Side Note: for those who do not know what a Sugar Glider is, it is a Marsupial which is not the same as a flying squirrel. The fall in to the same family as the koala bear or Kangaroo. Because they are not rodents they have a good chance at getting along with your dog or cat. One of the biggest issues for beginners and Sugar Gliders is that most people see them as so cute, that they do not realize that it takes a lot of work to get these sugar gliders to bond. Sometimes it can take months, and I have heard it can take up to a year for your sugar bear to bond with you. Which is why I am writing this blog, to have a record of my bonding with Mojo. With Precious it is an ongoing bonding and I will write about her as well though this blog is mostly about the bonding between my family and our new Sugar bear Mojo.
So on March 6, 2011 we purchased a Sugar glider from Pocket Pets ('PP') at the Mall in Colonie, NY. Our Daughter came up with the name precious so we decided that we would give our new baby that name, mostly because none of us were able to come up with one of our own.
We were pretty scared of precious, since she gave off this loud noise and stood up on her rear legs like a little bear and swiped her paws at us while lunging at our hands. It was pretty scary even though the 'PP' customer service was saying do not be afraid. Eventually I figured out that I could pick her up while she was sleeping in her shirt, and I could flip her out and get her in the Mendenhall grip (the bonding grip). However she really was a fighter, and biter for that matter. I finally got some balls and decided no matter how hard she bite I was going to be tougher than her and grab her. though she still bit me when I wasn't looking and tore my hands up with her nails, I kept trying and trying to befriend her to no avail.
On May 17, 2011 my girlfriend (we'll call her Luka) noticed our little Precious was shivering a little and it was unusual for her. So she emailed 'PP' customer service and the sent her an email about a hind leg paralysis and we needed to make this emergency concoction. I told Luka that they are crazy, this is not hind leg paralysis, none of her symptoms were like the hind leg paralysis symptoms, so we ignored it (not a good choice).
May 20, 2011 I received an email from 'PP' (From Adam Wayne):
On May 20, 2011, at 9:29 AM, Adam Wayne wrote:
CAGE RECALL NOTICE
Good morning JustNotSkinny: (replacing my name with JustNotSkinny)
Adam Wayne here from Pocket Pets. ☺ One of our cage manufacturer’s recently brought it to our attention that one or more
of the cage components used to make their cages MIGHT be defective. At this point, we have absolutely no way of testing
or knowing which/how many cages might be affected; but since everyone who works here has these little darlings as our
own personal pets; we all sat down together – as “parents” - and decided that the right thing to do was to err on the
side of caution just in case. ☺
Therefore, we are sending you a brand new cage – free of charge – in the next 2-3 weeks (hopefully sooner).
It will be going out via UPS, and we have your current shipping address in our records as:
If the above shipping information is correct, please click here to confirm – and you’re all set. ☺
If the above shipping information is NOT correct, please click here to enter a DIFFERENT shipping address.
Again, please accept my most sincere apologies for this inconvenience. In the meantime, just keep giving your little
fuzzbutt(s) lots-a-luvin’ – and we will send you another email in a few days when everything has been shipped. ☺
Sincerely,
Adam Wayne
Pocket Pets
Ok on June 4, 2011 I woke up to my Sugar bear Shaking excessively and decided it was time to take Precious to the vet. After the vet I wrote 'PP' an email posted below:
On Sat, Jun 4, 2011 at 4:14 PM, JustNotSkinny wrote:
Good Afternoon Adam:
When you sent me this email on May 20th, 2011 regarding our cage I felt a happy tingly feeling in my stomach that
a company like pocket pets could exist, you just do not see that kind of resolve today. One feeling i did not really
get from the email is the urgency to the defective cage, nor did I really know what was defective about the cage.
Against my better judgement I dismissed researching the matter and said to myself well we will get another cage soon
and be fine, besides what could possibly be wrong with our cage it has been working fine for the short while we have
had it.
Rewind back a few days to May 17th, 2011 my fiancee (Luella) noticed that our 'Precious' (Our little baby's name
is precious because she is so) was shivering a little, which was not usual (not the usual shivering she did when we
first woke here or when she seemed scared). She email customer support as she is a worry wort, and got the response
about Hind Leg Paralysis, which I thought to just be a scripted response. I didn't think this was the issue, and she
didn't have the shakes/shivers again so I dismissed it.
