Just Old Age?

[Manix]

I've noticed over the past two weeks that Rin, My 2 1/2 year old is losing a lot of weight as well as strength. He doesn't seem as steady on his feet, he hardly ever takes a trip up to the second level to run on the wheel and has stopped eating/taking the punpkin seed treats I feed him by hand. Becuase he's stopped going "upstairs" I moved the water bottle back to the lower level. I'm not sure if it's old age catching up to him or if there's something wrong with his teeth. I noticed him working his jaws alot. Unfortunatly, when I tried to check his teeth this morning he was much too fussy to force to sit still, and he seemed too frail to stress in that manner so I let him alone. I gave him some peanut butter this morning. He never liked it before but attacked today. His breathing was unusual this morning also. Very long deep breaths, but no clicking sound too indicate a problem.

I know without checking his teeth there's no way to say for sure, but what do you guys think?

BTW, it turns out Stimpy it crazy over peanut butter! Is this a once a week treat?

Thanks

[pixytwinkle]

hi
i dont think he should be so week at 2 1/2 years as some can live till at least 5. I would reccomend a trip to the vet. His teeth could be the problem and the fact that he now likes peanut butter probalby means he was really hungry. Im not sure whether peanut butte ris good or not ive never tried it. Other soft foods you coukd give him are soft fruits/ vegetables but not too much of or it may cause diarreah. You could also try and ground some of his food up so its alot smaller for him. Oats may be ok too because they are quite soft. I really would get him checked over by a vet though.Good luck i hope hes ok
pixytwinkle

[lydia]

Agree with Pixytwinkle totally here.If his breathing isn't right,even with out clicking he could have a mild R.I. that needs treating,also,the fact that he has lost weight indicates a problem,most likely with his teeth.
Take him to see a vet straight away,in the mean time,if he can still drink,add vitamins to his water supply,offer food like fruit and veg,hulled sunflowers etc.,and,if peanut butter is something he can manage,small amounts of that.
Baby food that you can buy in small glass jars would also be o.k.,as long as you opt for fruit varieties like apple,pear,banana etc.,only small quatities though,and only as a temporary measure.

Lyd

[Manix]

Sadly, a vet isn't an option. I might, if I'm lucky, have one in the area brave enough to diagnose the problem, but not to treat it.

All teeth appear to be in good condition. The only way I could get him to "show" me was to allow him to bite my hand. This was really nothing more than a firm nip from an already irritable gerbil. He's so bony though. I'm going to try to get some of the softer foods into him. I'm not sure why he's losing weight. I don't think it's a respiratory problem. He's more active since giving him some peanut butter to eat, but he can't live on it. Can gerbils lose their back teeth? Maybe that's why he's losing weight. There would be no way I could check for that. I'm going to try grinding up his seeds into a powder and see if he'll take it. Fruits are fine, but too much would cuase another problem. Just like the peanut butter, I'm glad he's eating SOMETHING but it's only intended as a snack.

There's another thread on here that discusses soft foods for gerbils, anyone remember the link?

EDIT: Well, there's no question about it. The gerbil is HUNGRY. I gave him a sliver of banana a moment ago it vanished before my eyes! He's eating like he hasn't seen food in years! I decided to try with the pumkin seeds again. He grabbed it ran to eat it. Then sudden't there wasa tug of war over the pumkin seed. I think I found the problem. Rin isn't sick, and it's not age. I think it's Stimpy out competing him for food.

Have you ever heard of one gerbil starving the other to death? I'm not sure how to fix this, but right now hand feeding Rin is my only option. He needs to get his strength back.

[callimico]

I had the SAME thing happen

My girl Lyra, was about 2 years 1 mo old and I noticed stop running back and forth through all her tanks daily- like she usually does. Also stopped running on the wheel and when I gave her a sunflower would hold and almost mouth it then drop it, pick it up to try again then same thing.

She began to lose weight seeds in her tank weren't getting eaten, poor girl. I noticed the toilet paper tubes weren't being chewed- normally devoured completely within hours, and now had been sitting their over a week, untouched. I managed to glimpse at her mouth and saw that she had both front teeth, but one was much shorter then the other- it'd fallen out or gotten partially broken. She was in to much pain to eat.

I fed her Applesauce(was almost able to "drink it" out of a cupped hand- drank it REALLy fast so I knew she was hungry) and like you did, crushed up a lot of seeds, especially cracked and ground up sunflowers, peanuts (plus the healthy stuff), and oatmeal flakes- good at putting healthy fat back on.

