Stroke/ Scent gland tumor?

[zic890]

So, before my current three gerbils, I had two gerbils, Midnight ( Black ) and Bullet ( Sapphire or Dove, or something like that ), and they have since passed. Only now am I actually curious as to how they died. I'll describe both Midnight and Bullet's death as best I can, as it has been a year or so since they passed. My mom thought Midnight may have had a scent gland tumor, but I don't remember what the gland itself looked like. But when she told me what she thought, I just kind of decided to go ahead and think of it as a tumor, and never actually thought about what asking anyone. I never even thought of searching it up for some reason...

Midnight - He passed first. It looked like he was struggling to breath, his stomach when he breathed went in a few centimetres and out a few, and you could see his ribs even though the day before he looked completely fine and healthy( from what I remember ). He was crawling around the cage, stretched out from what I remember, and kind of shaking ( Not 100% sure though ), and kept trying to go up to the second level, then back down, and it looked almost as if he was doing laps around the cage, because he went around the cage, first on the bottom level, then the second level, and back again. But whenever he tried to go down the ladder, he would tumble, so I tried to keep him from going to the top level, but he just kept trying to go up and down the ladder. His cagemate, Bullet was doing whatever the heck he wanted, but when Midnight crawled past him, he started hanging around him, nudging him a little whenever he shook a lot. It's almost as if Midnight thought that is he stopped moving he would instantly die or something like that because he really just wouldn't stop moving... I don't really remember much else. I think we then took out the ladder, put Bullet on the second level and put a rock over the part where the ladder connected so that Bullet couldn't bother Midnight. I think we also got rid of everything on the first level except the little hut-thing they slept in so he didn't get hurt.

Bullet - He died roughly a week after Midnight. I remember even less about Bullet's death than Midnight's death, so I'll try my hardest to describe it. He was shaking and sitting in a corner when I went to check on him, and then when I noticed him shaking, I opened the cage door, and pet his fur lightly, and I think it was pretty cold. When I pet him, he started moving around, and was almost like Midnight - he wouldn't stop moving, and was kind of doing his own little laps around the cage. Then after a minute or two, he started shaking a *lot* more, and when he was on the second level, he did a tumble down the ladder, and almost as soon as he landed on the first level, he got up again, and I thought he just tripped, because he just kept moving, and then he fell ( to the right, so his back was facing right, and his feet facing left ) and got up, and walked a few steps, then fell, got up, and it just kept happening, so I started catching him when he fell as it got more frequent, and then, shaking violently, he stopped, looked at me, then fell into my hands one last time, his fur already cold. But I don't remember checking his gland.

Both deaths were very sad, and I cried both times, but not as hard for Bullet, I think because I was already numb from Midnight's death which was barely a full week before Bullet's death. I thing I just knew it was coming...

Anyway, does anyone have an idea what they died from, or if my mom's guess was correct?

Thanks in advance.

[betty]

Is difficult to say, but the stretching and pacing are a possible sign of pain or discomfort, and the falling over and breathing difficulty could have been anything really from neurological problems to old age.

However, putting the 2 together with similar symptoms and only days apart, it is possible they ate something poisonous or inhaled something that affected them? Disorientation, weightloss, confusion all point to something extreme. If this was the cause though, it would have been something transient, like spilled chemicals, air freshener, fumes etc, as it hasn't affected your current gerbils.

I don't think a scent gland tumour would have been the cause, especially if you didn't even see a giant tumour, although it could have been an internal tumour of course, which would mean both deaths were unrelated?

Obviously, this is only guessing.

[betty]

Also, I don't actually know what a gerbil stroke looks like, so maybe someone else can comment on the symptoms for that?

Maybe someone should make a sticky thread for symptoms of all the common illnesses...

[zic890]

I don't think it would be poisoning of any sort, because I don't remember giving them anything new, or anything that could poison them... They had the same, food, same water, and to think of it, I don't think I had recently washed their cage either...

Just a note that they were very close to reaching their 3rd year with me.

And I don't remember Bullet loosing half as much weight as Midnight. I don't remember him looking any different to be honest, except that they both looked tired.

And when Bullet kept falling to one side, I think he may have had a broken leg, which probably was giving out on him. Earlier ( maybe a week or so ) before Bullet passed, there was an incident, where I basically had him on top of a shelf ( not very high up, not even a full metre off the ground ), because Midnight had died recently, and I remember Bullet always enjoyed being on things above the ground. I had but up little fence ( literally like a small, plastic version of real fences, the type that just have bars instead of a full wall, so you can see through the fence ), and he was looking through the fence to the ground, and then jumped out the fence, so in a mad dash I went to catch him, and his right hind leg got caught between my hand and the side of the shelf.... He didn't really show any signs that he had a broken leg until that last day though.

[zic890]

[UPDATE] Apparently my mom remembers what looked to be like a scab on Midnight's belly, in place of the scent gland.

Does this help?