Back Home and Loving It

The smaller cage we purchased was put to good use this last week. We spent the week in northern California visiting our daughter, and CB, Foehn, and Cirrus spent the week with a sitter, and the cage was their "vacation" home. This was the first time we have ever left them with someone since they arrived three years ago. We have taken them with us on vacation a couple of times, but that couldn't happen this time. One, they aren't allowed on planes, and most importantly they are illegal in California. We had asked our vet if she knew of anyone who would be interested in caring for them and she gave us the name of one of the vet students.

After talking to the sitter on the phone we met her at our last appointment for Cirrus. We both felt good about leaving the gliders in her care. So, with just a little bit of apprehension, we brought the gliders, their cage, and all the necessary glider stuff to the sitter last Monday night. After making sure they were settled and all questions were answered, we said our goodbyes and left on our trip to California.

We received an email on Tuesday after we arrived at our daughter's letting us know that our gang was doing fine and had eaten well. We were concerned they would be stressed from being in a new place with strange smells and strange sounds (there were two dogs in the house - totally separated from the gliders).  Knowing that they were eating meant that they were settling in OK and that we probably didn't have anything to worry about. We didn't.

The sitter kept them on their routine as much as possible. They poked their heads out of the pouch each night to get their mealworms, and she offered them yogurt in the morning. Overnight they ate almost all of their blended mix, most of their vegetables, and picked at the fruit - just like normal.

We got back too late last night to pick them up, so we brought them home tonight. All three were working to get out of the zippered pouch on the way home. Once home we let them out in the office and they spent the next two and a half hours running and climbing, jumping on and off of us, and generally enjoying their time out of the cage. When I returned them to their cage a few minutes ago they spent a couple of moments checking things out, and then promptly went to take a nap. They were three tired but happy gliders.

Downsizing - Temporarily

This weekend CB, Foehn, and Cirrus are in temporary quarters. We moved them to a new cage for a few days to get them used to it.  We will be using this cage for when we have someone take care of them while we are gone. It measures 30 in wide by 18 inches deep by 48 inches high, large enough for them to climb around in but small enough to easily move it. It's less than half the size of their home cage, but bigger than the cage that came with Virga and Cirrus.  It is big enough to install a wheel and some other toys and gives them room to climb. The cage did not come with legs, so I built a stand for it to sit on so the would not be at floor level where it tends to be colder.  Their first night trying it out was Friday, and they spent the first 20 minutes thoroughly checking it out (and marking it) before they settled down for a nap.

The new, smaller cage used for their "vacation home".
You can see their regular cage just behind it.

In the meantime, they are very active tonight and have been going full tilt for the last half hour. All three of them have been running (or trying to) on the wheel. The wheel in the office is not as wide as the one on their cage, and it's a tight fit for three gliders!  Once they slow down a bit I'll gather them up and take them to their dinner.

Back to the Vet

At last weekend's weigh-in both Foehn and Cirrus had dropped four grams. They had not been eating consistently - some nights everything was eaten, and on others they picked at their food. In addition, when we woke them up to weigh them Cirrus' right eye wasn't open, and it took a few minutes before it did. This had happened a time or two before, but in light of her weight loss and prior medical history, we figured a visit to the vet was in order just to be sure she was OK. So, on Thursday we brought them all in and had Cirrus checked out. Overall she was doing well, and gained back two grams. However, Dr. W. found "debris" in her eye. They did a further exam to check for any scratches on the eye for which they had to put drops in her eye. Cirrus was pretty good about it, considering they had to do this three times. She fortunately didn't have any scratches on her eye, but as a precaution Dr. W. prescribed antibiotic drops. We have to put the drops in her eye three times a day. It really takes two of us, one to hold her (and her head) and the other to hold her eye open, if necessary, and put the drops in each eye. Cirrus is very good about it, so much so that I was able to do the morning drops by myself. M said today that she thinks Cirrus' eyes look clearer, so the drops seem to be doing the trick.

A Strange Night

The night was going normally until about 7:00 p.m. At that point we were surprised to hear the wheels in the cage going and checked to see what was going on. CB and Foehn were each running in a separate wheel and Cirrus was out climbing in the cage. This was very unusual. Neither of us could remember a time when all of them where out this early. Cirrus seemed to be walking oddly, so we took her out of the cage to check her. Once she was in the office, she seemed to be getting around normally. Back in the cage, CB and Foehn seemed reluctant to go back in their pouch, Foehn in particular seemed to be rather stressed out about something. CB found his way into a different pouch, but Foehn kept "pacing" on the top of the cage.  I brought CB into the office where M had Cirrus. I could not coax Foehn into a pouch, but eventually was able to pick her up and get her into a pouch. Once in the office, she spent much of the time running in the wheel, while CB found his way into the plush boat to settle down to sleep.  Foehn eventually crawled into a pouch I offered her and seemed to be calmer. She let me pet her and was quiet until mealworm time.

We checked their sleeping pouch and cage to make sure there was nothing there that could bother them. Everything there was OK.

At this point, Cirrus is asleep in the pouch on my lap, and CB and Foehn are sleeping in the boat. In a few minutes I'll be putting them back in their cage and will probably stay up a while to see what happens. 

