It wasn't until after we caught them and put them back in their cage that I noticed that something wasn't right with Kira's face. All I could see was a reddish fleshy piece hanging from her face. At first glance, I thought it was her tongue!!
My heart sank.
I quickly grabbed her out of the cage and put her into a pouch. I was trying so hard to get some mealies out of our container, but my hands were literally shaking uncontrollably! After I gave her one and she settled down a bit, we were able to see that it wasn't her tongue! Then we saw that it was her bottom lip. The right side was completely split!
She shoveled in the mealies and acted like nothing was wrong, so we put her back in her cage to see how she's do. She automatically started running around and scenting the bars like nothing had happened to her. After that, we decided that it wasn't worth an emergency visit and decided to just call the vet that morning and make an appointment.
Unfortunately, the soonest they could get her in was 3:00 on Wednesday!
You can imagine how nerved up I was at work Tuesday. I was home all day Monday, so I was able to constantly check on her - mainly aggravate her - and make sure she was alright. LaVaughn was with her Tuesday, but I was only scheduled for 4 hours that day, so I didn't get a break or a chance to call. That's probably because I had to work 1 1/2 hours over. Fun!
Well, we made it to the vet today, xanex in hand. Not really of course, but man that was a long and unnerving drive! We were called back not 5 minutes after we got there. The vet was SO nice! Kira was the first glider she had in her office, but you would never know that. She handled her like a pro and was very gentile! The vet tech was amazed, she had never even heard of a sugar glider before. And come to find out, the vet tech lives not 5 miles away from us. Small world!
After she analyzed Kira's face, she gave us three options:
1) Put her on a anti-inflammatory and antibiotic and see if the swelling goes down enough to where she can sew it back on. She also thought that might give her enough time for her baby to come OOP, but that was going to be weeks still.
2) Try to put a local anesthetic in the spot and try to clip it off. But she was a little hesitant to do that, because she was afraid Kira wouldn't hold still long enough to get the bleeding stopped if it started.
3) Give her a little anesthesia and take care of it that way.
We both wanted number 3. It was too risky sending her home with that piece still there. She was already having a hard time eating, so we definitely didn't want to leave it. The only reason she didn't want to use gas on her was because she was going to have to put her whole body in the thing (whatever it was) and she was afraid she would knock her baby out too. That's when she decided to go get an attachment that she uses on rats. And luckily, it fit! It wasn't long after that, that she took her. :(
The next 10-15 minutes were not fun and did not go by fast.
She brought her out and told us that she was trying to go at her self and that we needed to keep her occupied. I starting freaking out and shaking, all the while trying to get a worm out of the container and feed it too her. Kira was SO out of it, she missed the worm and leached onto my finger with her hands. And she gripped tight! I just knew I was going to get bit, but I didn't. It only took a couple minutes and about 15 worms for her to wake up and act like herself again. But man was it scary!!
After that, the vet called one of the consult vets that we gave her and got her fixed up on a couple meds. She's on a anti-inflammatory and antibiotic. And can you guess what the cost of this was... only $63! I couldn't believe it! This vet it just beyond awesome! We definitely have a new glider vet to go to!
Okay, well I believe that's all for now. Time to go give Kira some more loves. Until next time...
Love & Peace
-Megan
Before..
See, torn sugar glider lip. Not fun!
After..
SO much better!
Logan's happy too. :)
Her meds..
And now a video of her operation:
And now a couple videos of the office bird:
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