Fast Forward to June 4th 2011, I find myself being woke out of a really nice deep sleep, Luella is telling me
that precious is shaking on her heat rock like the rock had a vibrator in it. When I grabbed Precious, she indeed
was shaking uncontrollably, so first I thought wow maybe she does have hind leg paralysis, as it seemed she could not
move very well. So I held her really close and tried to comfort her while Luella looks around for a vet that works
with gliders. So after finding one and getting an emergency appointment we set out to bring precious to the vet. We
prepared her pouch and grabbed her water bottle just in case.
At the Vet, Dr. Joy Lucas tells us that she has seen quite a few of thee cases recently and that she believes
that the one thing that each of the cases have in common is the cage, and that she believes it to be toxic. So I
thought back to the letter sent to us on May 20th and started wondering did I not read that right? Did it say that
the cage may be detrimental and I should removed my Precious from the cage immediately? I wasn't sure, but I
mentioned it to her that we did receive an email from Pocket Pets and felt like it was just a small defect which I
took as to mean like a clip comes lose and Precious could get out or something, I never thought it could kill her.
She then tells me to take her out of the cage immediately. When I asked what should I put her in while I wait for our
cage from Pocket Pets, she said just get a small bird cage for now.
So by now I am sure you are waiting for me to start spitting out cost that I am having to go through because of this
cage situation, but that is not why I am emailing you today. No I am concerned for my Precious as I have become very
very close to her, although I suspect she is not as fond of me as I her. I am concerned for my family who also has
become close to her. So I am emailing you today to find out 1) if there is a way that I could be moved up to the top
of the list of your Cage shipments. 2) What is Pocket Pets prepared to do if my little Precious dies because of a
cage that may be toxic?
I really do not regret my decision to purchase Precious, and at this point I do not regret purchasing through Pocket
Pets, in fact when people ask I always tell them check out pocket pets because they give you the scoop on what to
feed them and how to keep them healthy for a long time. I truly hope that I'm not blindly being duped.
I regret having to communicate to you under these circumstances, I hope that my letter does not come off incorrectly,
and I hope you can understand my concerns.
Thank you,
JustNotSkinny
And Later on that day I received a call from Matt at 'PP', explaining everything and letting me know that they are going to take care of the cage situation. Matt was a very sympathetic, and Passionate (about the incident) person. After talking to Matt I checked my email (as Matt had suggested I do) and there was a long letter from (the owner of 'PP'):
hey there Jim:
This is Adam Wayne from Pocket Pets. Customer service just sent me a copy of your email, and so I wanted to get right
back to you immediately. I'm SO sorry to hear about this, and rest assured we're going to do everything we can to help
you right away.
As you are probably aware, we recently issued a cage recall to a specific group of customers, and that being said, the
only thing we DO know for sure is that a small percentage of the animals we've placed for adoption over the last few
months, (as well as those placed by many OTHER breeders and owners all over the country who have nothing to do with our
company), have suddenly become ill. The other thing that seems to be true is that the majority of these animals then
appear to somehow get better fairly quickly once they are placed in a different cage.
Well, after spending literally tens of thousands of dollars working with the top sugar bear veterinarians for the past few
eeks, the “good news” is we believe we finally may have some new information that:
1) points towards what probably caused this,
2) gives us what looks like an effective way to treat it, and
3) will prevent this from ever happening again
Before I continue, I have to ask you to please forgive me here if all this sounds a little muddled as I’ve only had a few hours
sleep in the last few weeks.
In any event, I’ll attempt to explain this all to you as briefly as I know how - while still including all the pertinent
information.
At this point, I fully understand you probably really only care about the “cure” to all this, (and we’ll definitely get to
that here in a second) - but as a “dad” of 3 of these little guys myself (and a cat) I can’t possibly put into words how
HORRIBLE this all makes me feel, and wanted to at least try and explain how we all got here.
To begin with, the first time we began hearing rumblings of this kind of “shaking” thing was just a few weeks ago – and
even then it was extremely sporadic and often coming from vets who were seeing it in animals that had nothing to do with
my company. It certainly sounded odd at first, but the generalized symptoms (ie. shaking, trembling, partial paralysis,
etc..) still easily fell within a range of several possible known (and treatable) causes. Therefore, it didn’t
necessarily raise any “red flags” for us or the knowledgeable vets we regularly consult with; because there just wasn’t
enough consistency or data to suspect anything more at that time.
