If a gerbil dies - should you show their body to their mate?

[yeti218]

Morbid question but it's been on my mind because I've seen this sort of thing referenced on here at times. I think if a gerbil dies in their cage then the cagemate probably knows about it before the owner does. But in the event that a gerbil needs to be put to sleep - do you bring their body to show their mate after so their mate knows? is that more upsetting to the remaining gerbil than just having their friend disappear? Should you bring both gerbils to the vet - like is having their friend there for that last ride enough of a comfort that it's worth the stress to the remaining gerbil? I'd be interested to hear some experienced keepers thought on this. 

I'm going to need to make some of these decisions soon because I have 2 senior gerbils, Chicken & Shark, estimated to be around 3.5 years old. Chicken still appears to be in good health, but his brother Shark has been losing weight slowly but steadily for 6 months and now seems to have some kind of limp or mobility issue, and is a bit unsteady when he tries to stand up tall. Shark has been to the vet who said he has some muscle loss and his front teeth are wearing a little unevenly (he's still eating normally). Other than that she couldn't find anything and said he seemed to have full range of motion in all his joints and no signs of pain. He's still very active for the time being. 

Here's a photo of the 2 of them from a few months ago. Chickens the big potato and Shark is the smaller potato. Chickens always been a very enthusiastic eater and weighed more than his brother. 

[LilyandDaisy]

I have done this if the gerbil died very recently (i.e a few minutes ago) and the other gerbil didn't see it happen. For example in cases where the gerbil died in my hands or in another part of the enclosure when I was arround. I find if it's within the first few minutes they appear to recognise their tankmate and may lick the face a bit. I'm not sure if it helps to show them the body or not but I do it anyway because I don't think it can hurt and there is this instinctive urge to help them understand what happened rather than their tankmate just disappearing. I only let them see the body for a minute or two before taking it away again, so that the other gerbil doesn't feel the need to start cleaning it up, if you know what I mean.

Once the body has started to stiffen, which happens very quickly, they don't seem to react to it though. I expect the scents change pretty quickly and it's no longer meaningful to them. If the gerbil has been put to sleep at the vets, I find it's too late by the time I get home to show the body to their tankmate and expect any reaction.

As for taking both gerbils to the vet, it might be a comfort having their friend with them for that last journey (it's hard to say how much, not being gerbils), but remember to bring two carriers. The vet will probably want to keep the gerbil being put to sleep in their carrier while they do the first stage of euthanasia which is giving them a sedative gas. So you would need to have another carrier with you to put the other gerbil into.

[mygerbilprince]

Ugh, this thread is making me sad. Whenever I've had my gerbils put to sleep, the vet puts them in a sealed box. I find it too emotionally taxing to open the box to see the body, it's just not something I can handle. For that reason, I don't show them the body.

If you think about it, in the wild the most common reason for a gerbil's companion to disappear is death. So I imagine they assume their friend is dead after a few days. I don't think they could imagine anything else happening, since they didn't fight, and their friend didn't come back.

Chicken and Shark are adorable. I love round gerbils. Nothing wrong with being a round gerbil, especially in old age when the extra weight can be helpful.

[catnut]

when my last gerbil passed, i took him to the vets to be put down but he passed just as i got to the door, i wished i had stayed home but he was struggling and they can linger sometimes. Anyway, they offered for the vet tech to try cpr and of course he was gone and when they brought him back in, they put in a towel but didn't cover him so it was shocking, even though they brought him for me to see and decide what to do-cremate or take home, which i decided to do, even though that was hard as he was no longer breathing, i wanted him near me as i couldn't afford to cremate and get his ashes back (over $100 to do an individual cremation). They didn't charge me for anything and sent me a card but not sure i should've taken him.

[mygerbilprince]

catnut I'm so sorry to hear your story about your gerbil. There was no way you could've known he would pass so quickly, you just did your best to end his suffering as quickly as possible. You're absolutely right, it can linger.


If it helps at all, before my gerbil passed he was obviously very ill (it came out of the blue), but none of the vets were open so I set him up in a temporary home away from his cagemate until the morning. Part of me hoped he would fall asleep then pass away in the house so he didn't have to go through the stress of being brought to the vet. Plus, even though I'd separated him from his mate in fear that he could be contagious, I figured that at least being nearby and in a slightly familiar environment would be comforting. I was really sad to find him alive the next morning, and cried the whole way to the vet. So moral of the story, gerbils put up a fight in their last moments, and there's really no way to know when they won't be able to fight anymore.

