Possible alergic reaction.

[nate]

Basically, I think it's highly likely that poor Squeek is having an alergic reaction to his woodchips, and this seems more viable because we recently baught a different brand of woodchips. Can anyone tell me what the symptoms of allergy to woodchips are, or point me to a good link?

He started to 'click' one day, and his behaviour changed, he was obviously quite seriously ill, but didn't seem in any pain. He was hiding away and I thought he was going to die right then as I know that a lot of animals will isolate themselves when they are dying, to stop disease spreading to others. He wasn't eating or drinking, and I was almost convinced he was on the brink of death. But 2 or 3 days later he seemed much better, he was out and about in his cage and eating again, but he was still ill-looking. I started searching the web for illnesses and ailments in gerbils, but as usual the symptoms were the same for about 3 or 4 diffrernt conditions and he didn't match any of the symptoms lists exactly. He started out very wet around the mouth and nose, like he was drooling, this was accompanied by the clicks and weight loss, then this cleared up almost completely, and then today I noticed that he had made himself practically bald under his mouth/chin area.

Does this sound like it could be caused by an alergic reaction? It certainly sounds plausible to me. I'll see about getting him to a vet asap. I managed to get him to eat last night and after that he seemed fine, but still skinny. This is what confuses me, it's almost as if he's got over the initial disease or allergy or whatever, he hasn't had any trouble breathing or made any clicks or drooling for quite a long time, which is why we didn't rush him straight to the vets.

I cleared all the woodchips out of his cage and cleaned everything last night, so he's had a good few hours without woodchips, but when I emptied them into the bin there was a huge cloud of dust and some quite visible sawdust. So this leads me to blame the woodchips even more. Also the dust would have settled within a few days so perhaps this accounts for the more extreme symptoms dissappearing after a few days?

Someone has also suggested to me that he might have had an abcess around his mouth area that burst, does this seem possible too?

Sorry this is so long

[queenofthenile]

It sounds like an allergy or an upper respiratory infection. What type of wood were the shavings? Usually Aspen shavings are hypoallergenic. Pine and Cedar contain volatile oils that can irritate the lungs. Usually these symptoms would indicate that the gerbil is allergic to the bedding. If he is quite young, however, (under 3 months), it could also be an infection. How old is he?

[nate]

He's just over 3 years old. I took him out today and exmined him closely, he has a kind of scab around his scent gland, it's not bleeding, nor was there any evidence of blood in his cage or bedding, it was the kind of thing you might get from an abraision the doesn't quite break the skin. I will take him to a vet as soon as possible, but I'm not expecting any oral medicine to be very effective because the only things we can get him to eat are peas and a paste made of sunflower seeds and water, and even then, he's not very keen on the seed paste.

[queenofthenile]

Definately take him to the vet. He may be going through several things right now. It sounds like he may have a scent gland tumour .

[Ritzie/Admin]

I agree with queenofthenile! It sounds like it is a scent gland tumour. A vet can remove it! But ths is not a garuantee that is has not spread or will return!

From my website: Tumours

Symptoms: Visible or tangible lumps and swellings. Weight loss. A picture of a gerbil with a scent gland tumour can be seen at the Dutch version of this page or the Ailments page of the National Gerbil Society website.

Causes: External tumours will most often occur in the scent gland at the belly of older animals. Tumours will occur more in a breeding line with a lot of inbreeding. Very seldom tumours will appear in the milk glands in the nipples of females. Another form of swellings can be caused by a sub dermal infection. This is called an abscess. A small wound that healed at the surface, while there still remains a sub dermal inflammation causes this.

Treatment: Go always to a vet when your gerbil has a lump or swelling. It can get more worse when you wait too long, as while with a tumour as with an abscess. A vet can successfully remove external tumours, but with other tumours the best solution it to carry out euthanasia, to spare him more painful suffering. An abscess van by a vet easily be opened and cleaned.

Prevention: Prevent inbreeding with your gerbils and be sure that the gerbils won't get wounded.



Here more info on it (plus source of picture): www.gerbils.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/gerbils/ailments.htm#Tumours

[doomgerbiluk]

here is a picture of my 18 month old gerbil Drunk's tumour
I hope it can operated soon as he has started chewing it

[nate]

Just to keep you updated, squeek went to see a specialist today. The main problem is his teeth, this is most likely the reason why he won't eat. His top front teeth are no longer there, I'm not sure why, perhaps too many treats, perhaps it's to do with his age. The bottom teeth have grown too long and were digging into the gum at the top of his mouth when he tries to chew. This has given him a mouth ulcer, so the vet filed his botom teeth right down.

Also, the vet thinks he might have an abcess, or possibly a tumour, on his scent gland. If it is a tumour, I will push for them to operate, although his age counts against him what with the anasthetic and the stress it would cause, but I'd rather he goes quietly under anasthetic while we're trying to save him, than do nothing and have the tumour kill him. We've been given painkillers and antibiotics for him, along with what seems to be a kind of gerbil protein shake. It's a mix of sugar, protein and carbohydrate that we can syringe-feed him until he starts eating normaly again.

So, in summary, he's not in any life-threatening danger, but he is poorly and on medication.

edit: Just thought i'd show everyone a picture of him too. (click on the thumbnail for a larger version)

[sweetie]

Thanks for the update. I hope all goes well for the two of you.
He is a beauty!