In any event, a short time later someone actually sent me a video of their baby “shaking” in the same way. Quite
frankly, in all my years of working with animals (and being a huge animal-lover) I had never seen ANYTHING like this
before – so we immediately started putting a lot more emphasis into looking at what this might possibly be…
That being said, the first thing we did was to sit down with a handful of the top sugar bear vets in the country, and
really take a hard look at this. Initially, they STILL strongly-suspected some sort of calcium deficiency-related issue
(which again would be very treatable). However, over time once they eventually had collected enough data to start thinking
it might possibly be something else - thankfully they all jumped in with both feet to help try and figure this out. As
such, one of the first things we decided to do (and are still doing as we speak) was test ALL our supplies and investigate
all our supply chains.
Since everybody who works here literally has these little darlings as our own personal pets, this quickly became a 24 hour
a day “mission” for everyone in our company. NOTHING was off-the-table, so we began logically-testing the food, vitamins,
water bottles, heat rocks, heat lamps, cages – everything we could think of that even remotely made sense. Our team of
vets was looking for any toxin, mold, bacteria… literally anything they could think of – and everything kept coming back
perfectly fine.
While at first you’d think that would make me feel better, in reality it just made things even more stressful and puzzling
because by now we were seeing a couple more new cases like this every day. Some of the cases were our customers, and many had
absolutely nothing to do with our company. To this day, the animals affected that came from us still make up only a
VERY small percentage of all the animals we placed for adoption; but there definitely appears to be much higher
concentrations of these symptoms in certain areas. That being said, in my eyes EVERY one of these little guys is
somebody’s “family-member” – so pretty quickly I literally got to the point where I still am now – and stopped sleeping at
night….
Well, at the same time all this was happening, our vets also began doing as many clinical tests as they could – and even
enlisted the help of expert pathologists, etc… Together, they still couldn’t find anything consistently or significantly
wrong with the animals that would point to a conclusive cause of all this.
Unfortunately, as it turns out I’ve gotten quite an expensive “education” over the last couple weeks on how testing for
“toxins” works. Before all this, I thought it must work just like on “CSI” (just send stuff off to a lab and “poof”,
here’s the answer). However, in the real world, one of the biggest problems scientists have with ANY “toxicity” issue is
that it’s often impossible to definitively “nail down” a cause unless you already know AHEAD of time exactly what you’re
looking for. It still seems crazy to me that this is how it all works – but unfortunately I’ve now spent many thousands
of dollars (on top of the money that we had saved up for our honeymoon) learning this reality.
In any event, after spending all this time and money, and still getting nowhere, we all sat down one night and decided to
go back to the drawing board. This time we went back through our supply chains again with a fine tooth comb – going back
as far as we could through suppliers OF suppliers, etc... Well, to make a very long story short, after a lot of digging
we think we’ve discovered that the problem most likely originated from the SUPPLIER of one of our cage manufacturers .
As you know from reading all our special reports, we have always made a BIG deal out of having the highest quality cages –
and both our manufacturer’s are well aware of that. We’ve used the same two manufacturers for many years now – and never
had a single problem – not once. However, after doing a LOT of digging it “looks like” (and I say that because we’ll
probably never be able to prove it) that a small company who supplies some of the cage components TO THE SUPPLIER of one
of our cage manufacturers, (and as it turns out also supplies many other cage manufacturers nationwide), might have
switched one of their sources without telling anyone up the line.
Now, I know this gets a little complicated, but the bottom line is that it looks like one of our cage manufacturer’s
supplier’s – SUPPLIER - (or a company 4 generations removed from us) might have switched some things without telling
anyone - and that is why we are all here today.
In any event, although we do not yet have all the test results back to confirm this suspicion – and may never be able to
definitively prove it – we’ve done enough investigating that we all sat down as a company today and decided that we wanted
to: 1) bring this to your attention right away, and 2) take decisive action by immediately replacing everyone’s cages.
Again, since we all have these little guys as pets – when we all sat down together to make this decision about what the
RIGHT thing to do was – we did it from the standpoint of fellow “parents” – not a business.
