Photo Library - self mutilation

It is important that we know what we might expect when discussing these type of things. Most people will never experience injuries of this sort. However, it will be less of a shock to owners if they have some idea of what they might see IF it should ever happen to one of their babies. For this reason, we will be sharing pictures throughout this forum as we can.

******************************************
This glider had a vet that recommended letting the necrotic tail "just fall off." Unfortunately, the vet did not understand that gliders are prone to SM and that there could be infection.

Infection set in on the tail, and the glider began to SM. I was able to get her in a collar and to the vet for tail amputation. You can see she also had a wound on her foot.


This glider's tail was bitten by another, and he began to self mutilate. He did this damage in just a short time. His tail was amputated and he is living a normal life with two cage mates now.

This is Shandy. The initial sm was a tiny area about 1 inch long. She got out of her collar on the drive to the vet and this was what I found. This amount of damage was done in less than 20 minutes:



This is the amputated tail:



This is a close up of the tail to show the amount of damage:



This is Shandy post-op:

Abdominal and side mutilation.

This is Tas last night at the emergency vet. We were sent home with 2 pain meds and 1 antibiotic and told to make an appointment with the regular vet. Tas will be dropped off at the vet Wednesday morning for the exam and probable amputation. This is happening just over 5 years after I went through the same thing with Tas' dad, Lan.