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Post by stephisme on Oct 7, 2015 17:33:41 GMT -8
Hey guys,
I am here once again with what might be an emergency. We were cleaning our female gerbils home when the water bottle fell and smacked her. I think it hit either her back or leg. She seems to be scared of us now and is limping a bit. She is eating (we gave her a treat). She can even go fast but is struggling. She even managed to run up a tube (struggled going back down).
Since it's almost 10pm here, there are no vets open.
Any advice would be appreciated
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Post by stephisme on Oct 7, 2015 18:10:31 GMT -8
Her foot is definitely swollen, I got a picture.  |
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Post by t1gg3er on Oct 8, 2015 5:20:22 GMT -8
Ouch! That does look swollen! It must be painful for her so even tho it'll probably heal itself your vet should be able to give some pain relief. Hope it gets better quickly.
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Post by stephisme on Oct 8, 2015 5:37:27 GMT -8
Thank's T1gg3er for the reply! I called the vet this morning and they said the exotics vet is out for the week, but that they will take a look at her. I kind of worry that they will give her the wrong dose of pain meds. Do you think that even though it's a regular vet that she will be okay? I worry that they would do something wrong and she will die  I am probably just being paranoid, but I have had issues with vet's around here not treating small animals the best and even laughing when I would question about them seeing them. |
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Post by t1gg3er on Oct 8, 2015 5:45:16 GMT -8
They shouldn't need to be an exotics specialist to work out correct dosages for her - they probably have charts that'll tell them what to prescribe & how much of it. We have 4 vets at our surgery who all see exotics for general ailments but the one who specialises is the one that would do any surgery or deal with anything more complicated.
It's bad that they laughed at you - they should have trying to put your mind at rest by assuring you they were able to care for them!
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Post by vexorg on Oct 8, 2015 7:39:11 GMT -8
If she's still moving and eating, then give it a few days. They are quite tough when it comes to that kind of injury.
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Post by catnut on Oct 8, 2015 14:32:10 GMT -8
sorry to hear about the accident, if they do give her meticam, they only need a tiny drop, not sure of the correct dosage so do ask if they know how to correctly dose meds. before you take her to a vet. If she will let you, you could try to use saline on a qtip, at least until you get her to a vets I hope she feels better soon. I've had gerbils with swellings and meticam really helped them and they usually only need it for a short time before they feel better.
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Post by stephisme on Oct 8, 2015 16:55:41 GMT -8
Thanks so much everyone.
I tried some saline with a qtip, but it was a no go lol. Took her into the normal vet, because it seems more swollen today than last night. They said "it's a normal injury, happens all the time I'm sure" so I don't think she really took me all too seriously. She also said the risks of pain meds outweigh the benefits and that she would be making noise and hiding if she was in pain... I really don't think this is true. I think she does hurt, but gerbils show it differently... I know that my birds hide it when they are in pain. She is still a bit startled from the injury and not very fond of us now. She's still eating/playing. Not playing as much, but definitely eating a lot.
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Post by theia on Oct 9, 2015 0:31:03 GMT -8
Personally I'd recommend making her home more 'handicapped friendly' until she recovers, if she has to use tubes/bridges to get around then she may exacerbate her injury and slow the healing so if you can make it so she only needs to move around on the ground level to get to her bed, water and food that would most likely help.
As for the pain meds, whilst they would obviously help her as she has got to be in pain with that much swelling, many gerbils do not take kindly to being given meds which means you tend to have to hold them quite firmly to administer them and as it is her foot that is injured I personally would be concerned about doing further harm to it in the process of trying to give her the pain meds, so it's kind of a hard balance to get with this injury I'd say.
I hope she heals up okay, one of our girls was limping a month or so ago with a back leg/foot injury (different cause, her sister attacked and bit her lots) so we made the water more easily accessible and scatter fed her food as she was finding it difficult to hop up onto the bridge to the next level after a few days we could see that her mobility was improving and she was able to hop better and it healed up fully after a couple of weeks.
I'm sure your girl will regain trust in you, but it's unlikely to start happening until her foot heals as it'll currently be a reminder that an unhappy thing happened to her.
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Post by vexorg on Oct 9, 2015 1:40:48 GMT -8
many gerbils do not take kindly to being given meds which means you tend to have to hold them quite firmly to administer them and as it is her foot that is injured I personally would be concerned about doing further harm to it in the process of trying to give her the pain meds, so it's kind of a hard balance to get with this injury I'd say. We had one guy that needed meds after a tumour removed from his scent gland. He had earned the name "bitey mario" as he would consistently nip when out. Expected the worst when we'd have to hold him to give the medicine with a dropper, wrapped in a towel to limit the damage he could do to fingers, and he loved the medicine. He would lie on his back taking holding the dropper in his front paws. After the medicine was gone he'd turn his head and lie there chewing the towel. Some gerbils are indeed strange, and they might like the medicine routine |
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Post by johanne on Oct 9, 2015 1:41:29 GMT -8
Theia's advice is good. Gerbils are remarkably sturdy actually and quick to heal in general. Even if she's a bit uncomfortable now it'll encourage to take it easy on the foot so it can heal. Keep stress and unnecessary movement and handling at a minimum for now within what's reasonable for a gerbil.
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Post by theia on Oct 9, 2015 2:53:06 GMT -8
many gerbils do not take kindly to being given meds which means you tend to have to hold them quite firmly to administer them and as it is her foot that is injured I personally would be concerned about doing further harm to it in the process of trying to give her the pain meds, so it's kind of a hard balance to get with this injury I'd say. We had one guy that needed meds after a tumour removed from his scent gland. He had earned the name "bitey mario" as he would consistently nip when out. Expected the worst when we'd have to hold him to give the medicine with a dropper, wrapped in a towel to limit the damage he could do to fingers, and he loved the medicine. He would lie on his back taking holding the dropper in his front paws. After the medicine was gone he'd turn his head and lie there chewing the towel. Some gerbils are indeed strange, and they might like the medicine routine That sounds so adorable, I wish all gerbils were like that, the closest we've had is one male who would attack the end of the syringe, literally chew it as if he was blaming it all on that lol, made it very easy to just slowly feed it into him as he chewed it, all the others that we've had to treat have always made a fuss. |
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Post by stephisme on Oct 12, 2015 16:33:46 GMT -8
Hey guys, just an update.
She is still eating/drinking and of course chewing. Her foot is still swollen, but the color is much better. I could tell she is being more careful with it than when it first happened, at first she was still running and jumping even though it looked horrible. Now she mostly chews but will get a little hyper sometimes.
I have tried water/ice for the swelling a few times with no real success. I just wish it would be healed already! I know it takes time though. Thanks for all the help again!
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I am probably just being paranoid, but I have had issues with vet's around here not treating small animals the best and even laughing when I would question about them seeing them. 
