my gerbil seems poorly

[chico]

he is 2 and a half and was absolutely fine yesterday although he did seem to be drinking alot.
Tonight he is not himself, very lethargic & fur quite ruffled but is still eating & drinking lots, he is also wet under his chin & the top of his chest area. He has had problems with his teeth overgrowing lately so he sees the vet every 4 weeks to have them trimmed so i wouldn,t of thought it was his teeth (last time he had them done was 3 weeks ago). I,m going to take him to the vet if he is no better in the morning but does any one have any ideas of what could be wrong?.....

it is now the morning after and he seems much better, i kept his cage wam & darkened last night and took the upper levels of the cage out so he could get some rest.
He is no longer wet under his chin and is running around like normal, i will keep a close eye on him but fingers crossed he will be okay......if you have any ideas on what was wrong please let me know although having been thinking about it all night I think his teeth need filing again so its vets for him next week!

[ashgerbil]

i'm not sure what illness he could've had, but i'm glad to hear that he's feeling better now! ;D keeping a close eye on him sounds like a good idea too!
good luck!

[RW]

Could he have had a seizure? I seem to remember reading somewhere that gerbils can drool (explaining the wet chin and chest) when they have them. There's some info about seizures on the NGS website:

www.gerbils.co.uk/gerbils/seizures.htm

Other causes of drooling can be overgrown incisors and heatstroke. You've already mentioned your gerbil gets his teeth trimmed and, unless it's really hot now where you live, I don't think heatstroke would be likely.

If he did have a seizure, you've done exactly the right thing by keeping him warm and quiet. Glad he's feeling better today.

RW

Edit: I wanted to add that a vet trip is never a bad idea when you're dealing with an unexplained health problem.

[meganb52]

Salivating like that is generally a sign of malocclusion. It may be time to go back to the vet's for another tooth trim.

-Megan

[chico]

just an update on spice....
i took him to the vets on Monday and it seems he could have a middle ear infection, on Sunday he seemed poorly again and couldnt walk for falling over! (my poor little baby!), he kept going round in circles and was really tilted to one side.
My vet is graet, he gave him a steroid and has ben giving him antibiotic injections morning & night, he has been having them for 48 hours now.
He seems a little better, he is not falling over any more but is still leaning to one side.
He is still eating & drinking which is a really good sign so im hoping.........
I'm going to give him another 48 hours with the antib injections and keeping all my fingers crossed......

[chico]

WELL SPICE IS GETTING A BIT BETTER EVERY DAY, HES STILL ON HIS ANTIBIOTICS AND IS NEARLY WALKING LIKE NORAL NOW..
HE RE ALLY NEEDS HIS TEETH FILING BUT I DO NOT THINK HE IS QUITE WELL ENOUGH YET SO I AM JUST GIVING HIM LOTS OF SOFT STUFF TO EAT, HE LOVES BABY FOOD & THE VET SAID THAT IS FINE. IT IS JUST IMPORTANT HE EATS SOMETHING.
LOOKING GOOD.....