Post by Xellie on Jan 2, 2020 20:57:46 GMT -8
I'll tell the history, I had 4 female gerbils which I got from a certain big name pet shop (I regret this in retrospect)
at 2 months old, Blackie started to display signs of illness, she had dull fur, stopped eating, hobbled around, had half closed eyes. (I actually made a thread about it here in feb) - she came back to health through a combination of antibiotics administered to the whole tank through water and a lot of hand feeding babyfood.
A few months later there was a declanning, and I divided them into two pairs. Blackie and Lightning in one tank and Bully and Thunder in the other tank.
All was well for a few months, until about october, when Thunder suddenly died. I had seen no signs of illness and it happened very quickly, she was wounded so I assumed there was a fight between her and Bully. (Bully was the aggressor in the previous declanning vs Blackie)
In Mid December, Lightning started displaying signs of illness, the same dull fur, hobbling behaviour, closed eyes. She died before the vets opened the next day and it was agonizing to watch - she declined extremely fast. She lay on her side, twitching a lot, fitting sometimes, and very slowly over hours just faded away.
I cleaned the tank, now with two lone gerbils. I started looking for a breeder to find some pups because Blackie was very well bonded with her sister and I was worried about her being alone. I didn't want to pair her with Bully as they had been fighting previously.
This morning, Blackie showed the same signs of illness. The same dull fur, closed eyes, refusing to eat anything except baby-food and hobbling. She also seemed scared of me which is very unusual for her, she was very very tame and friendly. I took her to the vet and we got some baytril. I deep cleaned her tank before returning her to it. However she declined also, laying on the floor, kicking and twitching her back legs only calming down when she heard my voice. She then had a series of massive seizures and passed away shortly afterward.
I'm trying to figure out what the heck happened. I've been reading up - I find the idea of it being bad genetics to be a bit strange for the symptoms displayed. Eventually through all my reading I saw that Tyzzer's can lay dormant for long periods of time and now I'm wondering if that's what happened (and if so I'm preparing to face the fact I may lose Bully, my final remaining girl)
I've kept gerbils for 20 or so years and all of them except one (who had a seizure) have lived relatively long and healthy lives. I've never seen anything like this and I'm really quite upset. I can't get my head around the awful suffering I've seen from my girls - and they're not even a year old.
edit: to clarify, Lightning died within 12 hours of symptoms showing. Blackie died within 18 hours. Thunder died while I was sleeping, so I don't know the details ):
at 2 months old, Blackie started to display signs of illness, she had dull fur, stopped eating, hobbled around, had half closed eyes. (I actually made a thread about it here in feb) - she came back to health through a combination of antibiotics administered to the whole tank through water and a lot of hand feeding babyfood.
A few months later there was a declanning, and I divided them into two pairs. Blackie and Lightning in one tank and Bully and Thunder in the other tank.
All was well for a few months, until about october, when Thunder suddenly died. I had seen no signs of illness and it happened very quickly, she was wounded so I assumed there was a fight between her and Bully. (Bully was the aggressor in the previous declanning vs Blackie)
In Mid December, Lightning started displaying signs of illness, the same dull fur, hobbling behaviour, closed eyes. She died before the vets opened the next day and it was agonizing to watch - she declined extremely fast. She lay on her side, twitching a lot, fitting sometimes, and very slowly over hours just faded away.
I cleaned the tank, now with two lone gerbils. I started looking for a breeder to find some pups because Blackie was very well bonded with her sister and I was worried about her being alone. I didn't want to pair her with Bully as they had been fighting previously.
This morning, Blackie showed the same signs of illness. The same dull fur, closed eyes, refusing to eat anything except baby-food and hobbling. She also seemed scared of me which is very unusual for her, she was very very tame and friendly. I took her to the vet and we got some baytril. I deep cleaned her tank before returning her to it. However she declined also, laying on the floor, kicking and twitching her back legs only calming down when she heard my voice. She then had a series of massive seizures and passed away shortly afterward.
I'm trying to figure out what the heck happened. I've been reading up - I find the idea of it being bad genetics to be a bit strange for the symptoms displayed. Eventually through all my reading I saw that Tyzzer's can lay dormant for long periods of time and now I'm wondering if that's what happened (and if so I'm preparing to face the fact I may lose Bully, my final remaining girl)
I've kept gerbils for 20 or so years and all of them except one (who had a seizure) have lived relatively long and healthy lives. I've never seen anything like this and I'm really quite upset. I can't get my head around the awful suffering I've seen from my girls - and they're not even a year old.
edit: to clarify, Lightning died within 12 hours of symptoms showing. Blackie died within 18 hours. Thunder died while I was sleeping, so I don't know the details ):
