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Post by peeps on Jul 5, 2021 5:41:21 GMT -8
Hi! I have to male gerbils who live in a split cage together and yesterday I noticed that one of them (named Odo) had some blood around the front of his eye. The eye itself looked perfectly fine so I guessed he had just cut a little spot on something. But this morning his eye is stuck shut and he also is still in bed so he might not be feeling good. Dose anybody know what might be up or what I should do?
-thanks for reading!
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Post by LilyandDaisy on Jul 5, 2021 6:24:04 GMT -8
Gerbils have a gland near their eye which produces a red substance called porphyrin. Sometimes when they're ill, stressed, allergic to something, or for reasons unknown to us, the gland overproduces porphyrin and it stains the surrounding fur red. I think if you can't find a scratch or cut it was more likely to be porphyrin around your gerbils eye, especially if dried red. Blood turns brown as it dries.
If the eye is very sticky from porphyrin it could get stuck shut, though older gerbils also often have sticky eyes in the morning without any porphyrin. It could be that he has something stuck in his eye which is causing irritation but since he's not behaving normally, it could also be that he's feeling unwell.
For the time being, you could try wiping his eye with a damp cloth. That often helps them open when they're stuck shut and then hopefully you'll be able to see if he has something in his eye. If he continues to seem unwell a vet visit would be a good idea.
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Post by Markpd on Jul 25, 2021 3:31:35 GMT -8
How's he doing peeps?
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Post by peeps on Dec 1, 2022 5:48:01 GMT -8
Wow thanks for the helpful reply! He is doing fine now! Also sorry I didn’t reply to this entail now, I must have forgotten that I never responded.
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Post by Markpd on Dec 18, 2022 15:36:40 GMT -8
Good to hear he's doing well now  Did the problem resolve itself? |
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