To tell you the truth, I have never felt so betrayed in my entire life – but at the same time I also feel HORRIBLE for
this cage manufacturer – who is almost certainly going to go bankrupt over this. They, like us, are a small “mom & pop”
company with a handful of dedicated employees who work hard every day and depend on this for a living. We’ve worked with
them for years with never a single problem, but all these good people (who did nothing wrong themselves) are now probably
going to lose their jobs because somebody lied to THEIR supplier. It’s just wrong on so many levels that it’s hard to
comprehend.
That being said, now that we believe we know what caused this – and that nobody else is going to be able to stand up and
try to do the “right thing”, here’s what I have done, I’ve taken out a second mortgage on my home to try and pull enough
money together to replace everyone’s cage right away who MIGHT be affected by this. Again, to date this has still only
affected a relatively small percentage of our customers – but since we don’t have ANY way of knowing which cages might
need replacing – the only “right” thing to do here is to replace them all as quickly as we humanly can with cages (from
our other long-time manufacturer) that we have tested and KNOW beyond any shadow of a doubt are perfectly fine.
SO, HAVING SAID ALL THAT, HERE’S THE GOOD NEWS…
Assuming this is the general toxicity issue that we believe it is, the most important thing here is that it appears the
treatment and road to recovery is going to be fairly simple and straightforward.
So, here’s what we need to do NOW:
First, we are going to get you brand new cage ASAP. Since we only just now found out that this was happening to you,
we've ALREADY bumped you to the TOP of this list immediately so your cage will go out within the next 24 hours (if it
hasn't already) !
The point is that we’ll immediately get a cage right out to you that we KNOW for a fact is perfectly fine. Now, please
understand that I would ship this cage to you on a private jet TODAY if I had the money – but unfortunately with today’s
housing prices the way they are, the maximum mortgage my bank would give me just BARELY covered the cost of making all the
new cages – and shipping them by UPS ground. Unfortunately, these cages are so heavy and bulky that it actually costs
almost as much to ship one express as it does to make it – so there’s just no way I could do that and still help everyone.
Now, I fully understand that this it totally MY problem – not yours - but please understand that I am just trying to do
everything in my power to stand up and do the right thing here for every customer who might be affected by this. The
simple fact is that there is no way of knowing exactly how many or which cages might be affected by this – so the only
thing I can do is just err on the side of caution and replace everyone’s who might even possibly be affected.
Please believe me when I tell you that everyone who works here is focused on this, and we will send your cage out as soon
as possible. Now, in case you’re wondering - according to the best veterinary guidance we can get on this – the condition
itself probably won’t get significantly worse over the next 4-5 days as long as you start the treatment I’ll lay out in
just a second. In fact, according to our records, over half of the animals affected by this appear to slowly recover
over time even without the treatment. However, if you absolutely feel that you do not want to wait for your new cage to
arrive, the best thing I can suggest would be to go to a local WalMart or dept. store in your area - and get one of those
small, pop-up type soft travel cages made out of fabric for small animals. Also, a small hamster-type cage would work in a
short-term situation like this. Unfortunately we just have no money to reimburse you for that, but since you’d only need
a small one for a couple days it shouldn’t be too expensive.
Your new cage will come with a very simple set of picture instructions (that one of our employee’s wives made up special for
us) - and all the tools you need to assemble it in just a few minutes – and obviously you must throw out/recycle the old cage.
DO NOT keep it or use it under any circumstances. There’s literally no reason to - and even though it poses absolutely no
harm to you or anyone in your family – there is always the potential that over time it could put your animal’s health in
jeopardy again if it’s in your home. Please just throw it away so there’s absolutely no room for error.
That being said, since we now know that you're experiencing the standard symptoms of involuntary shaking or wobbling – or
partial paralysis – here are a few important facts you need to know… First, from the cases we’ve seen it sincerely looks like
there’s a decent chance your animal could recover all by itself if you simply put it into the new cage and make sure they’re
getting lots to eat (and especially drink to so it keeps “flushing out” their system). Quite frankly, that’s the whole reason
WHY we’re sending a new cage out to you right away – because it does seem to be very effective in a lot of cases.
