And now my Thor has giardia. I'm freaking out. I feel like a total failure as a glider mom now. I thought I was keeping everything clean enough but apparently not.
Will be doing meds for all the gliders now and I will deep clean both cages until I'm too exhausted to continue.
I'm so worried.

You aren't a failure. You are doing everything possible for your gliders, you got Thor to the vet and you caught this, a failure wouldn't have done that.
Every once in a while there are things you can't control that pop up, this is a learning experience. I know how scary it can be to go through antibiotics as I just did two rounds with one of my gliders because we thought she may have been severely sick. It is exhausting and brutal and scary but i promise you it is worth it. You are doing everything you can for your gliders and that is what matters most.

Thank you. I should've cleaned the wheels more often. I will now.
Started the two cagemates on meds tonight. They are not fans of Tutti Fruity flavor apparently. Took me three hours to clean that stupid hex cage. Nice big cage for gliders. Completely impossible to clean thoroughly for glider slaves.
I just hope I caught it in time. Thor looks terrible.
Thank you again!

He's still not better. He's awful in fact. Keeps getting worse. Swollen hands and feet, large sore areas all over his body. The vet doesn't know what's wrong. And I don't know what to do. It's awful.

So sorry to hear, however such symptoms don't looks like giardia, have the vet considered the possibility of an allergy to the medecines?

Short answer: yes. He was also given baytril for the skin problem and every time I gave it to him he got much worse so we stopped that.

She doesn't know what is wrong. She doesn't know what to do.

the symptoms you describe really evocates an allergic reaction, or a liver issue, that's what my vet narrowed it down to when I had similar issues with Leo.
We never really found what was the exact cause, I suspect it was the fabric of one of their pouch because it ceased when I stopped using the ones I had, but I cannot be conclusive, it unfortunately could be anything, especially things we do not think about, a long term reaction to some wooden toys, a washing product, a new intolerance to some food...

Thank you for trying to help.

I am in the process of rewashing every single thing I use for the Gliders with a different detergent. I always use no dyes or perfumes detergent, but the last one we got did say "odor eaters" or something like that on it so I got one that only says dye free, perfume free, hypoallergenic for sensitive skin.

His hospital cage has nothing in it. He's too weak to do anything anyway and I don't want him to fall again.

So if it's an allergy, hopefully I've taken care of that.

The vet STILL hasn't called me back. I've called and left a message but still nothing. Getting even more frustrated.

He has a steroid to heal his skin and Prozac because the vet still thinks he's depressed. If he is depressed, it's from being deathly ill for an entire month. But I'm giving him whatever she says, because at this point I'm afraid he'll be gone every single time I walk into his room. So I'll try anything.

He passed.

quote:

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Originally posted by Kferg

He passed.

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so sorry for you. I have lost a few gliders and other animals, never easy.
these poor guys are so small and illness can hit so fast and hard. just think
of all the good life he had with you.

Thank you.

For future glider owner searches on this site-

The vet believes he had cutaneous lymphoma

Started with a dry bald patch on his shoulder (that's why I originally brought him to the vet).
Then turned into an open sore.
Lost the hair on his face.
Patches of red bumps, with yellow crust on face and back.
Then more open sores.
And finally slimy, yucky belly.

Antibiotics had no effect: baytril and metronidazole
Steroid had no effect.

Went from the dry patch to death in about 21 days.

He was 8 or 9 years old. We had him for 7 years and he was at least a year olds when we adopted him.