My gerbil ate soap!!!

[Mocha and Whiteout]

I was letting my gerbils run in the bathtub when I noticed they were numming on some solidified shampoo soap that had escaped my eye! I usually try to make sure it’s clean before they run but they found some... should I be worried? I don’t know if they will get sick or not. They only ate a small bit before I shood them away and cleaned it. I know they didn’t just sniff it because I noticed him as he was messing with it and it was gone when he moved away!

[betty]

I have no idea - what are the ingredients and how much do you think they ate compared to something normally eaten?

[Mocha and Whiteout]

It’s mostly chemicals, but the top ingredient is water. I would say about sunflower seed size. (I’m sure it’s nontoxic to humans but I’m new to gerbil owning so I just want to be on the safe side))

[Markpd]

If it was dried out, their would be practically no water left, what are the chemicals that make up most of the rest of the constituents?

[yeti218]

How are the gerbils doing? I would expect if they're still in good shape now you've past the dangerous time period.

But there are usually poison control hotlines you can call, and some will consult for animals. I called one before when my dog ate a toilet bowl cleaner thing (that turned out to be more of a soap, and less like a corrosive cleaner). They were able to look up the product and give a prognosis based on how much he ate (he was fine).

[Mocha and Whiteout]

It’s mostly different sodium compounds in the soap. They seem to be fine. They haven’t been lethargic or anything unusual so I’m guessing they’re ok. I’ll remember about the hotline though, that could be useful some day. (Hopefully I’ll never have to call it though!)

[yeti218]

Glad they're okay!