|
Post by pennygigdesigns on Jun 7, 2011 14:58:25 GMT -8
One of my gerbils is pretty clearly sick. He isn't moving, and when I took him out of the cage earlier it took him a few minutes before he would even open his eyes. We fed him a food mix, sunflower seed, and peanut mash and made sure he got some water, but he wasn't interested in the food and hardly touched it. After that we put him back in the cage. He was a little more responsive, and used all his energy trying to escape from the cage (he succeeded once because we neglectfully left the top off, thinking he was too weak to move -- he's also never climbed the cage before). Now he's back to resting. I wadded up some toilet paper and put it in his nest for him, but he dragged it out of his nest into the new corner he's adopted. We added a box next to his water bottle so that he could reach it more easily and now he's sleeping next to the box on top of the toilet paper.
My boyfriend checked his teeth. He said they were a little long, but not so long that they would inhibit him from eating. I have no idea what his age is; we got him and his buddy from a shelter about six months ago. We've separated his buddy, even though from what I've read this may not have been the best move. My boyfriend is worried that it's contagious, and that somehow his buddy doesn't already have it.
What can I do to help him? What kind of illness could this be? I have an exotic vet and I would like to take him. They're my boyfriend's gerbils, and he thinks that since this one has always been skinny, that this is a slow onset type of thing (or old age related) and the vet won't be able to help. I'm worried it's an infection or another treatable problem and I think we should take him right away. I'm have guinea pigs, and I'm very knowledgeable when it comes to them; I've never had gerbils and I don't know much about them, so I could really use some advice on how to handle this. I'm new to the forum, and this is my first post, so to introduce myself, I'm Holly. Nice to meet everyone and I hope someone can help me with this situation.
|
|
|
Post by pennygigdesigns on Jun 7, 2011 15:36:06 GMT -8
I just noticed something else: he's hardly opening his eyes at all even though he's back in the cage. He's walking around the cage with his eyes closed, or mostly closed. I don't know if that means anything or not.
|
|
|
Post by johanne on Jun 7, 2011 22:00:00 GMT -8
Hi Holly, and welcome You're right, gerbils should never be separated unless the ill one is being attacked or harassed excessively. Trying to guess what might be wrong isn't really possible from your description. Some pics would help. It doesn't really sound like something a vet can help with, and an age-related issue is possible given you don't know their ages. But again, really don't know at this point from your description. We'd need to see his coat, posture and face. A pic of his cage always helps too. From all that we might be able to figure it out.
|
|
|
Post by pennygigdesigns on Jun 8, 2011 4:28:16 GMT -8
Thanks for the reply. He made it through the night and from the looks of it he's been eating so I'm grateful for that. I'll take some pictures as soon as he leaves his nest. His behavior has returned mostly to normal, except for a few things: first, he won't open his eyes, and second, it looks like he's almost falling asleep in the middle of whatever he's doing. He'll go to drink from his water bottle, slowly slump over for a good thirty seconds, and then suddenly shake a little, pop up, and go right back to drinking. This happens during whatever he's doing. He also occasionally shakes and twitches just for a split second without warning.
We put his cagemate back in. The cagemate seems a lot happier, but I haven't seen the sick gerbil since. As soon as he comes out I'll have those pictures for you.
|
|
|
Post by pennygigdesigns on Jun 8, 2011 5:12:58 GMT -8
Here are those photos. I tried to get some without the cage bars in the way but by the time I'd gotten the cage lid off, he had sorta-climbed-sorta-fallen off the box and was stuck in a corner. After we sorted that out, he went back to his nest, so I'll have to take more pictures later. All of the wood and plastic are on the outside of the wire mesh interior of the cage. They buried their wooden house underneath the cardboard, but there is plenty of wood in there for them to chew on. Normally the bedding comes up to just under their wheel, so they usually have a few more inches to dig through. That's the sick guy at the water bottle. His name's Freddy, by the way.
|
|
|
Post by pennygigdesigns on Jun 8, 2011 5:42:38 GMT -8
Here's a picture of him without the cage bars in the way. It's blurry and he wouldn't show me his face, but that's him up on his box. He took a good look at some food but wouldn't eat anything.
