Lan's Story

Lan had a checkup with the vet today and he is doing well. However, he now has a lump near his nose. The vet said it did not appear to be an abscess and he wants to check him again in 2 weeks. I will keep you updated.

That lump has grown and looks awful and has kind of opened up a bit. Today, the vet put him on ClindaCure (clindamycin hydrochloride liquid) for the next 2 months. The original culture showed the infection to be sensitive to that, so we are hoping for the best. Please keep Lan in your thoughts and prayers. I took a few pictures of him the other day:

Once again, I have to use a warm, wet cotton ball to open his eye and a great deal of stinky yellow gummy substance comes out. This leads me to believe it is definitely infected and perhaps the 3+ weeks on antibiotics did nothing more than control the infection for a while. I am hoping this different antibiotic and a longer course will kick the infection.

Sometimes these infections do take a longer course of antibiotics to treat. Thank you for sharing his journey with us. It will help other gliders in the future.

I don't know how it's possible after only 1 dose of ClindaCure and a bit of Quickderm on the open spot, but Lan is looking so much better today. He looks almost normal. He hates the meds and shakes his head a lot to try to get rid of it, but he's enjoying the after med mealies.

We finished with the ClindaCure about a week ago and so far, so good. Keeping our fingers and toes crossed that the infection is gone. I don't know how much more I can handle with this little family (Lan's infection that we have been dealing with for over 5 months, Tas' self-mutilation and tail amputations, and the loss of Nynaeve - I hesitate to say that at least Tika has been doing well!). I know that I will be able to handle whatever comes along, but I would like some peace and health for a while.

Well, I guess we did have some peace and health for a while. Aside from January of this year when Lan had a gaping neck wound and needed stitches from his ear to his armpit. Unfortunately, I have to make an appointment with the vet tomorrow for Lan as the lump on his face has apparently returned. So far, his eye is open and he is completely normal except for the lump on his nose. Lan is definitely my problem child. Poor guy. He is about 10 years old and has been through so much over the years. I'm hoping I get to have the little bugger in my life for many more years, though. I will be requesting x-rays and a culture & sensitivity, if possible. Anything else I'm missing besides telling the vet his history and what it was and what worked last time? We moved in between these abscess episodes (assuming this is an abscess), so I am thinking I should see if our vet in MN can send our records down here. I probably should have done that a long time ago.

Brenda if you call your old vet in MN they should be able to fax his records over quickly.

Hope Lan feels better soon. Please let us know how he is doing after the visit.

Thank you, Brenda. I will.

Here are a few pictures of Lan from tent time tonight:

We went to the vet yesterday afternoon.  We're going on the hope that the same medicine that worked last year will work this time, too.  If not, we'll have to do some more tests.  Here's to hoping!  He also has a lump near his shoulder blade that the vet aspirated and said the cells seem to be lipoma which is a benign fatty tumor.  If it changes or grows, we need to re-examine that, too.  Started his icky meds tonight, poor guy.  Other than that, he's doing good.  I think Lan is still young and has plenty of years of stressing me out left.  ;)    I am very happy with the vet clinic we found here in Colorado.  The doctor we had yesterday made it clear that she is more than willing to learn as much about gliders as she can.  She already consults the internet (yes, asgv...) and told me she would be happy to consult any glider knowledgeable vet that I wanted.  I did have my vet in Minnesota fax all of our records down here, which should help, too.  

So, we'll see how these meds work and I'll just keep a close eye on his face and his back.  No problem there, he's always been one of my sweetest and definitely my most laid-back glider.

If it is any consolation, fatty tumors are quite common in gliders these days. I have three here that have them.
As always, I'm keeping Lan in my prayers.

Thank you, Val! I wonder why they are so common right now. Is it something we're doing? Or not doing? My guinea pig that I had when I was a kid had them, too.

Aurgh!  Lan was enjoying his turkey dinner when I saw that the lump on his back has been opened up.  I'm pretty sure that happened by teeth and so Lan is now in the hospital cage away from his kids since he certainly could not have done that to himself.  He's on clindamycin for the abscess on his face and I do have quickderm to apply to the wound on his back after I clean it out with water.  I still might bring him to the vet, but I don't know what else they can do for him except to clean it out better than I can.  Just so sad for the little sweetheart.  He's getting older and I don't want him to have to be away from his family for any length of time.  

I can't tell from the pics if that's opened by bites or if it was an abscess that drained. Is that a possibility?

I was wondering that myself since it kind of looks like that, too. But, when the vet aspirated it previously, the cells that came out looked and behaved like lipoma - a fatty tumor. I just don't know for sure, but will be giving the vet a call when they open and see if we can get in today.

Lan just likes to keep you on your toes. One thing is for sure, he is loved and well cared for. Sorry for your stress, but I know you are more than capable of handling these things by now. Lan has us all pulling for him! 

Thank you, Val!   We have an appointment with the same vet who saw him last week in about a half an hour. The wound has now dried and crusted over, but I'm bringing my camera with the pictures from last night. Hopefully she can help us figure out why this is happening and help us get him better fast.