She recovered but it took a few weeks- most books say teeth should regrow in less then 2 weeks but it was longer for her. After she'd been eating for awhile she was back to her old self running around, gaining muscle and athletic look back, and her tooth regrew nicely.

But I didn't see any breathing problem, but could tell her mouth hurt because after eating even ground up foods she'd rub it with her paws a lot, or inbetween eating. She didn't get much to eat but thankfully was enough to pull her through until her tooth healed.

Yours could be something else because of the deep breaths, but could be the same if she's hungry and unable to eat- see if one tooth is a little shorter/rougher, could be causing pain.

[callimico]

Just saw the edit, could still be had a tooth problem and now that its finally healed (after several weeks) is able to eat solids again and now will start to gain weight back even if you didn't hand feed him. But hand feeding is good because it would take him a lot longer without it.

Or it could be he's competeing with food, have heard of it before dominant gerbil eats first. Are you feeding htem with a bowl?

To solve that problem people take food and scatter it within a small section of the tank so the gerbils browse to eat and everyone gets what tehy need. Once every few weeks a "starve day" with no food hand outs and the gerbs eat up the store of food they horde elsewhere in the tank. But some people don't like this method because you can't monitor how much food they've eaten, or if any is in storage, but at least everyone will get a lot to eat. Plus foraging is more natural- I use bowls for some tanks and scatter in others..

I'm glad he's eating again!!! ;D ;D ;D ;D

[doomgerbiluk]

cple of tips
1) broadcast the food
spread out he may still compete but the'll get more chance
maybe make two piles, 1 near his fave hiding place and one in another area
2) feed the gerbil while the dominant one is out of the tank, that way he gets a time to eat in peace
even 5 minutes gives him a chance to slelect the best bits
3) try a hanging home
A coconut is nice
it gives a 'time out'place

[Manix]

Yes, for these two I scatter food all over both levels. Whenever I hand feed, I give them both something at the same time or else Stimpy tries to steel Rins.

I always thought Rin was the dominate one becuase he's always the one doing the grooming. Maybe he can't compete with Stimpys boundless engery. Stimpy IS the diabolical gerbil and very clever. Ony last week my sister saw him during an excape attempt. He has somehow managed to pop open the cage door and was looking back at her from the stereo. She put him back and refastened the door only to watch him AND Rin work together on the escape routine. Rin let stimpy stand on his shoulders so Stimpy could get leverage enough to push the door open (the door is on top of the cage). I had to weight the door down to prevent this.

I've never seen a more clever gerbil. He seems to pout until Rin gives him what he wants. Rins loves stimpy to death or else they would have fought over the food theft. Rin loves that (food) also. Apparently though, not more than Stimpy. A very interesting relationship those two have.

[doomgerbiluk]

they sound like quite the pair!
Gerbils are pretty intelligent, very talkative (good thing we can't hear htem lol) and yes I certainly see cooperative behaviour among them.

BTW while Pixy is correct and in captivity gerbil have bene known to live till 5 and beyond, in the wild the oldest gerbils have been around 2 years old.
So 2 and a half is AT LEAST past middle age for a gerbil.

[Manix]

Rin is definatly feeling much better today. I will continue to try to hand feed him things so I can be sure he is eating.

A little off topic; I finaly got the "tank topper" problem solved. I went to Lowes and bought some hareware cloth this morning. I made a simple tray that sits down inside the cage and hangs on the sides. The "tank topper" can still fit over this. The tray like floor is easy to remove and access, easy to clean, keeps bedding inside the cage, can't be accidently injested when chewed on and was incredibly simply to make. The only problems left is the ease of access the the bottom level and the sand bath. Seeing as this new arrangment stacks the tank topper on top of the tray on top of the tank, one must unstack everything to access the bottom. Only inconvient if a fight broke out between the two on this level and I needed to intervene quickly.
the Sand bath is another matter. I cut a hole in the floor of the tray to hang a tupperware bowl inside of. Then I set a cardboard flooring on top of this with a hole cut to match the tray floor. The tupperware keeps the sand inside the bath and the tubing running through the floor keeps the bedding out of the bath. Not bad really, unless I need to change the sand in the middle of the week, then I complety upset everybody with I pull of the carboard to get to the bath! Oh well, can't have everything. But you can have some pics! I'll post these in the porper thread though .