It could've been something about the environment that triggered your gerbil to pass, and if you had stayed at home he could've suffered for much longer. Even if his passing wasn't as peaceful as you hoped, you did your best to keep him from suffering. I still dwell on the decision I made to euthanize my aforementioned gerbil when they gave me an option to possibly save him. But it involved poking and prodding constantly just to keep him alive in his miserable state. There wasn't even a good chance he would survive. But I still wonder whether maybe, just maybe, he could've made it. He was a young gerbil, it really was too soon for him to go. It just wasn't humane to let him suffer like that. I think its good that your gerbil died in the comfort of his owner and protector. Maybe he knew what was going to happen, and chose to pass when he was still in your hands. I hope any of this can bring you some peace. Sending love your way <3

[yeti218]

Thanks everyone for your replies. I appreciate everyone's perspective and thanks for sharing your experiences.

don't beat yourself up catnut, though some animals pass quickly, many do not so taking an animal to the vet in that situation is a pretty safe bet.

[Markpd]

Sorry for a late reply, I just don't seem to have much time for forums atm .

After I found Avon had died (and I don't think he'd died long before I got in, as he was still somewhat warm) I made a rather futile attempt to revive him for a few minutes, after that I presented his body to Blake (theory being, that Blake would understand that he was dead and hadn't been eaten by some unknown predator, and so hopefully wouldn't 'freak out'). Blake sniffed him for a bit, then washed his face for a bit, and then walked off, and he seemed fine after that.
It was interesting that he showed some care, as they'd been separated (by a mesh divider) for well over a year due to declanning in a big way (although they did very occasionally wash each other through the mesh later on).

I really regret what Blake went through in his last day though, poor little fella suffered terribly , I really regret not having him put down before he was gasping for breath (squeaking quite loudly breathing in and out ) over that last evening, (and as it turned out) then having a heart attack .
He went down hill really fast from first falling ill, as I posted here I found him on Feb 14th really listless and sluggish (he'd been just fine until then), I booked him into the vets the next day, but by a bad stroke of luck the usual vet who has some gerbil experience (and experience with other rodents) wasn't about. Anyway, I took him into the vets and she thought he'd either got a delayed infection from surgery (for an SGT) a few weeks earlier, or had lung cancer (turned out to be the later after a post mortem).
That afternoon he wasn't too bad, so we decided to book him in the next day for an x-ray and make a decision based on that.
So I took him home, but then he went downhill really fast, after I'd washed and had dinner I found him in the corner of the sandpen* (he'd moved away from the heat mat) panting and squeaking heavily, I picked him up and he was ice cold! , I was very distraught at that point, but I cupped him in my hands to warm him up for a several minutes (the little bugger still had some fight in him as he briefly tried to escape at first! He didn't like to be held normally), that was somewhere between 9-10, and I took him to my dad's and step mum's place about an hour later. He barely made it passed midnight my step mum told me (my step mum and dad live near the vets, she was going to take him in whilst I was working).
Although he went downhill and passed very fast that evening, I wished I could've known how quickly he was going to deteriorate and had him put down that afternoon, so that he didn't suffer the end of that day .
I wonder if the usual vet would've known to do that, but who knows. Perhaps it wouldn't have been obvious enough for any vet to see, perhaps if I'm in that situation again I'll arrange an x ray sooner...

*Note, bad idea to keep an ill gerbil on sand! (I later moved him to the sparsely bedded spare tank).

[yeti218]

very sorry to hear about blake Markpd

[tanzanyte]

I have done this every time. Some of our gerbils have been euthanised at the vets but I figured for closure and like Mark mentioned, to hopefully stop them freaking out that they’ve been eaten by a predator.
Mymble actually started biting at Little My’s leg, which looked like she was trying to get her to stir rather than eating her. She had just passed away a few minutes from our house on the way to the vet so we turned around and put her straight in the cage as soon as we got home.
The others were definitely met with indifference. A quick sniff and then move on.
Max was with Pepsi on the way back from the vets. He is still grieving though months later.
It’s a tough call but I know from experience with dogs when we took our greyhound to be put to sleep our other dog pined for months. She lost all joy in living and it was only when we moved house that she changed. I often wondered if it was as much to do with not knowing what had happened to her.
It has always made me wonder whether a bedding change and move around helps but I’ve never been able to do that quickly as I’m too distraught myself.

[tanzanyte]

Also forgot to say Shark and Chicken are the cutest! We call Max our little potato (same colouring) and he’s been as chunky as chicken, although he’s slimmed down a little now.