Now lost Troubadore...disease in my clan??

[reesesturtles]

It has only been a week since Baron passed away and I moved the three surviving gerbils from my little clan (all sired from Trouble) into a new clean habitat). But for the last two nights, once again I noticed one particular gerbil, Troubadore, not coming to the surface. Now unlike Baron, Troubadore, was always very friendly, socialy, playful and outgoing. This worried me. And he seemed perfectly fine on the day he moved into the new habitat. But when I dug into the bottom of the bin this evening I found him dead. And not just dead, bloated like a water balloon and looking like he had been oozing from the mouth. It was awful.

I'm now certain both Troubadore and Baron have died of some contagious disease, and I'm terrified that my last two gerbils in what was once a healthy foursome...Parson and Governer, will catch it next. I plan on contacting the vet to see if I can get some prophylactic antibiotic. I actually had some in the fridge, but when I when to get it, had to throw it out as it had mold fungus growing inside the bottle

I have no idea where my guys would have caught this horrible sickness. Parson and Governor are now once again in a fresh clean bin. I hope there will be no more sick gerbils. This is tearing me up.

[qtoffer]

So sorry. This is awful.
Can your vet do a necropsy on Troubadore at least to determine a cause of death? Not sure how much it costs, but maybe you can get a pathology report and some cultures run on tissues - depending on what the vet finds during the necropsy.

[reesesturtles]

I wish I could afford that, but I can't. I'm getting laid off from my job next week and am having to move out of my apartment since they raised my rent by $300. It's been a terrible month in many respects

I'm just hoping I can get some antibiotics and manage to save Governor and Parson. These guys are not even 2 years old yet. I have no idea what would do this or where it would come from

[catnut]

I'm so sorry to hear about your gerbils and losing your job and having to move. Don't blame yourself, it may be out of your control and I do hope your other two gerbils will be fine, may they rest in peace. Have you used any new cleaner, put anything new in their home? that is all I can think of.

Take care

[MoonstoneGerbils]

Could be bloat or megacolon. Both can be caused by bacterial or viral infections. Now would be the time to start them on antibiotics if you have or can get any. If you plan on going to the vet, put your dead gerbil in the freezer, and take him with you. the vet may be able to tell quite a bit without having to do a necro.


Gerbils with severe upper respiratory infections can swallow air, leading to a swollen and distended stomach from filling their intestines with air.

[reesesturtles]

So after emailing the small animal vet Friday evening, she thinks it is probably clostridium and probably serious. She agreed to see the gerbils at noon on Monday. Of course, that is provided they are still alive by then.
I was hoping I could find some Ornocycline in one of the local pet stores to tide the little guys over until then, but no luck. From now on though, I plan on keeping emergency packets of it in the refrigerator. A key frustration I regularly have regarding small animal care is how impossible it is to get in with your animal when needed "Oh yes, that sounds serious and life threatening. I can see them in 3 days."

That's never an issue when my dog needs to see a vet stat. And I usually end up paying just as much for the gerbil visit as I do for for my dog's vet visits, so why don't my smaller animals get the same courtesy? No I can't switch to a different smaller animal vet. I have already done that. It's just a common pervasive attitude...small animals aren't a big deal, they can wait, it's never urgent...even among small animal veterinarians. If I'm paying $150 for a gerbil vet visit, why is my animal not given the same urgency and consideration as when I pay that much for a dog vet visit? For crying out loud at least get some antibiotic to me before Monday. Grrr.... *feeling upset tonight*

[catnut]

i know what you mean about vets, I was frustrated when I've had sick gerbils and you can't get an appt. when they need it. When you do go in I would ask why they do this because gerbils are just as important as a dog or cat. I guess calling them and explaining your situation and that the vet said they need an antibiotic before Monday wouldn't help? How are your other two gerbils doing?

Take care

[MoonstoneGerbils]

I wouldn't trust your vet. Clostridium is Tyzzers, which is the textbook answer to gerbils dieing from diarrhea. Because just about every textbook says its the most common disease. If your gerbils do have Tyzzers, you're in for a world of heartache.

However, the few cases of diarrhea i've had go through my kennel were from E. coli. If you do go to the vet, and they do tests tell them to make sure they test for clostridium specifically, its a very hard bacterium to id, because its does not stain well.

[reesesturtles]

Well, the two survived the weekend and seemed to be okay generally: normal weight, still eating and drinking. Less active it seems though. At the vet's she said the abdomens felt gassy. She did both fecal float and zinc staining which confirmed bacterial overgrowth. It doesn't confirm clostridium, but the vet said treatment would be the same regardless. She also indicated they were pretty lucky as this kind of illness can kill without obvious signs in as little as 12 hours.
So both gerbils were prescribed once daily Baytril orally and once daily topical metronidazole, which is another antibiotic. The hope is a combination of resilience and the medication will help these two pull through.

In the mean time, I'm going to transfer the pair into a sterile bin habitat with shallow bedding (4 inches)today and every two days until I know they are over the infection. I really hope it's not too late for them

I'm racking my brain trying to figure out where the initial contamination came from. Perhaps from some contaminated cardboard??

[rennmaus]

Really glad to hear those two are hanging in there! I will be keeping my fingers crossed that resilience and the antibiotics keep them safe.

I'm not that experienced in these matters, so I'm afraid I can't contribute much to the questions about where the initial bacteria might have come from. The cardboard sounds possible, any recently acquired toys, foody treats which didn't come in a sealed bag/container...?? It could have been any or none of these things

I like the plan of transferring Parson and Governer into a sterile bin for now.

[reesesturtles]

I doubt it is food related. They get the same food, treats, hay, and bedding as all my other gerbils which are in separate habitats and have been perfectly healthy--including 4.5 year old Trouble and his son Gentry, father and brother to the foursome that fell sick. *sigh*. No new toys have been added. Jars get washed and replaced twice a week. Water too. I just don't know.

We have had insect problems in the house since summer months, in spite of spraying around the apartment. Maybe it came from a bug that crawled into the cage even Just guessing, but I doubt I'll ever really figure it out.

[catnut]

fingers crossed your two gerbils will be okay now they are on antibiotics.

[MoonstoneGerbils]

I wouldn't stress so much about the source. Most likely its wild animal droppings. So anything that could have come in to contact with a wild animal (or an animal that goes outdoors, cats...dogs... people). Could have brought it inside and into the space with the gerbils.

Also, i would not keep changing the tank. Each time you change them into a new cage or fresh cage, you are causing them stress. The best thing to do is just to let them recoup in the cage on their meds, and clean it once a week. If you try and over clean you will just stress them out, which isn't good for them.

[reesesturtles]

Good advice Moonstone. Medicating them daily will be stress enough. I'll keep the bin changes to once weekly.

[reesesturtles]

I wanted to give an update on this. Some good news here. Both Parson and Governor seem to be well and out of the woods. Bowels are looking normal, no progressive signs of illness, active and digging, eating and drinking well. I changed and cleaned their bin out this weekend and added in some deep bedding (though not deep enough for them to reach the top of the bin...I've had several gerbils chew holes in the bin from the top. If they can reach the top, they can squeeze their incisors under the lid and chew a hole straight down).

So yeah, these two guys are made of strong stuff and seem to have pulled through and beat the odds. Now I have to deal with the problem that a week of oral antibiotic treatments have turned them into biting little monsters. They are not the tame little sweethearts they used to be *sigh*.