However, that being said, we would NEVER discourage anyone from going to a vet, and OBVIOUSLY the best opportunity for a full
recovery for your animal is most-likely with veterinary assistance.
Therefore, if you decide to take your animal to the vet (which again, we of course recommend) please do the following:
1. Print out the most recent “Veterinary Update and List of Treatment Protocols”. For your convenience, it is attached to
this email. This is the latest “vet-to-vet” medical update on the best ways to clinically treat this – published by the
Association of Sugar Glider Veterinarians. Make an appointment with your vet and take this with you. Now, as you probably
already know, different vets can charge VASTLY different prices – so depending on how your vet wants to do things, this kind of
treatment can cost anywhere from around $300 to as much as $1,000.
Now, I FULLY understand that this is a lot of money, and only you can decide the best route to take. Having said that, I also
COMPLETELY understand that nothing could ever “replace” one of your family members - but just know for now that in the off-
chance (heaven-forbid) that they should happen to pass-on after seeing a vet that I am also FULLY committed to getting you
another animal at no charge whatsoever.
2. If you decide that you want to go to a vet – and don’t already have one who is familiar with your situation - send an
email to NeedaVet@sugarbears.com right away. Include: 1) your full name, 2) your email address, 3) your telephone number, 4)
the place where you purchased the animal, and 5) your complete mailing address including ZIP CODE.
While we can’t promise anything, we will try to find you the nearest knowledgeable vet who may have already been briefed on how
to take care of this. Once we send you the vets contact information, just make an appointment, and follow the instructions
above.
As I said, the treatments these vets are currently using is fairly simple and straightforward. The recovery rates also seem to
be very good, and as long as it’s caught early enough, one-way-or-the-other you should hopefully start seeing signs of recovery
within a week or two.
Again, I apologize profusely for taking up so much of your time reading this, but the bottom-line here is that I have never
experienced anything like this before and I’m just being completely up-front because it is the only thing I know to do. This
past month has easily been the most stressful one of my entire life. The thought of even one of my customer’s animals getting
sick is bad enough – but this has literally kept me up every night for almost 3 weeks now. Then, also knowing that one of our
cage manufacturers (who also did nothing wrong here) will most likely go out of business because of this is beyond tragic - and
I’m praying that we don’t as well.
Quite frankly, this entire company was built on a business model that is almost the opposite of any other company in the “pet”
business. The idea from day one has always been to make very little profit “up-front” - and then EARN our customer’s long-term
loyalty (ie. buying food, supplies, etc..) for many years to come as their sugar bears become a loving part of their family.
That being said, in case you’re wondering why I’m shouldering all this personally myself it’s because – quite simply – this is
my company. While Virgil Klunder (the guy who sends you the daily emails) did originally found this company and still authors
many of the education/philosophies we follow to this day; his role in the company at this point is mainly educational and
structural. While this isn’t a franchise, I solely own and run the company that place sugar bears for adoption in the NE and
midwest United States – and this is solely my “cross” to bear.
The simple truth is that nobody could have possibly seen this coming - but as far as I know - so far we are the ONLY one (out
of all the manufacturer’s that have been affected by this) who is stepping up and replacing cages. The fact is, since I have
very low profit margins to begin with, this is something that will affect my wife and my life for many years to come. I fully
recognize that standing behind this (instead of just declaring bankruptcy) may not be the best “business move” - and I may be
getting in over my head. However, I am also responsible for every person who works here in our company (who did nothing wrong
to deserve this) – and have literally worked round the clock on this for the last few weeks. Deep-down I just have to believe
in my heart that this is the right thing to do given the circumstances.
Having said that, I’m sorry to say it is literally impossible for me to offer any refunds or reimbursements for vet bills. At
this point, I have taken out every mortgage and loan I possibly can get just to: 1) get everyone new cages, and 2) keep my
employees from losing their jobs. The plain truth is that anything more would just push me so far over the edge that I
wouldn’t have any other choice but to close the doors. At this point, not only would the lives of many good people be ruined
(over something that wasn’t their fault), but none of my customers or their animals would get any help either.
Having said all that, again, I really, REALLY thank you for taking the time to read this letter. I can see that it has gotten
much longer than I wanted, but I have purposely tried very hard to make it extremely comprehensive because the simple fact is
that it’s practically IMPOSSIBLE for me to return emails and individual phone calls to answer any questions I might have
accidentally left unanswered while I'm still "up to my ears" in all of this.
