Weird near-death experiences with both of my gerbils...

[rhianna]

Currently I only have two gerbils, Simon and Olaf, who I recently had to re-separate and are each living on their own. About a week or so ago, I realized I hadn't seen Simon for over 24 hours and when I went to check on him I found him sleeping in his nest. I woke him and he was not able to open his eyes much, and barely able to walk. He was really off-balance and stumbling to one side so I thought it was probably an ear infection. I had some Baytril leftover from when my rabbit was taking it so I looked up the dose for a gerbil and gave him 1ml (not always the best idea but the vet was closed and I had to work to there weren't many other options). I did that for a couple of days and he improved extremely fast and is 100% back to normal now.

Then yesterday, I saw Olaf curled up in the corner of his tank. He didn't look like he was breathing. I reached in and felt how stone cold he was and I thought he was dead until his ear twitches and whiskers wiggled a bit. He wasn't really able to move or open his eyes. I got him warm again and he seemed a little better, then I got him to eat some baby food. He slowly got to the point of being able to stumble around, and he was having the same trouble walking as Simon had a few days before. I decided to give him a dose of Baytril as well, and later that night when I got home from work he'd improved a great deal. Today he is 100% entirely back to normal, though I did give him another ml of Baytril just to be on the safe side.

I'm kind of concerned though, what's going on? Is it just a coincidence and the antibiotics are super effective or something? Has anyone had something similar happen? I'm so thankful that they're both still alive and well, but I'm really confused as to what just happened, really. 

[johanne]

This isn't all that unusual in gerbils. They go into torpor and if left alone will eventually die. However, if you put them some place warm and make sure they get some food and water into them they recover quickly. The antibiotics are not necessary.

[rhianna]

At first I thought they were related but now I think it was just coincidence. I'm pretty sure Simon had an ear infection because his symptoms were basically from the definition of ear infection. He also improved over the course of a few days during which he was taking Baytril. With Olaf, he seemed to improve more with the food and water and he was fine within hours. Now that you've said that, I do recall hearing about this in the past. Anyway, they're both back to their normal selves now, luckily. Thanks for your help

[catnut]

glad to hear your Simon and Olaf are okay, I've never heard of that happening though. I just lost my Shelby to an accident last Thursday so am very sad I don't have her for Xmas but I do have my Adam so I'm giving him extra special love and attention as you just never know when he may be taken from me as well. He isn't as friendly as Shelby was but I'm working on him and hope he comes around.

Take care,

Tammy