The vet believes it was probably an abscess that needed to drain and that he is still on the best medicine for that and will be on it for quite a while.  She also thinks this was a good thing and it means we're over the hump and starting the healing.  She did think that he probably did a lot of grooming it himself and suggested that I try him back with his kids supervised at first as she feels the stress of being away will hinder his healing (smart lady!)  He does have some swelling around the area and some reddened, irritated flesh - some bruises and abrasions which she thinks is from the "grooming" and "cleaning" he and Tika and Tas were doing, but the wound does not look infected.  Unfortunately, putting him back with his kids did not last long and it's breaking my heart, but I have to do what I believe is best, even if it hurts us all.  They were together for about 10 minutes and Tika would not leave the wound alone.  She removed the dry and crusty area, but then continued to dig down and around.  I finally felt I just had to separate when she was trying to tear off the loose skin around the hole.  He has more bruises and abrasions and red, irritated flesh all around the area. I just couldn't sit back and let them remove so much flesh from his little body. I just remember what Java looked like and I don't know. Was I wrong? Would they have stopped before going too far? Would they have stopped before killing him, unwittingly? Should I have let them be and dealt with what happened when and if it happened? I just don't know.  

Lan has also lost 12 grams in the last 10 days.  He was 122 at the vet on Tuesday and down to 110 today.  I am going to change the time I give his meds in the hopes that this will help him want to eat.  I know he doesn't want anything in his mouth after he gets a taste of that Clindamycin, so I will start giving it to him in the morning.  I will also try to get him to eat treats and anything he WILL eat to try to keep his weight up.  I'm just so sad and frustrated that my sweet boy is going through all of this. Everyone remember when he was obese? I think he was about 175-180 at his highest and Tika was 196 and Tas was 198. Last week, after the vet tech weighed Lan and I saw he was 122, I decided to weigh the kids. Tika is 148 and Tas is 140. They've been doing so good and so healthy and active. Sorry, that was a bit off topic.

Unless Val tell you to leave them together I too would have separated him. Maybe some supervised play time. Wonder (might be a crazy idea) if you can wrap it just while they play so they do not mess with it??

I have found when I give medicine that putting it in something tasty work for us. I use Hawaiian Delight baby food most of the time. I have a baby spoon and do not give but a quarter spoon of it. I always try the food with nothing in it first to make sure they like that before wasting meds. If they do not like that then it get direct deposit in the mouth so I know they get it.

Thanks, Brenda. I could try wrapping it for play time and at least then maybe it will take them longer to get to the wound so I can distract or stop them. This medicine is truly nasty - I have tasted it. It's Clindamycin hydrochloride and the taste is VERY strong. He ate pretty good last night, so I gave him his medicine this morning and then left some yoggies in his hospital cage for when he is in the mood to eat them. Now that I am pretty sure this is going to be a longer separation, I'll be getting a larger cage ready for him so he's not so cramped and he can have a wheel.

Brenda, don't doubt yourself. YOU are mom and know best for your babies. This is not your first issue with Lan, so you know how he will behave with being alone for a bit.

To answer your questions, Yes, they would have stopped before killing him, but yes, they also would have made the wound worse before stopping. That is just the way they "help."
I would let them continue to have play time, but no in-pouch time for a bit. Keep up with the meds and the QuickDerm or Vetericyn and he will improve in no time.

If he won't take the meds well, you could discuss using Convenia instead. It has proven to be pretty good in treating abscesses in gliders. It is a little concerning that he would have two different areas of abscess at roughly the same time, so if it were me, I would hit him with the two different antibiotics (unless you had a culture with the facial issue. Did you? I can't remember)

Thank you for documenting Lan's story so well. We all use these stories as learning tools.

Thank you, Val. I really appreciate the help and confidence. We did not do a culture at this time as we were hoping we could just get him started on the same medicine that worked last time in the hopes that it would help before we do any other testing. The clindamycin does seem to be helping and perhaps that is why the abscess on his back drained. Either way, I am keeping a close eye on him and using the quickderm once a day after gently cleaning the wound on his back. The facial abscess seems to have gotten smaller and it has not gotten nearly as bad as the ones he had last year. I will mention the convenia to the vet, as well. At the rate we're going with Lan, and with my other gliders being known to have issues from time to time, this vet will be a pro at handling injuries and illnesses in gliders in no time. I will also let her know that Dr. Walsh is just a phone call away if she has questions.

I believe Lan has been grooming his back with his back feet and nails. The wound is still scabbed over, but now the scabbed/thick/hard skin is at least 5 times the size that it was and extends up to his right ear and down to mid-back and over towards his left ear. It doesn't bother him when I touch it or clean it, but it is concerning me. I know that if I put him back in with his kids and they removed the scabs and tough skin, it would look awful. I can't really see it through the fur, but it does not appear to be black or necrotic skin. Is this normal or expected with something like this? It's like he has one giant scab the size of a half dollar. It is hard, thick, tough, solid, unbendable and seems to be one piece, but huge.