Deformed pups

[crazycritter]

*sighs* Ok, well, as many of you know, My gerbil "misery" just had some pups. I noticed a while ago, however, that two of them are deformed. Misery and her old mate "Tucker" are both healthy and deformity free...and the breeder I got them from said that they were not related. However, this breeder just moved and found some more of his records. He emailed me and said that some of my gerbils (just two) MAY be related to eachother (Brother and Sister, one litter apart). As luck may have it, these two gerbils were misery and tucker...
...so, here is a lesson to all of you inbreeders out there! DON'T DO IT! I didn't mean to, and luckily Misery and Tucker are NO LONGER TOGETHER. I'm also lucky that this was a small litter and the pups are not in pain and are still capable of getting around well.

I feel bad for the poor guys though...what crappy luck.

[moghedien]

I actually had one gerbil pup who had a leg that looked like that at about the same age as the one shown in the picture. He didn't start out that way, actually, it just sort of "appeared" one day. The parents were from two completely different separate petstores, so I'm sure they were not related.

The odd thing was, after a few days, it went back to normal, and after a little while I couldn't even identify the pup who'd had it!

Your pups may be different, I don't know, but that really does look almost exactly like what happened to my pup (I thought that a parent had kicked him and dislocated his shoulder).

[queenofthenile]

I'm sorry to hear that the pups have such problems. Are they they same sex, so that you could keep them together? I'm so glad you decided to split Tucker and Misery. At least that is a stroke of luck.

I've heard people on the GML sometimes massage the limb with the fused wrist. Apparently the wrist will sometimes go back into the regular conformation. Maybe it's worth a try?

At least the litter was small. It would be hard to take care of more than just two gerbs with those sort of issues. I guess you'll have to make sure that you warn adopters *not* to inbreed either Tucker or Misery's pups. Is anyone else in your clan related to or descended from Tucker or Misery? Is only Thorne related? (making mental note to never recommend breeding Tucker/Misery's kids with Thorne's kids)

[squeaky]

Aw what a shame.

[andrea]

thats such a shame

THis is exactly why inbreeding is so bad... unfortunatly buying from different pet shop does not guarantee them not to be related as most pet shops get there stock from the same breeders.

Poor little soul hope hes ok

Andrea

[RyanF]

Let's just hope that it isn't a mutation forever. Let's hope and pray that both little gerbils' legs go back to normal.

[sweetie]

I am sorry Crazy ,

I hope that every thing goes well for both you and the pups. Thank you for sharing your experiences. We share in your pain and learn fro your experience.

[r8ch]

Hi

I'm so sorry for this, it must be awful, such bad luck. But thank you for posting these pictures as I hope it will make some people sit up and take note with regards to inbreeding.

I hope they are able to live a pain-free life

R8ch

[j]

aww

Just looks like the 'fixed wrist' thing though.. looks bad cause they're so small, but when they get bigger they can still get around normal and everything.

[sandy2]

I had a pup that looked like that and I thought it was deformed. It turned out to be injured instead and it healed up in about 2 weeks so don't jump to conclusions, ok? The broken bones in limbs form a natural cast by the swelling of the surrounding tissues and the limb is stiff. It doesn't appear to hurt them. I hope this is the case. Best of luck with them!

[sweetie]

Great info Sandy,

Thanks!

[RyanF]

Sandy: One of my gerbils is named Sandy!! ;D

[sandy2]

I noticed that! Sandy is only my nick name. I'm actually Chrisandra!

[RyanF]

I was pretty sure Sandy was your nick, lol. ;D

[sweetie]

Hey Crazy,

How are the pups?