Quote:
osted: Monday, May 23, 2011 12:15 am | Updated: 11:45 pm, Sun May 22, 2011.
Surge of severe health problems with sugar gliders reported
By Carrie Ann Knauer, Times Staff Writer | 6 comments
Jennifer Price, along with a number of other customers who also purchased sugar gliders from a distributor at TownMall of Westminster in early April, was told that her new pet would live 12 to 15 years.
But seven weeks later, when her male sugar glider, Jack, was having nonstop seizures, she had him euthanized to put him out of his misery.
"He had no quality of life left," she said.
Thomas Ry-an, a veterinarian at Feathers, Scales and Tails in Westminster, said he's seen about 40 sugar gliders, all exhibiting symptoms of seizure and partial paralysis, in the past month. Other communities along the East Coast have seen similar problems, he said, and he and other veterinarians have been comparing notes to try to evaluate the situation.
"We're one of the centers of the country [on this]; people are calling from all over," Ryan said.
Sugar gliders are marsupials native to Australia and New Guinea, and resemble a flying squirrel in appearance. They are raised commercially by a few large breeders in the south, Ryan said, and then are sold through various distributors throughout the country.
Price said she purchased her sugar glider, also called a sugar bear, and the required cage and food at the same time, as well as vitamins, a starter kit, a bonding pouch and a play wheel for a total of $811.46 from the company Pocket Pets on April 3.
She noticed problems starting April 28, and took Jack to Ryan's office several times, spending a couple hundred dollars on treatments and medicines. When none of the treatments worked, she finally decided Friday to put him down.
Because the symptoms have been showing up in clusters, veterinarians believe the problems likely come from the cages or food the distributors sell with the animals.
"They all start with mild tremors, progress on to generalized tremors, seizures, convulsions and death," he said. "No one can figure out what's going on."
Ryan said he and other vets have had some of the sugar gliders that died sent out for autopsies and nothing definitive has been revealed. Some animals have had mild brain lesions. The symptoms seem to indicate that the sugar gliders are experiencing toxicity issues, he said, but they haven't been able to confirm anything yet.
Antibiotics and calcium supplements haven't produced cures, he said, which rules out some other possible causes.
"We're doing general supportive care, things to help the nervous system, because lesions are neurological," he said.
Ryan said he has seen some animals recover, but not many.
Cages thought to be the source
Price said she emailed Cape Coral, Fla.-based Pocket Pets, the company she purchased the sugar glider and supplies from, and they initially told her she should give the animal a homemade food made from egg and honey. When its health didn't improve and she learned that other people's pets were also sick and dying, she demanded more answers.
On Friday, Price received an extensive email from Adam Wayne, of Pocket Pets, detailing everything he knew about the epidemic and the steps he has taken to try to determine the source of the problem.
Price said Wayne wrote that the supplier to the cage manufacturer's supplier had changed materials without alerting the company, and the company believes that the new cage materials are what are making the sugar gliders sick, though only a small percentage seemed to be affected.
She said Wayne offered to send her a new cage, but explained that he could not afford to send it through an express mail option so she may have to wait another week or so. By the time she got the email, Price said it was too late for her pet.
Katie Hutchinson, of Taylorsville, said she hasn't trusted the company for a while. When she purchased her sugar glider April 2, she was told that they don't bite and are great for children. However, an email from the company sent a few weeks later gave eight reasons why they bite, she said, which made her fear for her young daughter's safety around it.
Hutchinson's sugar glider started shaking uncontrollably two weeks ago, and she contacted the company and followed up by taking it to a vet. She said she spoke with Wayne and has emailed the company as well.
Hutchinson said Wayne told her that the cage was the source of her sugar glider's health issues, and told her he would send her a new cage, but told her not to tell anyone else that it was the cage because he couldn't afford to replace all of the cages.
Hutchinson said she turned him down on the offer for a replacement cage and bought one on her own from PetSmart.
"We don't know if it's going to be toxic or not, and we wanted a refund for our medical costs and the cage, and for the stuff we had to buy now," she said.
Unfortunately, her sugar glider didn't use its new cage for longer. It died Friday.
Customers seek reimbursement
The sugar glider and its supplies cost almost $700, she said, and with more than $300 in medical costs, she's now spent over $1,000 on the pet that only lived seven weeks.
She said Wayne declined to reimburse her for those costs, but offered her a gift card to the Pocket Pets website.
Hutchinson said it seemed to her like the company was trying to cover up the source of the illnesses. She thinks the company owes it to its customers to let them know why their pets became sick.
"A lot of people spent a lot of money on them ... a recall should have been sent out, people should be refunded. It just seems like [the company] is not trying to help anyone," she said.
Price said the company has offered to replace her sugar glider for free, but she's not sure she would want another one.
"I don't want to have to go through all this again, and have another sick one, and go through the heartache again," she said.
Purchasers of sugar gliders from Pocket Pets received a return and replacement warranty which states there will be no returns or monetary refunds under any circumstances. The policy specifies that if the animal is properly cared for according to their precise diet and instructions and dies within the first two weeks, the company will replace one for a $100 fee, plus shipping and handling.
A phone call and email to Pocket Pets requesting an interview was not returned by 5 p.m. Friday.
Ryan is asking owners of the affected sugar gliders to be compassionate with the animals. If they don't want the animals any more, or are discouraged by their failing health, he asked that they bring them to his office or the Humane Society of Carroll County to have them euthanized.
"They're throwing them out," he said, after hearing several reports of sugar gliders spotted outdoors on their own.
"It cannot live [in the wild], and it's cruel to put a seizuring animal that can't even eat or trembling animals that can't escape a predator out to starve to death."