Future Extended Family

Our son, whose sugar glider got us interested in these little animals three years ago, will finally be getting a companion for his glider.  If you have followed this blog you have read about Molly, his glider. Well, back a couple of months ago when we were closely watching all of our gliders because of what Virga and Cirrus were going through, M made a discovery one day. She checks the condition of our gliders every morning after yogurt and before they go back into the cage. We were taking care of Molly that weekend and M checked her as well. During the check she discovered that Molly was in fact a "he"!  We gave our son the news when he came to pick her up.  Molly's name is now Case. (Both are characters in the novel Neuromancer.)

We participated in another glider railroad two weeks ago and in the process met one of the breeders we were familiar with through Glider Central. While at her house we got to see all of her gliders, and she had a white mosaic glider that was out of pouch at the end of August. Our son had been hoping to get a white glider at some point, and this one seemed perfect for him. So once he is weaned in another six weeks or so and has been neutered, Ghost will be joining Case. 

Ghost, a white mosaic glider, at about 3 weeks out of pouch.

Life Goes On

This past week we have been closely watching Cirrus, CB, and Foehn to see how they were going to react to Virga being gone. On Monday night and Tuesday Cirrus, in particular, seemed to be out of sorts and trying to find her sister. All three of them were not eating much. Normally they each get some Blended Mix (their staple diet), and fruits and vegetables.  They almost always finish all of their Blended Mix, and usually their fruits and vegetables as well, depending on what they like at the time. This week, two out of three dishes of Blended were hardly touched, and they were only picking at their other food. On Wednesday we left with them on an overnight trip as part of another glider railroad (the subject of a future post). Since we returned on Thursday, their appetites have returned. Maybe this "mini vacation" was good for them. Each of them lost a couple of grams this week, which is not surprising considering their appetites and the stress from Virga being gone. The other day Foehn and Cirrus seemed to be at each other a bit, but at this point everything seems to be almost back to normal. We don't know if it was Foehn trying to assert her dominance or just a case of her annoying Cirrus.  All of them have been playing together. There was a little pouch switching this week, which happens from time to time. One one occasion Foehn was by herself and Cirrus and CB were together. Yesterday CB was by himself and the girls were together. However, this was after they had been going back and forth between pouches after morning yogurt.  I think CB was tired, went to sleep, and figured if the girls wanted to play musical pouches, fine - but he was going to sleep right where he was!

Glide Free, Virga

Virga

Yesterday was our usual weekly weigh-in for our gliders. When it was Virga's turn I placed her into the pouch we use for weighing and headed for the scale. She had been slowing down the last week and was continuing to decline. Virga looked at me from the pouch with her big eyes, and it was clear it was time for her to be free. Weighing her only confirmed it for me - she had lost 6 grams in the past five days. Last night the tremors she has experienced on awakening lasted off and on through most of play time. She spent most of the time in my hand where I rubbed her tummy, which seemed to relax her and ease the tremors. I told M that I agreed that it was time to make the call and let Virga go.

I got up this morning to give them all their morning licks of yogurt, Virga included. I made the call to the clinic and left a message. Shortly after 8:30 I received a call back - we had a 10:00 a.m. appointment.

Cirrus, Foehn, and CB accompanied Virga to the clinic with us. Dr. W came out soon after and let us know there would be a bit of a delay.  When it was time Dr. W came out to get us and brought us to the examining room.  There was a blue fleece blanket on the steel examining table - that was surprisingly somewhat comforting.  Dr. W explained to us what would occur, and Virga was put under anesthesia.  M helped by keeping the anesthesia cone over Virga's face while she was injected with the euthanizing drug, and I kept the other gliders calm (I am not good with needles). We had elected to go with a catheter into her knee bone, but the small needle would not allow the relatively thick fluid to get into her system. So, it was directly injected into her heart. When Virga had passed we placed her in the pouch with Cirrus, Foehn, and CB so they could say their goodbyes.  We were both able to hold her and say our goodbyes.  There were tears in everybody's eyes: ours, Dr. W. the vet tech, and the student helping out. Dr. W. said she would make a clay paw print for us.

Virga was nine and a half years old, but only with us for the last two and a half years (she and her sister were re-homed with us). She quickly won our hearts. We'll miss Virga being the first one up and out at night, her climbing on our arms for the ride to the play room (office), her enthusiasm for mealworms, her long runs on the wheel, and her gentle nature. We are happy she came into our lives, and know she had a happy life with Cirrus, Foehn, and CB. She had grown to be my favorite, and I think M's too.

A necropsy is being done, and we should have the results in a few weeks. What they learn from Virga and Cirrus will eventually be published in the exotic animal veterinary journal so perhaps other gliders can be helped. As Dr. W. was briefly examining Virga she found new tumors, one of which appeared to be in her lymph nodes.

We can't say enough about the staff at the University of Illinois Vet Med Exotics Dept. for their efforts and care the last six months. Everyone from the receptionist who checked us in today (she knew why we were there and quietly offered to escort us back early), to Dr. W., Kim, and the vet med students we met were caring, compassionate, and professional.  We feel very fortunate to have access to the level of care and caring our gliders have received.