the medication will help her throughout the night when she is awake! The vet said 2 months in the “hospital cage” and i am worried Clyde will be depressed (he is already pasing a lot and really stressed when I separated hem) and she will be sooo lonely. Dr said we should not handle her because any wrong movement and movement in general will hinder her recovery! #128557;#128557;#128557;Does anyone know if recovery can be less than 2 months? I am hopeful for shorter time! And i want to make sure I am not ignoring Clyde, but he is suffering too#128546;#128546;

ok checking to see if a glider is dehydrated is super easy.

Gently, at the middle of her back put your thumb on one side of her spine and your forefinger on the other side and pinch her skin. Not the spine, just the skin. if the skin stays up like a pitched tent then she is dehydrated, if the skin snaps right back to normal quickly she is not dehydrated.


The metacam dose is .03 to .06 which is kind of unusual that they gave you two different doses.

For her weight the dose should actually be .07 i'm NOT saying to up her to dose, follow the vets dose!!

What i am saying is, it's a smaller dose of a diluted pain med, you should be ok giving her two doses in one day to get her onto the med schedule you want her on at night without worrying she got to much. i would wait till closer to 1 am to give it to her though so it's closer to the 12 hour it's usually given at.

i'm trying to word this carefully so you receive it the way i need you too.

Two months may seem like a long time to you, but really it's not and they will both be ok. i've had gliders separated that long before for medical reasons.

Keeping them separated is what is best for her to ensure she fully heals or heals as much as she can without making the injury worse. So please do not feel rushed to get them back together.

There are things you can do to make it easier on them, like swap fleece so they still have each others scent regularly and will continue to smell like each other.

there are bonding buddies you can get for them that are glider safe and about the same size as a glider so they have something to snuggle with. They are only like 10 bucks a piece https://www.facebook.com/CreatedMoments/ These are not toys, so she can have one in her hospital bin to keep her company. They are made with fleece so you can let them each have one for a few days, then swap the buddies like scent swapping you just rotate them back n forth.

Spend more time with him since you can't really handle her while she is recovering. She isn't going to WANT you to handle her anyways and needs as much rest as she can get, so that means you can focus a little more on the cage mate change up his cage a little, give him new toys to focus on when he seems overly stressed at night. They don't have to be expensive toys, try easter eggs, curly straws pingpong balls ... things you can easily swap out and change up.

Dear Leela, you are an angel! Everything you said made perfect sense!, thank you for taking the time to help me! #128591;
Plan:
I didnt even think abou the little fleece buddies! I will get two and keep exchanging them between them so they can smell each other!

New cage toys for Clyde and a lot of time with us!

The vet told me when she starts to feel better and moving better to cut the
Pain medication from 0.06 to 0.03, but i will call tomorrow to see if i can give it to her twice a day to help with the pain if tomorrow morning she looks like she is in pain after he 12 hours!

Will post updates

Thank you again
Blessings your way!

you are very welcome I'm glad I could help .

i hope her appetite improves and she heals with as little discomfort as possible and yes please keep us updated

Honestly a dislocated hip is a new one for me, so I'm quite interested in how she does, if they got xrays I'd love to see them

ps, your doing a great job, if ya need any moral support feel free to message me, i usually see messages quicker on facebook. https://www.facebook.com/carla.sloan.1

I little update!
Have been really struggling to feed her the critical care, doesnt look like she likes it at all and and i fail with the syringe feeding! Last night, she was actually looking a lot more lively and was hungry!! Ate really good (not the critical care) and this morning i gave her greek yoghurt and boiled egg! She looked really good and wanted me to take her out...started climbing my hand! Brakes my heart that i have to keep her contained but looks like it is working for her! Almost two months of the “hospital cage” left#128557;#128557;
Pain medication every 12 hours and that seems to really help
Looks like Clyde is calming down as well!
Made some glider buddies for them (ordering would have taken over a week to get them)

Will post pictures soon!

Thank you all and have a great day

yayyyyyy great progress!!

So glad things are looking up for all of you

nothing wrong with getting creative lol fleece pompoms are a great substitute for bonding buddies i've done that myself

Right on!!

Boogs glad she eating again.. you can make some glider crack ( as it called) and that can help her get some weight back on.

I would suggest going over the shared cage to make sure it not something that can happen again ( like a old pouch that had a hole in it, or some thing that zipped tied that could of come loose some ( with them picking at it might of popped loose enough she got hung up on it.)

if she wants to be with you you can make a bra pouch to let her sleep on you so can watch her and give her little treats thought the day. I done this when my Freya had a paw injury I take her just about everywhere with me to watch her and spoil her some more since i had to keep her alone until it healed up so others would not try to groom it every time.

thank you so much for the idea! I dont have the bra pouch but will look into it!
Also, i will look for recipe for glider crack! I have never heard of it before, but that is why i am here asking for any advice!
And yes, i am checking the cage, but my guess and the vets opinion is that her leg or nail was stuck on something!
Thank you!

I dint see anything in the cage that could have
caused it...i hope i am not missing anything!

Glider crack was designed for a glider with cancer I believe, I can't remember exactly i haven't had coffee yet, but it was a terminal case i think.

Unfortunately It is the communities go to for "underweight" gliders( that usually aren't even underweight ), it is over used, and used when isn't needed or necessary. It's very high in fat which is not a healthy way for a glider to gain weight, high fat foods cause the internal organs to work even harder.

When a glider has lost weight due to injuries or illness it is much better for them to regain the weight gradually on a well balanced diet. Even the creator of Glider Crack ( who is Peggy Brewer that also created critter love ) will say the same thing.

The bra pouch would be "ok" if YOU are not being active when you have her on you. The whole point to the separation and hospital tote is to limit her moving around as she heals. If your doing anything other than sitting n watching tv leave her in the hospital tote

As we discussed yesterday, it was most likely a nail that got caught, and nail trimmings are also being addressed.

Emailed the vet, she said “No bra Pouch, no handling or as little as possible. If she is sleeping in the pouch (which is on the ground of the hospital cage) i can pick the whole pouch and just hold her like that, but no moving from pouch to pouch”. And her recommendation was to stick with critical care and offer some regular diet every night as well! The dreaded nail trimming...cant do this untill her hip stablizes, which is almost two months, 7 more weeks to go#128546;
It is a learning process for me and want to thank all of you for the help and ideas!
#128591;#128591;

Update, Bonnie is having some very labored breathing!
She is eating on her own,but i emailed the video to the vet clinic and waiting for response today!
Has anyone ever seen a glider breath this way???

I uploaded a video here but have no idea where it is! If anyone what to see it, message me so I can send it to you!
Thank you!

if you uploaded it here, it didn't work can you send it to me on facebook in messenger?