SOURCE HERE
Surge of severe health problems with sugar gliders reported
By Carrie Ann Knauer, Times Staff Writer | 6 comments
Jennifer Price, along with a number of other customers who also purchased sugar gliders from a distributor at TownMall of Westminster in early April, was told that her new pet would live 12 to 15 years.
But seven weeks later, when her male sugar glider, Jack, was having nonstop seizures, she had him euthanized to put him out of his misery.
"He had no quality of life left," she said.
Thomas Ry-an, a veterinarian at Feathers, Scales and Tails in Westminster, said he's seen about 40 sugar gliders, all exhibiting symptoms of seizure and partial paralysis, in the past month. Other communities along the East Coast have seen similar problems, he said, and he and other veterinarians have been comparing notes to try to evaluate the situation.
"We're one of the centers of the country [on this]; people are calling from all over," Ryan said.
Sugar gliders are marsupials native to Australia and New Guinea, and resemble a flying squirrel in appearance. They are raised commercially by a few large breeders in the south, Ryan said, and then are sold through various distributors throughout the country.
Price said she purchased her sugar glider, also called a sugar bear, and the required cage and food at the same time, as well as vitamins, a starter kit, a bonding pouch and a play wheel for a total of $811.46 from the company Pocket Pets on April 3.
She noticed problems starting April 28, and took Jack to Ryan's office several times, spending a couple hundred dollars on treatments and medicines. When none of the treatments worked, she finally decided Friday to put him down.
Because the symptoms have been showing up in clusters, veterinarians believe the problems likely come from the cages or food the distributors sell with the animals.
"They all start with mild tremors, progress on to generalized tremors, seizures, convulsions and death," he said. "No one can figure out what's going on."
Ryan said he and other vets have had some of the sugar gliders that died sent out for autopsies and nothing definitive has been revealed. Some animals have had mild brain lesions. The symptoms seem to indicate that the sugar gliders are experiencing toxicity issues, he said, but they haven't been able to confirm anything yet.
Antibiotics and calcium supplements haven't produced cures, he said, which rules out some other possible causes.
"We're doing general supportive care, things to help the nervous system, because lesions are neurological," he said.
Ryan said he has seen some animals recover, but not many.
Cages thought to be the source
Price said she emailed Cape Coral, Fla.-based Pocket Pets, the company she purchased the sugar glider and supplies from, and they initially told her she should give the animal a homemade food made from egg and honey. When its health didn't improve and she learned that other people's pets were also sick and dying, she demanded more answers.
On Friday, Price received an extensive email from Adam Wayne, of Pocket Pets, detailing everything he knew about the epidemic and the steps he has taken to try to determine the source of the problem.
Price said Wayne wrote that the supplier to the cage manufacturer's supplier had changed materials without alerting the company, and the company believes that the new cage materials are what are making the sugar gliders sick, though only a small percentage seemed to be affected.
She said Wayne offered to send her a new cage, but explained that he could not afford to send it through an express mail option so she may have to wait another week or so. By the time she got the email, Price said it was too late for her pet.
Katie Hutchinson, of Taylorsville, said she hasn't trusted the company for a while. When she purchased her sugar glider April 2, she was told that they don't bite and are great for children. However, an email from the company sent a few weeks later gave eight reasons why they bite, she said, which made her fear for her young daughter's safety around it.
Hutchinson's sugar glider started shaking uncontrollably two weeks ago, and she contacted the company and followed up by taking it to a vet. She said she spoke with Wayne and has emailed the company as well.
Hutchinson said Wayne told her that the cage was the source of her sugar glider's health issues, and told her he would send her a new cage, but told her not to tell anyone else that it was the cage because he couldn't afford to replace all of the cages.
Hutchinson said she turned him down on the offer for a replacement cage and bought one on her own from PetSmart.
"We don't know if it's going to be toxic or not, and we wanted a refund for our medical costs and the cage, and for the stuff we had to buy now," she said.
Unfortunately, her sugar glider didn't use its new cage for longer. It died Friday.
Customers seek reimbursement
The sugar glider and its supplies cost almost $700, she said, and with more than $300 in medical costs, she's now spent over $1,000 on the pet that only lived seven weeks.
She said Wayne declined to reimburse her for those costs, but offered her a gift card to the Pocket Pets website.
Hutchinson said it seemed to her like the company was trying to cover up the source of the illnesses. She thinks the company owes it to its customers to let them know why their pets became sick.
"A lot of people spent a lot of money on them ... a recall should have been sent out, people should be refunded. It just seems like [the company] is not trying to help anyone," she said.
Price said the company has offered to replace her sugar glider for free, but she's not sure she would want another one.
"I don't want to have to go through all this again, and have another sick one, and go through the heartache again," she said.
Purchasers of sugar gliders from Pocket Pets received a return and replacement warranty which states there will be no returns or monetary refunds under any circumstances. The policy specifies that if the animal is properly cared for according to their precise diet and instructions and dies within the first two weeks, the company will replace one for a $100 fee, plus shipping and handling.
A phone call and email to Pocket Pets requesting an interview was not returned by 5 p.m. Friday.
Ryan is asking owners of the affected sugar gliders to be compassionate with the animals. If they don't want the animals any more, or are discouraged by their failing health, he asked that they bring them to his office or the Humane Society of Carroll County to have them euthanized.
"They're throwing them out," he said, after hearing several reports of sugar gliders spotted outdoors on their own.
"It cannot live [in the wild], and it's cruel to put a seizuring animal that can't even eat or trembling animals that can't escape a predator out to starve to death."
SOURCE HERE
