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Post by theia on Feb 4, 2016 1:30:03 GMT -8
It sounds as if part of his tail has degloved, this is a survival mechanism that gerbils have (and the reason we don't ever pick them up by the tail/tug on their tail). Anyway, the exposed bone will dry up and fall off and the part of tail that still has fur should heal up, so he will end up with a shorter tail. A vet would likely remove the bone for him and maybe sew up the end to speed healing (I'm guessing here as I've never had this experience myself). Other than taking him to a vet I can't think of anything else to suggest, if you can get him to a vet they would probably give him/you painkillers so that he won't be in as much pain (which I'd imagine he is if he's squeaking a lot) and antibiotics to prevent infection.
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Post by theia on Feb 4, 2016 9:33:26 GMT -8
I hope he recovers okay and that you can find a way of keeping the cats away from the cage so it doesn't happen again.
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jgl
Member
Posts: 116 
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Post by jgl on Feb 4, 2016 16:11:37 GMT -8
I would be very careful in case of an infection. Hope he recovers okay.
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Post by Thelodar on Feb 8, 2016 13:40:14 GMT -8
I have had this happen to two gerbils (didn't realize what happened the first time-thought the gerbils did it to each other) and is the reason there are no more cages here! Tails are safer in tanks. In both cases the gerbils ended up being fine. The hardest part was a few days after the de-gloving the gerbil decided to chew off the exposed bone. It was clearly painful, she squeaked through the whole thing. After that it healed up fine though. Just keep the tank clean and watch for signs of infection. I remember trying neosporin but she just licked it off, so I stopped doing that.
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