Again, being the “parent” of 3 of these little guys myself, I TOTALLY understand it if you want to “talk” to a physical person
about all this. However, I need you to PLEAAASE understand that no matter how much I WISH I could have called and explained
this entire situation to you personally myself – I literally do not have ONE second to breathe right now – and am forced to
focus ALL my energy for the next few weeks on trying to make this right –and trying to keep all our heads above water in the
meantime.
With that in mind, again, I PROMISE you that all the information I currently have is contained in this letter and you can go to
bed every night knowing that I am doing EVERYTHING possible to make good on this situation for anyone who has been affected.
Furthermore, if/when we receive any new developments regarding this situation that could affect you – believe me, I WILL
immediately get in contact with you.
That being said, if you have an urgent/important question that you believe we can answer even though it’s not addressed in this
letter, you can still email us at customerservice@sugarbears.com, and as always we will do our best to get back with you as
quickly as possible. If you absolutely require a phone call back just let us know and we will do our very best to get back to
you in a timely manner – but please do not take it personally if this takes awhile.
I sympathize more than I can put in words, and appreciate what you and your family have been put through with this ordeal.
Just please know in your heart that I am doing my absolute best to bear the burden of fixing it. Based on all the information
we currently have, I BELIEVE with all my heart that getting you this new cage right away is going to make a HUGE difference and
help make things better – and I’m not saying that lightly because I’ve literally bet our home on that. Again I’m SO sorry to
have played any part in this situation, but hopefully we’ll ALL be out of it very soon. I can’t wait for the day when I can
get back to talking to mom’s & dad’s about all the cute and funny things their little fuzzbutts did the night before – and PRAY
that those days will be back again soon.
Thank you SO much for reading this EXCRUCIATINGLY long letter.
Sincerely,
Adam
So not long after we did receive our new cage. We continued as the Vet said to and Precious got better and even became a little closer to us.
Around 1:40 pm on July 24, 2011 i was holding Mojo in my hand. He decided to go to higher ground and climbed on my shoulder. Normally I hold him pretty tight but he has really been showing progress in the bonding experience so I let him go, besides there really wasn't anywhere he could jump to (so I thought). Well without any notice he jump to the wall behind me, however he could not grab it because it is panelling. So when he did Jump I got scared and sort of lunged to grab him, which scared him and he jetted off. My door was opened but I don't think he was initially going for the door until he saw it as an escape from this huge maniac (me) coming for him. So he hopped as fast as he could (faster than I could get to him) out side on to my deck and then up a pine tree. My first reaction was to get my shoes on and try to scale the tree but it is at least 15-20 feet up before the first branch and I only have a 6' A-frame ladder. So I watch as he climbed higher and higher.
I got home from work & still no Mojo it is now 6:15pm & he has been missing since about 1:50pm he has been missing for just over 4 hours now in the wild not know where our little boy was. I stated ringing bells walking around the yard looking like I’m crazy walking & shaking a bell & calling his name. I did this off & on throughout the evening with my little boy helping me ring another bell. We didn’t want to tell our daughter because we were hoping he would come back & we would not have to tell her but that didn’t work & when we told her she broke down crying & went to a friend’s house. I called our oldest boy asking him if he could come home & scale the other tree maybe to scare him back to the first tree & maybe down to us but he didn’t have a way to get here until later. When he did come up he look & was willing to go up but it was after dark & really didn’t want to scare Mojo further away. I started asking on different websites how to get him back & what other things I can do that we maybe we’re not doing, but they all said to do pretty much just what we were doing. A couple of people said to call the fire department & if I thought it would have worked I would have but I think they would have just scared him further away.
It was about 11:30 when Jim & I decided to go to bed; we brought Precious & her cage in the house & put fresh apples & food out for him. About 1am Jim & I came back out held Precious & check on the food & apples but still no sign of Mojo so I opened the living room window in case she tried calling him maybe he would come back, not that he would be able to get into the window with the screen on it but hey I’m willing to sleep on the porch for him at this point. Jim held Precious for a little bit more as he read me a few things off the internet about bonding then we went to bed about 1:30am.
