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Post by tlouwhite on Sept 5, 2010 17:37:57 GMT -8
Kitten milk should work in a pinch as well... I had a gerbil live off of kitten replacement milk for a week until he was well enough to start eating solid food.
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Post by fanny123 on Sept 6, 2010 6:48:31 GMT -8
Do you force feed it to him? I doubt he'll willingly drink it.
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Vixen
Member
8 years of gerbil fun
Posts: 1,805
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Post by Vixen on Sept 6, 2010 9:03:20 GMT -8
But yours is an exception, in most cases given the age of the gerbil and the problems time is not on his side, to put an old gerbil through surgery is a risk itself. Doug I agrea with you on that one, and is one reason I never had Frost sent gland tumor removed, thankfuly it was never a problem for him. Critcal care is very good, extreamly exspencive round here though.
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Post by fanny123 on Sept 6, 2010 10:19:04 GMT -8
The Critical Care isn't in my area either. My only choice would be the kitten milk replacer.So how would I go about feeding it to him? I know for a fact he'll reject it.Do I just force-feed through a syringe or something?
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Vixen
Member
8 years of gerbil fun
Posts: 1,805
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Post by Vixen on Sept 6, 2010 11:33:40 GMT -8
The Critical Care isn't in my area either. My only choice would be the kitten milk replacer.So how would I go about feeding it to him? I know for a fact he'll reject it.Do I just force-feed through a syringe or something? you could try and soak some bread in it, not the best way, but the soft teture may entice him to nibble it, I know some people use this methord for hand rearing and weaning. I not had much sucsess with hand feeding gerbils, they normaly won't take a sarringe, or will burry a bowl, lots of trial and error sadly.
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Post by tlouwhite on Sept 6, 2010 14:51:00 GMT -8
If he won't take it, don't force it on him... if it his time to go there is no reason to make it any more uncomfortable for him...
In my experience though, I've had 2 out of 3 gerbils take it more than willingly. They resist at first but after having the first drop just placed near their mouth they drink, and then every couple hours I'd offer again and they'd take it without even needing the first drop to tease.
My vet gives me small plastic syringes that hold one ml... most times my gerbils would take .4 to .7 ml at a time... I think the small animal replacement came with a couple of the same type of syringe... and eye dropper would probably work pretty well, too.
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Post by tlouwhite on Sept 6, 2010 14:53:02 GMT -8
Oh yeah, with the syringe I would hold the gerbil in one hand and the syringe in the other with a really slow and steady pressure pushing the plunger. You can tell if you're going too fast if it starts running down his chin...
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Post by ohmylokix on Sept 7, 2010 16:17:16 GMT -8
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bopertop
Member
My babies! Yellow one is HoneyDew and grey one is smoke.
Posts: 74
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Post by bopertop on Sept 23, 2010 17:28:54 GMT -8
Happened to me before. I used a syringe, and took some water, added a bit of peanut butter and some juice, blended it up, and used the syringe to squirt the formula into Smokie's mouth.
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Post by david on Sept 24, 2010 4:54:13 GMT -8
I was going to post a new thread, but I have the same problem. Storm's upper teeth are broken, will they grow back? I've got a vets appointment tomorrow morning. Storm can't chew cardboard, but she has adapted well and is still eating all her favourite foods, it just takes her longer to shell them. I tried doing it for her, but she does a better job than I do!!! Her teeth will grow back won't they?
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Post by tlouwhite on Sept 24, 2010 11:00:39 GMT -8
maybe... I had a gerbil who lost one of his top teeth permanently... and the one he had left started going sideways which, in hindsight, I think made it harder for him to eat than if he had lost both.
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Post by david on Sept 25, 2010 3:51:59 GMT -8
Thanks.
I took Storm to the vets, and the teeth that are not broken were too long, so they trimmed them. They also trimmed aback nail because it had grown a bit long despite my sisters boyfriend trimming them recently.
They said Storm was the most well behaved gerbil they'd ever seen! There I was thinking that this would cost around £60 for the treatment - but it was MUCH cheaper - £5.54! I asked if they could have made a mistake, but it was the correct price!
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Post by tlouwhite on Sept 25, 2010 11:23:50 GMT -8
That's awesome. I know some vets will charge for a gerbil just as they would a dog... mine discounts his rates as well. Thank god.
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Post by david on Sept 25, 2010 18:47:20 GMT -8
Is yours as cheap as mine?
Storm was well behaved most of the time, the most well behaved gerbil they'd ever seen, but she didn't like the little torch so grabbed it with both hands and tried to chew it!
I think I'll take her every3 months or so to the vets to check her teeth. But I think she's slowing down a bit these days, she's about 2 and a half I think and I think she's just getting old (I know gerbils can live longer, and Sandy is close to her age despite being her daughter, but gerbils seem to age at different rates).
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Post by fanny123 on Sept 26, 2010 17:09:24 GMT -8
Happened to me before. I used a syringe, and took some water, added a bit of peanut butter and some juice, blended it up, and used the syringe to squirt the formula into Smokie's mouth. How long have you been feeding her that? Also,is that all she's been eating? My gerbil's teeth still aren't quite grown in & I need some more ideas.
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