|
|
|
Post by banana3685 on Jun 8, 2011 6:25:17 GMT -8
This happened to my old gerbil right before he passed. He was about 3-3.5 years old. He would just sit around his cage -- in the house, on the house, on the wheel -- with his eyes shut and not move. I tried to diagnose a problem, but all I could come up with was old age. My gerbil had labored breathing and sat curled in a ball with his eyes closed. One of his eyes would sometimes be closed and the other in a little slit. Now that I have a sick gerbil (I think he had a stroke), I think my old gerbil had a stroke too -- he tilted his head when he stood on his hind legs and one of his eyes was almost always shut. Good luck with your little guy. I'd recommend taking him to the vet. Unfortunately, there are no "gerbil vets" where I live.
|
|
|
Post by johanne on Jun 8, 2011 6:29:29 GMT -8
Great pics!
I'm not a vet, but I suspect Freddy is older and this is a neurological issue of some sort. It's unlikely a vet could do anything. Someone with more experience with this might be more helpful.
I would arrange his tank to make it easy for him to get around. Try to slope the bedding and avoid sudden drops or anthing he might hurt himself on. Hopefully you can come up with an arrangement the boys don't object to too much. Make sure his food and water are easy for him to reach even if he doesn't feel up to going far.
And enjoy them. He could go on for a long time like this, or not.
|
|
|
Post by pennygigdesigns on Jun 8, 2011 6:29:44 GMT -8
Thanks. I have an exotic vet that I trust with my guinea pigs who I hope will be able to help this little guy, even if it's just medication to make him more comfortable toward the end. He can open his eyes fine, but he seems to be more keen on hobbling around the cage with them shut. If I take him out, he opens his eyes to get his bearings and then closes them again. Yesterday he opened his eyes and kept them open until we put him back in the cage, so to me that isn't a good sign. He's not showing interest in food today, either. I'm really worried for him and think a vet visit is in order, but I don't want to stress him out if this is old age and it's just his time.
|
|
|
Post by cinnamon on Jun 8, 2011 11:28:19 GMT -8
Like the others said, it looks like it's old age. My Bugs looked the same when his body shut down. As for him not eating - the vet might be able to give you some critical care food, which you can syringe-feed him, if possible.
|
|
|
Post by pennygigdesigns on Jun 8, 2011 12:37:05 GMT -8
I think I may try to syringe feed him and just see if that improves his quality of life any. I don't want to put any undue stress on him if it's old age; I want him to be able to go as comfortably and peacefully as possible. Thanks for all the advice, everyone.
|
|
|
Post by Vicky on Jun 8, 2011 12:46:21 GMT -8
Thats how my mum's gerbil huey looked before he died. He started looking like this and i thought it was just him having an off day, he started to get better than then within a few days he passed away.
Good Luck with syringe feeding him and I hope he makes a full recovery
|
|
doug
Member
Posts: 2,064
|
Post by doug on Jun 8, 2011 21:20:32 GMT -8
If you try to use a syringe be careful it is not unheard of for a person to do this and accidently put fluid in the lungs.
Doug
|
|
|
Post by hersheyandchewy on Jun 10, 2011 20:54:16 GMT -8
This is the reason why I found this site. My gerbils is looking exactly like the pictures of the gerbil posted here. She won't open her eyes, she looks like she's lost weight and she's not her usual self. We are worried about her and don't know where to take her. I know that our petco has a vet that will see gerbils or other small animals but I think it's not until Tuesday that this vet comes to the petco by our house. I'm not sure she'll last like this until Tuesday. She's seems to be getting worse. She is eating and drinking but will not open her eyes. She loves to chew on toilet paper rolls and she will not do that now since her eyes have been closed. Her cage mate seems fine. So hopefully it's not a contagious illness. I do not know how old she is. We bought her and her cage mate at Petco this past December. She was not a baby because she was full grown when we got her and her cage mate. We were told by the people at petco that she was probably young because they get them from a breeder and they mostly get babies. So she might be 1 year old at the most. What type of illness could this be that would cause her to close her eyes and not act her usual self??
|
|
|
Post by patarfweefwee on Jul 21, 2013 9:08:08 GMT -8
This is happening to my gerbil but he isn't even a year old so I have no clue what is going on the same thing happened to another gerbil I owned and he died from it
|
|