"Special needs" Suggie :(

[on:]

I went down to my glider room last night to find something shocking. My adopted girl Skittles was unresponsive. She was curled up on her towel, ears flat and fur matted, eyes mostly closed and rather glazed over. At first sight I was certain she was already dead.

After staring in disbelief for a couple moments, she was indeed breathing - slowly. At this point I was already starting to convince myself that it was over. In animals this small and fragile, when one thing goes wrong it can be catastrophic, and there was definitely something very wrong and it looked as though I had caught it too late. I couldn't believe it though because I check my gliders every night and morning, and she looked fine up until last night.

I checked the water dishes, which were low because they drink so much each night, but not empty - so I knew she hadn't gone without water. But judging by how weak she looked, I figured maybe she had not gotten enough.... sometimes the gliders fight over their water and will sip out of the same dish, even though I have two dishes on each cage. I couldn't think of many more reasons but my head was spinning with concern and of course, I forgot about reasons and began to try and nurse her back.

I refilled one of the water dishes and held the rim to her mouth. She started lapping VERY slowly... what normally should be "onetwothreefourfivesix" and continuing, was "one....... two......." and she stopped. Regardless of how slow and weak she was, I knew that her at least trying was a very good sign, and suddenly there was hope! I offered her a spoonful of baby food, which she also tried to lap slowly, while Ricky prepared sugar water and a heat pad for me.

After wrapping her in a towel against the heat pad and administering the sugar water, within the next 10 minutes Skittles perked up tremendously. She drank the sugar water one drop at a time, but she was taking it. Soon she warmed up and her ears perked instead of laying flat against her face. Pretty soon, when we tried to withdraw the spoon of baby food, she'd reach out quickly and grab it so that we couldn't take it away. I then offered her a Happy Glider Pro-O treat, which she took willingly and proceeded to vigorously lick and nibble.

At this point I was comfortable with putting her back in the cage with Velcro. She bounced around happily, ate more food and drank more water. I left her and checked her several times before feeling comfortable enough to go back to bed. And this morning, when I went to go see her, she was curled up in her pouch with Velcro and looked right at me and began climbing out towards me, once more her normal self.

I can't say I know what happened. But I think this is a miracle. She came back and things are looking good. If something happens again, a vet visit will be in order... but for the time being, I have decided to hand-feed her every night to ensure she is getting the food and water she needs.

Ricky and I have a feeling that it's her age. When I adopted her at least a year ago, her previous owner said she'd had her for a very long time. I don't really know how old she is though.

[Reply #1 on:]

Despite hand-feeding and acting fine and normal since then, Skittles unfortunately passed away last night around 11:30 pm of suspected pnemonia. I have posted on The Rainbow Bridge for her

[Reply #2 on:]

It's heart breaking how she passed after she seemed to get better.

[Reply #3 on:]

I really had hope after she recovered. And she did so well for a couple nights, then suddenly, sick again...