| The Sweet Spot INFORMATION concerning sugar glider health and husbandry matters |
| | Progressive fur loss | |
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+5jungleflockmom CandyOtte Chris R jacknsally Something_To_Believe_In 9 posters | Author | Message |
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Something_To_Believe_In Associate
Posts : 4565 Join date : 2009-12-10 Age : 50 Location : Texas
| Subject: Progressive fur loss Sat Mar 13, 2010 9:31 am | |
| NUGGET Nugget is a rescued boy who came to me two years ago having had both of his back legs broken by his "owner." Nugget did great with his rehabilitation, and, despite a lot of people thinking it would not happen, he regained functional use of BOTH back legs.
Nugget has since lived with his best buddy, Chowder. Nugget has had some trouble with his right hip since the beginning. It did not heal correctly, and he does not have normal sensation, so he frequently looses control of that hip and falls. So, I check on him every day, set his cage up for falls and watch him nightly.
About 6 months ago, I started noticing that Nugget's tail was thinning on the end. At that time, I was trying to introduce them to another cage of gliders (both girls), so I just thought I was stressing him out. I stopped introductions. The problem did not get better. The tail itself began thinning!
Took Nugget to the vet. I was convinced that he must have some necrosis that I was not seeing. His tail LOOKED very much like a tail looks when it becomes necrotic - very thin - but without any blackened flesh. Dr. Walsh could find nothing wrong with him and we both attributed it to stress again. So, I began treating Nugget and Chowder like I do my cages that stress very easily.
Here is a photo I took of his tail in November, 2009:
Not only did the problem not get better, it started to get worse. What had previously been contained to the black tip of his tail began moving up his tail. After another month, 3/4 of his tail was thin and loosing fur. Back to the vet we went at the end of December. This time to Dr. Pearson in Amarillo. It was decided at that time that perhaps this was due to malnutrition. Now, Nugget has been with me for years at this point. He is NOT malnourished. I feed a very good diet, one that has proven time and again to help gliders HEAL. So, what could cause a glider who is receiving a good diet to become malnourished? Parasites could do that, so I treated him with panacur (even though he never had a positive fecal). He also plucked some of the hairs and sent them off to the lab. Nothing came of those tests. Turns out, nugget is growing sugar glider hair.
Again, the issue gets no better - it gets worse. Knowing that Dr. Walsh would be here for the RRRoundup in just a few weeks, I decided to wait and see what he thought THIS time. Remember, Nugget has so far been to the vet twice for this issue, both times treated and neither has been successful. At this point, I begin to be a bit more conservative in the number of vet visits I am willing to put him through. If this IS a stress matter, I am making it much worse with hundreds of vet visits. Throughout this whole time, I have noticed no change in Nugget's behavior or eating patterns. He is an active, engaging and playful glider.
SOOOO, Dr. Walsh sees Nugget again at the RRRoundup. By this time, Nugget's fur thinning/loss has made its way all the way up the tail and over the entire back left hind quarter.
Of course, Dr. Walsh says I have to get him to Tulsa for more testing. In the mean time, he advises me to treat with a broad spectrum antibiotic. Nugget is and always has been a glider who pees and poops in his pouch, so we talked about whether this was an unusual urine staining??? Nope, I change pouches every 2-3 days and Nugget does not have any staining or any odor (other than normal glider odor).
Could it be that he is overgrooming? No, the tail itself is thin - literally skin and bone in some places. No meat at all. AND, there IS fur, it is just very short (almost like he has been shaved and it is just growing back) in some places.
Could it be that Chowder is doing this to him? Well, anything is possible. But, so far Chowder has never shown an interest in cosmotology and I have never caught him messing with Nugget at all. ????
Could it be that Nugget is rubbing his tail and hind end on something? Well, again, it is possible. But, I watch him every night, remember. And I have never seen this behavior even once. But, it is still possible.
So, what could it be? Dr. Walsh suspects that Nugget may have an adrenal disorder. So, we are going to draw some blood and do what tests we can next weekend. Hopefully we will get some answers. Anyone have any other thoughts?
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| | | jacknsally
Posts : 201 Join date : 2009-12-30 Age : 51 Location : DFW, TX
| Subject: Re: Progressive fur loss Sat Mar 13, 2010 9:56 am | |
| The fur sent off would show if there was a fur/skin mite present right? What about a skin scraping? I was wondering if it was an allergy, but he'd have the hair loss issue elsewhere? It is odd and seems to be traveling up the root of something. Something along the route of the blood supply/nourishment to the lower end of their body?
The tail is the furthest body part away from most of their sources. Zero's tail was very thin and had lots of hair loss but we didn't get to the point if it was going to go any further & he had major nutritional concerns. You are offering a nutritional diet but his body may not be processing something correctly. I guess the adrenal gland test will show if that's the case? | |
| | | Chris R
Posts : 283 Join date : 2009-12-23 Age : 54 Location : Northwestern Missouri
| Subject: Re: Progressive fur loss Sat Mar 13, 2010 10:16 am | |
| Gosh Val! I agree with your vet. A CBC with differential would be my next step also. That way you can check adrenal gland production and see if there is an immuno response happening as in... he is allergic to something...
Have you always used the same laundry soap with him? If so, what about changing it up to something like dreft or a more non-allergen soap? My gut is screaming that he is allergic to SOMETHING in your house or that you use to clean the cage with. I would go with laundry soap and/or fabric softener first as that is what his fir/skin comes in contact with the most.... | |
| | | CandyOtte
Posts : 196 Join date : 2009-12-30 Age : 74 Location : Lutz, FL
| Subject: Re: Progressive fur loss Sat Mar 13, 2010 11:03 am | |
| do gliders have Thyroid issues? Hypothyroidism causes thinning, brittle hair & nails. How about his nails? do they seem to grow slowly or be "thin" when you trim them?
