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Post by Markpd on Jan 2, 2023 12:04:50 GMT -8
Thank you, Blake was a bit ill on just 1 evening, and he's been fine since . Going to look at getting him a cage mate soon. Yea you never know when something might change, so worth weighing them regularly.
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Post by Markpd on Feb 19, 2023 15:36:03 GMT -8
One final update, after finding a sore next to Blake's scent gland end of January (see related thread for more info), and suspecting it was a SGT, a check at the vets confirming that likelihood, and then an operation a few days later, he bounced back and seemed his usual zippy self . But on the 14th he suddenly became really ill and lethargic, I took him to the vets the next day, she wasn't sure if it was an infection or cancer, but gave us some antibiotics to see if it would help (and booked an X-ray for the following day). Sadly he died the following morning . The last weighing was at that last vet visit.
Avon ... date .... Blake 63g .... 15/08/20 .. 65g 70g .... 01/09/20 .. 65g 74g .... 22/09/20 .. 70g 74g .... 07/10/20 .. 73g 76g .... 20/10/20 .. 76g 78g .... 09/11/20 .. 79g 81g .... 24/11/20 .. 84g 81g .... 14/12/20 .. 83g 93g .... 12/01/21 .. 93g 93g .... 03/02/21 .. 92g 94g .... 26/02/21 .. 91g 98g .... 15/03/21 .. 95g 107g .. 06/04/21 .. 102g (cut treats from 3 to 2 per day) 108g .. 20/04/21 .. 101g 112g .. 04/05/21 .. 105g (cut feed to 15g/day, may have only been a tiny cut) 106g .. 18/05/21 .. 108g 99g ... 01/06/21 .. 107g (cut feed to 12g/day, increased Avon's treats to 4) 99g ... 16/06/21 .. 107g 99g ... 30/06/21 .. 104g (declanned this date!) 93g ... 14/07/21 ... 95g
97 .... 22/07/21 ... 94 97 .... 28/07/21 ... 95 92 .... 11/08/21 ... 96 90 .... 25/08/21 ... 97 (increased feed to 14g/day, been unable to feed Avon 4 treats/day, he ignored them!) 92 .... 16/09/21 ... 99 93 .... 30/09/21 ... 99 95 .... 15/10/21 ... 96 (declanned again 3/10) 95 .... 27/10/21 ... 95 91 .... 10/11/21 ... 93 (Mostly been able to feed Avon treats again, but only if I drop them in front of him, he won't take them from my fingers! lol) 96 .... 24/11/21 ... 96 92 .... 09/12/21 ... 97 97 .... 24/12/21 .. 102 (Avon is beginning to take treats more often from my fingers again ) 98 .... 07/01/22 .. 100 103 .. 22/01/22 .. 107 107 .. 07/02/22 .. 114 108 .. 21/02/22 .. 116 104 .. 07/03/22 .. 120 (Cut Blake's feed to 5g/day) 113 .. 21/03/22 .. 120 120 .. 04/04/22 .. 110 (Cut Avon's treats to 2, and feed to 5g) 117 .. 18/04/22 .. 115 110 .. 11/05/22 .. 117 (forgot to set a 2 week reminder on my phone! Hence overshot ) 111 .. 25/05/22 .. 121 (03/06 cut Blake's feed to 4g/day)
115 .. 22/06/22 .. 115 (as above, forgot again! Cut Avon's feed to 4g/day). 108 .. 06/07/22 .. 109 105 .. 20/07/22 .. 107 109 .. 03/08/22 .. 111
109 .. 17/08/22 .. 115
106 .. 31/08/22 .. 110 103 .. 15/09/22 .. 112
99 .... 29/09/22 .. 113 94 .... 13/10/22 .. 113 98 .... 01/11/22 .. 112 97 .... 15/11/22 .. 116 87 .... 29/11/22 .. 105 (found Avon severely ill the day before, see my 'Avon ill' thread for more info). 88 .... 13/12/22 .. 108 ........ 27/12/22 .. 108 (after apparently making a full recovery, Avon passed away suddenly on the 26th ) ........ 10/01/23 .. 111
........ 20/01/23 .. 111
........ 24/01/23 .. 111 (weighed at the vets, good to know my scales seem to be accurate!)
