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Post by angel on Nov 23, 2023 12:06:48 GMT -8
i attached a video link below of the behaviour i’m concerned about. i assume it’s normal for them to do this occasionally but the amount and frequency he does this is a little concerning to me, is something wrong with him? www.kapwing.com/videos/655fafe7dfeb4981a1d14f54 |
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Post by catnut on Nov 23, 2023 13:33:13 GMT -8
have you checked his teeth? does he do it only after eating? it could mean teeth are too long or something stuck. if too long, he will need to go to the vets for a trim. give him a treat he loves and see if he can eat it normally and then check mouth when not eating.
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Post by angel on Nov 23, 2023 16:53:17 GMT -8
maybe i should have replied to you in the other thread lol but i believe he’s having trouble eating because he seems to be skinnier than he was before. i posted a photo of his teeth in the other thread
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Post by TJ's Rodent Ranch on Nov 23, 2023 21:10:38 GMT -8
Hmm, it looks like his teeth might be overgrown to me, but I don't have a whole lot of experience in this area.
If you're able, then definitely a vet visit is a good idea.
If his teeth do turn out to be overgrown, a trim is a way to get it back to normal, but giving them lots of wood to chew can keep it down (cardboard just doesn't give much resistance) and I always give my gerbils lava/mineral rocks (made for gerbils) which can help keep their teeth down. I haven't had to deal with teeth issues so I speak mainly from book knowledge and not experience, so take this all with a grain of salt, that's just my input on it.
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Post by angel on Nov 24, 2023 20:20:54 GMT -8
Hmm, it looks like his teeth might be overgrown to me, but I don't have a whole lot of experience in this area. If you're able, then definitely a vet visit is a good idea. If his teeth do turn out to be overgrown, a trim is a way to get it back to normal, but giving them lots of wood to chew can keep it down (cardboard just doesn't give much resistance) and I always give my gerbils lava/mineral rocks (made for gerbils) which can help keep their teeth down. I haven't had to deal with teeth issues so I speak mainly from book knowledge and not experience, so take this all with a grain of salt, that's just my input on it. i did end up taking him to the vet and turns out his teeth were overgrown and infected 😣 i am now giving him metacam and antibiotics so hopefully they will heal and go back to normal! |
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Post by catnut on Nov 25, 2023 14:42:20 GMT -8
glad you were able to get him in quickly and hopefully he will feel better soon- just make sure he is actually eating and drinking so he doesn't lose too much weight. take care.
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Post by TJ's Rodent Ranch on Nov 26, 2023 19:53:34 GMT -8
I'm sorry to hear about that, but glad that he's on the mend. Again, yes just take lots of care of making sure he's eating and drinking. As long as the infection is under control, the most important thing to focus on now is making sure he doesn't get thin.
Best of luck to you two!
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Post by betty on Dec 3, 2023 9:05:46 GMT -8
How's he doing after the treatment?
Hopefully all doing well and gaining weight again...
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Post by angel on Dec 17, 2023 0:42:54 GMT -8
How's he doing after the treatment? Hopefully all doing well and gaining weight again... Thankfully his teeth grew back straight and he's back to eating his regular food! I haven't weighed him again but when the vet weighed him she said he was a normal weight, so he didn't lose much. I also kept him fat with pasta for the whole week while his teeth were growing back lol! They told me to finish his antibiotics, but there is so much left in the bottle... more than a month's worth, the instructions say to give it to him for 30 days and I've already been giving it to him for the last 3 weeks. Should I just continue for one more week then stop? If I finish the entire bottle like they said to do he's gonna be on it for another month which I really think is unnecessary considering that his teeth already look back to normal. What should I do? |
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Post by betty on Dec 17, 2023 7:30:17 GMT -8
Great news that we are possibly on the way back up. Phew. Always amazed at the power of medicine. And that pasta - was that just cooked plain white durum pasta pieces?
Antibiotics-wise - always finish the prescribed length of dose regardless of symptoms. So if your label on the meds says 'give for 30 days' - and your vet has confirmed the infection has gone - absolutely continue to give them for 30 days - no less. The length of dose is always about the bacteria themselves - not the illness. Sounds weird but there is a higher purpose.
We always need to give antibiotics for an extended period of time so that it has enough time to kill absolutely every last drop of baddies - otherwise the whole world is doomed - literally.
Only read the below if you want some science - this isn't specifically part of your answer Angel - just some reasoning behind things if anyone is interested:
Antibiotic resistance (bacteria that don't die when treated with antibiotics) is such a worry now for medicine because without antibiotics working, animals (and people) can't be treated for simple infections.
Sounds a bit heavy really for a weeks worth of a teeny gerbil's meds - but if anybody stops a course of antibiotics early - it possibly hasn't killed ALL the bugs - and those surviving bugs have then kind of been vaccinated against those antibiotics? Scary really because then if you have to use those same antibiotics again - they might not work. The infection might not be cured. And these vaccinated bacteria can move between people and animals unseen - as you don't always get ill from low levels of bacteria.
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Post by tanzanyte on Dec 17, 2023 12:18:22 GMT -8
Definitely listen to Betty and finish the course of antibiotics.
We have been treating an eye infection in my daughter and each time they have tried to lower the dose or change the meds the bacteria has come back and we’ve been back and forth at the hospital for months now. It’s scary and not worth any risk when it has the potential to affect other animals or people way beyond the life of your little one.
I am super pleased the teeth have come back in straight and it’s all ok. They are amazing animals really and providing they don’t lose too much weight don’t seem the worse for wear from it.
I might try Max with some cooked pasta. His teeth have come out for the third time (goodness knows what he does for it to happen) so he’s having lots of peas and blueberries and malt paste and chopped seeds and crushed food. Little monkeys know how to keep us on our toes that’s for sure!
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Post by angel on Dec 17, 2023 13:17:56 GMT -8
Definitely listen to Betty and finish the course of antibiotics. We have been treating an eye infection in my daughter and each time they have tried to lower the dose or change the meds the bacteria has come back and we’ve been back and forth at the hospital for months now. It’s scary and not worth any risk when it has the potential to affect other animals or people way beyond the life of your little one. I am super pleased the teeth have come back in straight and it’s all ok. They are amazing animals really and providing they don’t lose too much weight don’t seem the worse for wear from it. I might try Max with some cooked pasta. His teeth have come out for the third time (goodness knows what he does for it to happen) so he’s having lots of peas and blueberries and malt paste and chopped seeds and crushed food. Little monkeys know how to keep us on our toes that’s for sure! I’ll definitely finish them then! I just wasn’t sure if it was overkill because she seemed to have given me even more than a month’s worth of antibiotics. I only gave him my pasta because I didn’t have anything else on hand, I’m not sure if it would be a healthy treat for them. Mine definitely wasn’t healthy since it had butter on it but at the time I was just focused on making sure that he eats something. After that I switched to just pulverizing his regular food and giving that to him. |
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