Possible tyzzers disease

[Nat51]

I think one of my gerbils has tyzzers disease but I’m not entirely sure. The gerbil that is sick is Bruno and he’s 1 yr old, he’s not too tame and likes to hide but a couple of days ago I noticed that he seemed a bit skinny. He has always been on the smaller size though so it was had to notice especially since he loves to hide. And he also seems to have that hunched appearance. He’s been a bit lethargic and his poops though are solid no evidence of diarrhea. The vet doesn’t have any appointments available until a week and a half from now and the emergency appointments are really hard to get. I was wondering if there anything that I can give him that would help him. He is in a separate tank away from the other gerbil. Any advice is welcome thanks.

[LilyandDaisy]

Hello,

Tyzzer's disease is quite rare really so it's unlikely to be that, especially if he doesn't have diarrhoea. The symptoms you describe, lethargy, weight loss, hunched posture, are very general symptoms that can be seen with almost any illness.

Until you can get him to a vet you can do some gerbil first aid:
- Warmth - if you have a heating pad, put it under or against one end of the tank, or alternatively a hot water bottle. Make sure he always has a cool area to retreat to.
- Food - he might not feel much like eating but try to get something into him if you can. Try him with a variety of different foods. In particular try pureed fruits, fruity baby foods, apple sauce or similar so that he gets fluids and sugar in one go.
- Water - hold the water bottle to his mouth every couple of hours to see if will drink. If he won't, and he's also not eating any wet foods, you can give him water from a needleless syringe but be very careful and go very slowly so you don't get water in his lungs.

I would try again to get an emergency appointment. Tell them you think he's in pain. A hunched posture can indicate pain and a decent vet won't leave an animal in potential pain.

Personally I would keep him with his tankmate because unless the gerbils are new or you have recently brought new animals into the house, this is unlikely to be a contagious illness. If they've only been apart a few hours you can put them back together but watch them closely for a few hours or until you see them settle down to sleep together. If it's been longer than that you might need to use the split cage method to reintroduce them and you'll need to wait until Bruno is well for that.

[Markpd]

- Food - he might not feel much like eating but try to get something into him if you can.

Nat51
Just to be sure you don't misunderstand that sentence, L&D isn't talking about force feeding him, but something he likes so much that he (hopefully) can't resist .