........ 01/02/23 .. 104 (a few days after he had his scent gland tumour removed) ........ 15/02/23 .. 109 (weighed at the vets. Blake passed away the next day )
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Post by tanzanyte on Apr 25, 2023 14:23:29 GMT -8
I'm so sorry you lost both boys quite close together, and whilst still reasonably young. Avon's weight really did drop considerably. Our Pepsi's weight has dropped recently, but Max has got bigger. Although now Max has a growth I think he's doing less and so the weight is creeping back up. Where did you manage to get the scent gland tumour surgery done for Blake and how much was it? I don't think you're a million miles from me so it might be feasible to do the drive if it's someone with some experience, especially if they aren't wanting additional referral fees for exotics on top of the surgery itself. Are you going to do a regular weigh in post for the new gerbs you have on your sig? It's been interesting seeing it all over the months/years with Blake and Avon so thanks for sticking with it.
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Post by Markpd on May 5, 2023 16:28:54 GMT -8
Thanks, and yea it was pretty close together, I was more taken back by Blake's loss as I thought with his surgery for the SGT that he'd be ok for at least a few months, but it wasn't to be . I got the surgery done at Alder Vets in Guildford, Surrey and it cost me £146, I just took a photo of the bill, see here (just under the £150 estimate I mentioned in Blake's illness thread). As you can see there was no specific charge for him just being a gerbil, if that's what you meant? Colin was the vet that Avon and Blake had (bar Blake's last visit), he had some prior experience with Gerbils, although Blake's SGT removal was his 1st on a live gerbil (that all healed nicely, it was just that he had cancer that had spread). He'd also mentioned that whilst he hadn't done bladder stone removals from a gerbil, he has from Hamsters and Guinea pigs, IIRC. If that helps! Good to hear you found Avon and Blake's weight updates interesting , I wasn't planning on posting weights for my new boys (although I did mention a couple of weightings through their welcome thread). That said, if you want to see their weights over time too I can post them, as I keep a diary of that anyway.
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Post by tanzanyte on May 7, 2023 1:55:55 GMT -8
I actually phoned Alder vets and they quoted me £350 for a SGT removal with Colin. I know costs have gone up but how on earth has it more than doubled in a few months?
I have booked Max in with Coastway vets next week as they have a lot more experience and are closer to me. Although I am very worried as he is bright as a button but he is overweight because he has been doing less so I don't know if that is likely to decrease his chances of making it through.
Did you get Avon and Blake from Clare as well as Vila and Gan? If so I think it would be interesting to see as it's quite controlled data. My boys weights have yoyo'd and seeing Blake and Avon's made me realise it wasn't just my boys fluctuating so I think in that sense it's helpful for lots of people
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Post by Markpd on May 7, 2023 4:55:38 GMT -8
£350!?? Wait, I remember when I 1st got a quote from their admin for Avon's bladder stone it was an extortionate amount (somewhere around £800!, I posted it in 'Avon's ill' thread), after speaking to Colin he thought that they had chosen the wrong animal for the quote! I'd ring them again, tell them how much it cost me and ask them if they have made an error. Although if you've booked Coastway vets, there's no need to now. (I see they are based around Brighton, too far for me!). Re his weight, ask the vet, I'd imagine he'd be able to give you some idea. Although I would have thought he'd have to be severely over weight for it to be a major issue, but see what the vet says. And yes I got all of my boys from Clare, Gan and Vila are distantly related to Avon and Blake. And ok, I'll post Gan and Vila's weight here too (later on).
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Post by tanzanyte on May 7, 2023 14:25:03 GMT -8
Alder vets called me back after checking with Colin. I do wonder if they perhaps phoned other vets after doing Blakes op and realised they were doing it a bit too cheap so have priced it in line with everyone else. I've called a lot of vets now and they are all coming out at £350 at the cheaper end, some are a lot more, so £146 was super cheap. I know my stepdaughter gets tumours removed from her rats for around £150 so if you get to know a vet they sometimes try to keep costs down, but I've never needed this before and her vet flat out refused to even try on a gerbil.