If the fur is brittle, it makes sense that regular grooming of areas he reaches most easily would show the thinning fur before other areas of the body. | |
| | | Something_To_Believe_In Associate
Posts : 4565 Join date : 2009-12-10 Age : 50 Location : Texas
| Subject: Re: Progressive fur loss Sat Mar 13, 2010 12:25 pm | |
| His nails are normal - far as I can tell. I trim them regularly and they are just as they have always been. Nonetheless, Gliders DO have thyroid issues. Several gliders have had the t4 panel run and are on thyroid medications, so it is another avenue to explore. I can't remember what first alerted their owners that they had thyroid issues, but I thought it was weight. I will go look it up.
I use Dreft on the glider laundry - even gave samples of it out at the RRRoundup. But, I don't always wash JUST glider laundry, and when I am washing my own laundry with some glider stuff in with it, I do not use Dreft. So, it is possible that he had a reaction to another detergent. I will be more careful about that with his cage. I have one glider that is VERY allergic to fabric softener and detergent, so I am very careful with everything that goes in his cage and developed a system to always remind me that I am dealing with his cage items. I can do the same for Nugget.
Nancy, I forgot to mention that we do plan a skin scraping as well, even though Dr. Walsh really thinks it will be unnecessary.
It is very strange that this started at the tip of his tail and is traveling up the body. | |
| | | jungleflockmom
Posts : 204 Join date : 2009-12-12 Location : Pacific coast
| Subject: Re: Progressive fur loss Sat Mar 13, 2010 11:43 pm | |
| Maybe try a hypo-allergenic diet w/him then add back foods that are more likely to cause sensitivities? | |
| | | Something_To_Believe_In Associate
Posts : 4565 Join date : 2009-12-10 Age : 50 Location : Texas
| Subject: Re: Progressive fur loss Tue Mar 23, 2010 7:17 pm | |
| I am going to have to try that suggestion as well, Dee. Nugget had his vet visit last Saturday and we still have no answers. It is very frustrating. He had a skin scraping & blood draw, but were unable to get enough blood to run a CBC. The whole thing was very frustrating and very traumatizing for Nugget. I have never seen a glider awaken from anesthesia and have a fit like his. He was literally SCREAMING - it got every glider and dog in the place upset. Then, he was crabby and lungy all night long. I feel terrible for putting him through it, but would feel worse if I didn't try for answers. So, we will continue with these other things, and once Nugget has had plenty of time to get over this, then we will try to draw blood again. | |
| | | tngliderlover
Posts : 11 Join date : 2010-01-01 Age : 72 Location : Gallatin, TN
| Subject: Re: Progressive fur loss Tue Mar 23, 2010 11:29 pm | |
| Poor Nugget......I was hoping there would be an answer to his fur loss. Val, I know how frustrating this must be for you. This might be off the wall, but would urine cause a hair loss? Maybe if they were in the pouch and one or both peed in the pouch or on each other? I know you change out the pouch every other day but I read somewhere that urine "scalding" can happen to squirrels. Just throwing this out there... | |
| | | Feather
Posts : 94 Join date : 2010-03-07 Age : 60 Location : Wisconsin
| Subject: Re: Progressive fur loss Fri Mar 26, 2010 9:44 pm | |
| With it being on only one side of his butt, I am thinking neurological issues. Thyroid, mites, and other things on that line of thinking are usually not only on one side of the body.
It could be possible that this is a result of his injuries before he came to you and that as the little guy ages it is manifesting itself. | |
| | | jen102375
Posts : 300 Join date : 2010-01-12 Age : 48 Location : WI
| Subject: Re: Progressive fur loss Fri Mar 26, 2010 10:10 pm | |
| Possibly hypothyroidism. Thyroid issues are known for unexplained hair loss. | |
| | | Something_To_Believe_In Associate
Posts : 4565 Join date : 2009-12-10 Age : 50 Location : Texas
| Subject: Re: Progressive fur loss Sat Mar 27, 2010 10:01 am | |
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| | | Chris R
Posts : 283 Join date : 2009-12-23 Age : 54 Location : Northwestern Missouri
| Subject: Re: Progressive fur loss Sat Mar 27, 2010 10:13 am | |
| Looks like the same issue is going on to me!! | |
| | | cyndiekb
Posts : 228 Join date : 2010-01-08 Age : 54
| Subject: Re: Progressive fur loss Sat Mar 27, 2010 10:35 am | |
| Val I gave a glider to Robin (TnR gliders) that started to have hair loss, after about a year he started to lose weight. In the end I told her he is not well put him down. The vet did a necropsy and Ace was full of "nodules" not a lot of answerers as it was a free necropsy so no histapath was done. We did learn though he was ill on the inside and those were symptoms on the outside. Hope and pray yours is not this type of issue but wanted to share.
On a side note Ace never fathered babies this must have been why | |
| | | jen102375
Posts : 300 Join date : 2010-01-12 Age : 48 Location : WI
| Subject: Re: Progressive fur loss Sat Mar 27, 2010 11:20 am | |
| I do think it looks like the same issue as well. I asked if it started on tail. | |
| | | Something_To_Believe_In Associate
Posts : 4565 Join date : 2009-12-10 Age : 50 Location : Texas
| | | | CandyOtte
Posts : 196 Join date : 2009-12-30 Age : 74 Location : Lutz, FL
| Subject: Re: Progressive fur loss Sun Sep 26, 2010 12:18 pm | |
| Just a random thought here, I wonder if this could be some sort of viral syndrome similar to shingles, in that when the virus flairs up it follows a nerve route.
I am glad he does not appear to be uncomfortable with his situation. | |
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