He is making so much improvment!!! We are all so proud of you casey. Keep fighting casey!! We are all still praying for you.

~Erica~

Again..Thanks for the updates!
Sooo happy he is gaining steady ground..Y'all have been through sooo much.
Continued blessings!

So we had a bit of a 'hiccup' in Casey's recovery...>sigh<

On Saturday Casey was eating/drinking and behaving normally for the majority of the day until we went to put him back into his cage late at night and he had a bout of liquid diarrhea. We were surprised, since his fluid intake had been good and he was hydrated, we decided to keep an eye on him and re-evaluate in the morning. Unfortunately Casey again had diarrhea when we checked on him the following morning. We had already tried pumpkin but I ran to the store and picked up some plain yogurt and pedylite to add to the pumpkin. I also offered some bread smeared with the yogurt to entice him to eat. However by 4:00 Casey showed little, if any, improvement with the diarrhea and was instead showing signs of dehydration so BACK to the UofI emergency!!!

The emergency staff checked Casey over and told us they suspected the diarrhea was related to his recently coming off a long time antibiotic treatment and wasn't all that surprising. Being on medication for so long not only killed off the bad bacteria but the good 'gut' bacteria as well. They took a sample for cytology and let us know they would have our Doctor take a look at it the following morning and give us a call. They gave Casey a Sub-q for the dehydration and encouraged us to continue the food we had been offering at home. After getting home Casey knocked out in my shirt for a 4 hour nap, poor boy! But when he finally woke up he appeared to be feeling much better. He was more alert, responsive and willing to eat. We kept an eye on him that night to make sure, but the sub-q did it's job.

We went back yesterday for a follow-up with our Doctor. The fecal gram stain showed a large number of bacteria and some white blood cells leading to the diagnosis of Enteritis. It's so very frustrating to come this far only to find out the treatment we used to make Casey better, has now made Casey sick again! GGARARR! We were given some medication to help settle his stomach and asked to pick up some commercially available Pepto Bismol to give him. Apparently it helps coat the stomach lining and reduce inflammation as well as anything they could prescribe. I hope this helps! They also gave him another Sub-q because it had done such wonders the day before and took another fecal sample to run more specific tests with. We will know the results in two days.

It's not all bad news though! Casey's wounds have ALL completely closed up!!! Weeeeeee! We were actually able to remove his e-collar last night and Casey was ecstatic! Hopes are that having it off will help speed recovery and reduce stress but as far as Casey is concerned that means he can have his wheel back. He played a lot last night despite the diarrhea.

Thanks again for all the support and kind words! I feel honored by what I've been reading. I'll update again soon.

Hope Casey's tummy is feeling better soon..Keep the faith..He's come sooooo far!!

Just to let people know Casey went back to the ER tonight for another sub-q shot. He was dehydrated enough that we didn't feel comfortable waiting till morning so my roommate took him because we had guests at the time...Aiden you rock!

On the bright side they sent him home with a bag of fluid and needles so we can give it as needed here now...whew!

Come on Casey and get better please!

aww poor baby! He will be back on tract soon enough!

Come on casey..keep fighting..you have made SO much improvement.
We are all praying for you casey.

~Erica~

Lot's of positive energy comin' Casey's way! He's has proven how strong he is.

Aww come on Casey! Kick that outta there! You've been through worse. Lots of prayers and love for a speedy recovery.

Casey is one tough little guy. By evidence of everything that he has endured and every obstacle he has overcome. Kudos for Aiden for being there for the little guy. It must be awesome having someone else who is willing to jump so quickly to the aid of one of these precious little animals... especially when it is not his own. I wish more people were like that!
Well wishes heading your way for Casey, and hopes for a speedy recovery! :)

So we are still fighting the diarrhea and we have to go pick up a new prescription for it today (culture grew out e-coli...yuck) but I wanted to let everyone know Casey has been doing amazing without his e-collar! Cody and Caylee are also doing great with Casey (no over grooming at all!) and they have all three been back together since Monday night!!! Whooohooooo!

>shake, shake, shake...shake, shake, shake...shake your booty!<

Caylee is gaining weight, Cody had stopped stress grooming and once we get over Casey's diarrhea I think I will finally take that HUGE sigh of relief!

Once again I wanted to thank everyone who was here to support us while we struggled through this. We came close to loosing him several times but Casey is strong and the encouragement here was paramount to my mental health.
>hugs<

Here are some new pics of Casey's wounds...don't they look good!?! Even his fur is looking better!

He is looking sooo good!!! Thanks to you and Aiden for all the updates. I am always checking and am so glad to see he is on the mend.

Casey is looking awesome. Now he needs to keep on keeping on. You and Aiden are doing awesome. Casey is the real prize fighter though. I'm glad you have such a wonderful vet. You know, funny thing. When I had my little dog and he was always so sick, I always had him at the vet. Hubby would kid and ask which car in the parking lot of the vets office he was paying for.

He is looking so much better!
Yay..for improvment, Casey. We are all still praying for you.<3

~Erica~

quote:

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Originally posted by Omis n Kais g-ma

You know, funny thing. When I had my little dog and he was always so sick, I always had him at the vet. Hubby would kid and ask which car in the parking lot of the vets office he was paying for.

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Heehee, I love it! I keep asking when the new 'Casey wing' for the vet will be built! I could have bought my first car 10 times by now. The frustrating part isn't the savings going 'poof' but I lose my job at the end of this month. My Grant at the UofI is over on the 31st, just bad timing. Really need to get my Etsy site up and running!