Max is weighing in a 116g so we have s a few days to see if we can decrease it a little. I will check though so thanks for mentioning as I didn't think about that. Hopefully that's not too seriously overweight. It just the heaviest he's ever been.
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Post by Markpd on May 7, 2023 17:13:28 GMT -8
Wow, £350 is just silly money! Unless Max is really small, 116g doesn't sound too bad to me, Blake briefly hit 120g, and he did look a bit chubby at that point! Here are my new boys weights, note that I still can't tell them apart sometimes! Aside from their different behaviour, so it's entirely possible that I've got the figures mixed up vs the names! lol. UK date format, day-month-year (the correct format ). Feed 12g/day, + 3 treats and a little veg (e.g 4 peas or sweet corn each, or roughly 3g each of a baby carrot).
Date ......... Gan .... Vila 20-03-23 ... 36g .... 37g 04-04-23 ... 41g .... 46g 24-04-23 ... 52g .... 58g (Big leap in their weights! And they have noticeable grown now too. Erin's Ark's food ran out on the 28th, now on Little One Feed For Dwarf Hamsters). 09-05-23 ... 69g .... 69g (A huge leap in weight by Gan!)
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Post by Markpd on May 9, 2023 12:54:39 GMT -8
A surprising update, they're both 69g! And a massive jump in weight for Gan! A worrying amount perhaps??
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Post by betty on May 10, 2023 7:45:54 GMT -8
Nearly 100% weight increase in about 7 weeks - they are certainly expanding at quite a rate!
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Post by LilyandDaisy on May 10, 2023 8:18:08 GMT -8
Maybe they're going to be big gerbils after all! Even Twiglet was only 52g at their age and she's huge (now 91g). Meanwhile Astra weighs the same as your boys at a year old!
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Post by Markpd on May 10, 2023 12:04:12 GMT -8
Aww, Astra must be a dinky little gerbil Nearly 100% weight increase in about 7 weeks - they are certainly expanding at quite a rate! Oh Yea! I hadn't spotted that! Wow! lol It does make me wonder if they really were 8 weeks old when I got them, but maybe they're just late growers . Let's see how they compare to Avon and Blake's weight at the same age. On the 12th they'll be 16 weeks old. Blake and Avon were 16 weeks old on 24th Sept 2020, I weighed them very near to that on the 22nd and they were 74g and 70g, so my little babies have caught right up!
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Post by LilyandDaisy on May 10, 2023 12:48:49 GMT -8
She is very dinky indeed!
Do you know how many siblings Gan and Vila had? Especially as compared to Avon and Blake? I'm just wondering if maybe there was lots of competition for nutrition when they were young but now that competition is mostly gone, they're able to grow much faster.
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Post by Markpd on May 10, 2023 13:02:54 GMT -8
Good question! I know Clare said they were 'Middle of the litter' size wise, but I didn't ask how big the litter was, I'll ask her now ....
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Post by Markpd on Jun 4, 2023 6:47:27 GMT -8
LilyandDaisy Forgot to answer, Clare thought 7. Update to their weights, as usual I'm not sure whose who! But their both about the same weights anyway. Date ......... Gan .... Vila 20-03-23 ... 36g .... 37g 04-04-23 ... 41g .... 46g 24-04-23 ... 52g .... 58g (Big leap in their weights! And they have noticeable grown now too. Erin's Ark's food ran out on the 28th, now on Little One Feed For Dwarf Hamsters). 09-05-23 ... 69g .... 69g (A big leap in weight by Vila, but a huge leap in weight by Gan!) 23-05-23 ... 72g .... 73g (Remarkably close in weight still! I've noticed that quite a bit of food is being left around, so I've cut their feed to 10g/day (from 12g), as from 2nd June).
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