Bad news for Baby B:

Well, Baby B is going to have to have part of her tail amputated tomorrow morning. Here's a picture of happier times with my little girl. The problem is, I'm not sure what happened at all, but my best guess is that this situation began when she had some hair pulled out of her tail somehow. Now, she and Harley like to bicker with the neighbors next door, and my best guess is that she had some hair pulled from her tail. Sometimes gliders will hang onto the side of the cage and their tails stick out. Anyway, I sleep near my gliders, and I have never heard anything, and before I go to bed at night, I make sure to turn my cages so the gliders can't reach one another. At first, there was just a wee patch of hair missing, but no bite marks or any kind of damage like that. Her tail area was more like she had had "her tail waxed." Just clean and smooth - but this was just a small spot and except for the lack of hair, she looked ok. My first theory is that she was hanging on the side of her cage and giving someone some "yap" and her tail stuck out and someone grabbed it. I don't know if that is even possible, but it's all that I can think of because there was also a slight kink to her tail; so, I thought that maybe she just "sprained it" or maybe "bruised" up against the cage bars, as if she had tried to get away. I am speculating because I do not know. The kink was kind of like a Siamese cat's tail (some of which have little kinks on the end).

Now, I know if we break a toe or something that nothing can be done, and her tail started to heal up (it was a small spot at first), but now, there is more exposed skin, which is going further up her tail. The vet says that we are going to have to amputate part of it since there appears to be some tissue damage (her tail still curls up, just like always, but only in one direction). I don't know what worsened her situation: I don't know if she began overgrooming herself, or if her cagemates were grooming her, but now she has more exposed skin after she had started her healing process, and she was healing up and looking good! I have never seen or heard any fighting from within the cage (the four of these guys are buddies!), nor any kind of other wierd noise.

My second theory is that even though her half-sister, AnnaBear, loves her (they constantly sleep together, play together, etc.) that maybe AB was hogging some food? AB is heavier than BB, but then AB's mom (Reese) is a fat little thing, and BB's mom (Tink) is a smaller glider. I just don't know. I have went over the cages, and I have seen no sign of any hair in the cage or in their wheels. At night, I have separated BB to make sure she's eating - just in case AB is a food hog, but then I return her in the morning so that she can sleep/cuddle with her buds. If my camera weren't with my daughter (who is on her way to Space Camp right now, I'd take a picture). Regardless, she will have part of her tail removed tomorrow. The vet recommends laser surgery since that will speed healing time. Updates to come.