Oh man, that stinks. Hope you get a new job real soon. Thanks to God Casey is doing better and doesn't need to see the vet so much anymore.Yes, I knocked on wood.

quote:

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Originally posted by Rowangel

quote:

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Originally posted by Omis n Kais g-ma

You know, funny thing. When I had my little dog and he was always so sick, I always had him at the vet. Hubby would kid and ask which car in the parking lot of the vets office he was paying for.

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Heehee, I love it! I keep asking when the new 'Casey wing' for the vet will be built! I could have bought my first car 10 times by now. The frustrating part isn't the savings going 'poof' but I lose my job at the end of this month. My Grant at the UofI is over on the 31st, just bad timing. Really need to get my Etsy site up and running!

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Thanks for keeping us up to date on the little one. We are still praying for him to have a full recovery. Keep up the good work!

quote:

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Originally posted by LuckyGlider

Thanks for keeping us up to date on the little one. We are still praying for him to have a full recovery. Keep up the good work!

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Thank you Ed! Can you believe it??? From those two panicky phone calls at the beginning of March to now??? You are Casey's official 'godfather' and my personal hero. If you tell me to jump, I will ask 'how high!'
<3

Update:

We've been battling diarrhea for 2 weeks now. We've done fecal floats, fecal smears/stain and fecal cultures. We got results back of e-coli and bacteria run amok switched up the meds twice and still had diarrhea.

We take Casey back in today because the meds are obviously NOT working and Casey is loosing weight. They run MORE tests and guess what...Giardia! Only the sheds were found.

We've had fecals run on everyone on April 10th...again on 29th...again on April 5th and today and only today did anything show up. Just goes to show when dealing with diarrhea doing tests once, twice even three times may not always show the problem. Now we are looking at treating the gliders, the cats (and probably us as well)and decontaminating the cage/house. We don't know that it came from Caylee as only Casey's fecal popped positive...but we have another problem to deal with now. I love my kids...but I'm sooooooooo tired of the vet, bills and stress.

Their has been a lot of talk about who should own gliders and I haven't felt comfortable commenting. However, not to get on a soap box, but I know if I was not 33, employed with a car, things could have gone VERY differently for Casey. I love my kids (they are not pets to me) but I strongly feel 'pets' are not for everyone - the world is full of people who don't view 'pets' on the same level of responsibility of human kids. But they ARE. Please learn from my screw-ups and if you make a mistake...try something new...=P

I will keep making updates and sharing all my f-ups along with the good because I think this is important for everyone to read.

Any suggestions as to the best cleaning method? I know the cysts can survive and re-infest for up to a month...I was thinking of bleaching EVERYTHING.

From Stressed and Banging-head-against-wall in Champaign.

Well, the method we always used in Micro Biology was: Bleach, wipe down, rebleach and air dry. I don't know much about Giardia, but it did work for most everything we came into contact with in Micro, and we had some pretty nasty stuff in there. I'm so sorry that this has happened to you, especially when you finally thought things would be over. Bad things just always happen to good people, I guess.

You just can't get a break, hon. I'm so sorry, and I know you must be exhausted and frustrated.

Any idea how Casey may have come in contact with it?

What the heck, Casey? Time to give your parents a break already!!

http://thesweetspot.forumotion.net/t40-giardia

quote:

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Originally posted by sugie bandit

Any idea how Casey may have come in contact with it?

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Casey could have always had it in it's dormancy stage (what's worse is all the meds he's been on and off could have been masking/partially treating it)...he could have gotten it from Cody or Caylee or the cats somehow, us, contaminated food...really their are endless possibilities because not all infections are symptomatic. The vet said it could be a number of things and to not focus on one possibility...sigh.

quote:

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Originally posted by KritterCare

Well, the method we always used in Micro Biology was: Bleach, wipe down, rebleach and air dry. I don't know much about Giardia, but it did work for most everything we came into contact with in Micro, and we had some pretty nasty stuff in there. I'm so sorry that this has happened to you, especially when you finally thought things would be over. Bad things just always happen to good people, I guess.

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Good, then I will stick with the bleach! And thank you, I feel really bad for Casey...I can not believe he is still having issues! my poor little boy!

I put them on a little tiny piece of non salted cracker, and because they never get cracker they love it

quote:

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Originally posted by Rowangel

Any suggestions as to the best cleaning method? I know the cysts can survive and re-infest for up to a month...I was thinking of bleaching EVERYTHING.

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I would make their cage pretty bare for awhile. Just a pouch, their wheel, and a plastic toy or two(easily bleachable). I know its recommended to clean daily - I'd take them out(in their pouch) in the morning, bleach the cage, swap pouches, and clean the toys/wheel. Rinse well and then you can return them to the cage to the clean pouch and bleach the one they were in the night before.

Hopefully the giardia is killed the first round of treatment and Casey will continue to stay on track!

Oh no! Still praying for you casey. You have made it so far, keep fighting casey.<3

~Erica~

Casey is in my thoughts. i even named the unwanted glider someone gave me a while back after him. turns out the little guy is a sweetheart, just like your casey

quote:

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Originally posted by karensink

Casey is in my thoughts. i even named the unwanted glider someone gave me a while back after him. turns out the little guy is a sweetheart, just like your casey

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Ahhhh! I teared up a little, that is so awesome...want to see pics.

Finally here is a picture of my Casey. All of the hair on his bald spot was gone and he had a few bloody scratches from overgrooming. half of his hair has grown back since i got him a buddy!
Hoping your Casey is doing better