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  ARROW
Written by Tessa

I read a story about a glider who was having seizures some weeks before something happened to my Arrow.  If it wasn't for that story, Arrow could be dead by now so I'm glad that you've had it on your web site.
       Well, this is what happened: One evening when my husband went to Arrow's cage to let him out, Arrow was running around in the cage like mad.  Earlier the dog was in the room and was barking from something outside and the dog isn't usually in the room so Marvin thought that this had frightened Arrow and that's why he was running around the cage.  When Marvin tried to get Arrow from the cage, Arrow wouldn't come to his arm.  Marvin told me this and I thought nothing of it.  It's only been recently that Arrow would crawl onto Marvin's arm to let him out and I figured that if the dog frightened him that he'd definitely would come to me since he's mine and is mostly bonded to me.  Arrow's familiar now with Marvin but I'm his person.  So, I went to the cage and went to him calling his name and that's when I realized
that something was wrong.  He not only wouldn't come to me but he was running
around the cage like crazy.  I said to Marvin that this isn't right that something is definitely wrong with him.  I tried to take him out and had to chase around with my hand until I had him and then he still wouldn't stay still.  I took him out to a lighted room for a good look and realized why he wouldn't respond to me.  It was like he couldn't really see me.  He had a blank stare.  He was shaking and I knew there was water in the cage but thought maybe he didn't drink enough and was dehydrated.  I went to a drawer where I had some syringes (ones I had leftover form some surgery I had that I used on a tube I had in me and there's no needle at the end, just
plastic).  I unpacked the wrapping (was still sterile) and filled it with water and
started giving him water slowly and he'd drink some.  Well, that wasn't helping him any.  Then I remembered your true stories about Marcel by Bounty1 and how honey and water were mixed for him.  I didn't have any honey but I did have some maple syrup that I'd give to him on my fingers as a treat.  I poured some of that on a dish and mixed half water and half syrup, while still holding poor Arrow who was shaking like crazy, shook up the contents in the syringe and started giving it to Arrow by mouth slowly.  It took a little while but he started coming around!  I started to feel some relief. His eyes were looking at me, his shaking calmed down quite a bit, and he seemed almost his old self.  Thank you for printing that story because I wouldn't have known what to do if I didn't read it and Arrow could have possibly died in my hands!  The very next day I took him to the vets.
       By morning when I checked on him he was still a little bit shaky so I gave him some more syrup water.  He didn't eat during the night so I held him and fed him by hand and he ate a couple of crickets but wouldn't eat anything else.  Then I made him go into his cubby bed that I've sewn for him.  Later on when I checked on him, he wasn't sleeping.  He was hanging halfway out of his cubby bed and I opened up his cage door to pet him to see what was wrong.  He was still a bit shaky and I went to get him a grape which I broke in half for him and he pulled it inside the cubby bed and started eating it.  More and more I started to feel relief but felt I should take him to the vets anyway.  So when I got to the vets his doctor weighed him.  He
weighed 107 grams, which she said is a very good weight at his age.  She listened to his heartbeat and asked me some questions about his problem.  She took Arrow to
the back to test his stool sample which came out negative, checked his urine which was also negative, and then took some blood when he crabbed like hell with three people holding him.  The results showed that he was showing low blood sugar (hypoglycemia).  She had come back and told me the results.  I had brought with me the syringe with syrup water and she said I could go ahead and give him some more of it.  I hadn't given him any before the trip to the vets and it had been hours ago, in the morning since he had any or had eaten the grape or even the crickets, so she said he could be tested for the blood sugar.  So the doctor went over with me about his diet and advised me to have a bottle of apple juice in his cage for him to keep up his sugar intake and to even take him out during the day to give him an extra feeding.  She said that a glider can tolerated high blood sugar better than
low, and  the low blood sugar is what can kill them.
       So he's diagnosed with hypoglycemia and seizures.  He's been back to his old self now.  I am feeling very relieved now.  It's now October and this has happened in the middle of September.  He has his apple juice and gets a few extra sugar treats and still gets a balanced diet and since before I didn't realize he wasn't feeling that good before, he's not only better but more than better.  He may have been feeling sick before.  But now he's jumpier, happier, and more energetic than ever before.  So thank you so much Bourbon for your real stories and I hope you will submit this story so that others would know what to do if their glider has these symptoms.

Updates

      I am submitting this story with much pain and tearfulness.  As any
could see it turns out that it's not a happy ending.  Saturday night,
November 4, 2000, started out like any other.  Most of the time I am not in
the room when Arrow first gets up.  This night I was and as soon as he saw me
he climbed right on the door of his cage to be let out.  Since he was
hypoglycemic, as soon as he wakes up from his slumber, he needs to get sugar
into his system.  I don't know if he ever did drink from his apple juice and
if perhaps that's what caused him to go into a seizure maybe since because
when he first got up that he saw me, his mommee.  Well, I just said to him
out loud, "Not yet.  First you've got to drink your apple juice."  (I had
recently put the apple juice in a bird waterer feeder because the bottle that
I had for him with the apple juice kept dripping but it was still in the same
location.)  Then I left the room.
     You see, when Arrow first gets up, he'll eat some sunflower seeds that I leave in the cage for him and drink some juice, just as anyone who wakes up and need to drink something because you'd usually wake up a little bit parched.  So, I expected him to go through his routine and then I'd let him out.  Arrow was a pet store glider and it took a long time (six months about) to calm him down and it took a lot of love and attention and holding him three times a day.  He kept graduating to being
sweeter and sweeter and with that I'd grant him privileges.  One of them was
being allowed out all night in my glider proofed room and eating at his own
dinner table where he learned that his food would always be outside the cage.
      Sorry to get a little off the subject but I just wanted everyone to know
where Arrow and I were coming from. Arrow wanted to get out to play right
away but like I said, I didn't know if he did drink any juice and if my being
in the room when he got out of bed distracted him.  Well, I've talked to many
of my glider friends who are helping me along to not feel guilty and blame
myself.
      To finish up with this story; I came back to the room about fifteen
minutes later to find him on the bottom of the cage shaking!  He was having a
seizure!  So I ran to the kitchen and got out the syringe filled with syrup
water from the refrigerator, ran back to his room, got him out of the cage,
and started administering the syrup water from the syringe into his mouth.
Well, he wasn't swallowing it!  So I would rub his throat where his larynx
was hoping none would go into his lungs but then I realized looking closer at
him that not only were his eyes a blank stare but they were getting cloudy
looking!  I couldn't believe it !!!!!  No !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Not my Arrow!  He
can't be dying!  He was doing so well !!!!!!!!!!!  He was eating his
leadbeaters!  He was eating extra sugar!  He was eating fruits and
vegetables!  He was doing so well for quite some time now! Why??
     I held him there helpless and trying to get the syrup water down hoping he'd turn for the better and nothing happened.  I even held him to my ear to see if I could
hear a heartbeat.  I could not.  I held him there in my hands, limp and lifeless, my little son................I kissed him and he died in my ever loving tender sweetly gently holding hands.  I held him to me crying tears that seemed to never end.  Arrow, my son,...you have now crossed that rainbow bridge...in a beautiful place where you'll have seizures no more...And I know that one day I'll cross that bridge and you'll be there on the other side waiting for me.  You will NEVER be FORGOTTEN!  Love your mommee, Tessa @~>~~>~~~> (a rose)