|
Post by cheesecakeyum on Mar 13, 2014 14:19:42 GMT
Hi, my degu Newton was not acting like himself yesterday, he was much more sleepy than usual and usually all three run over to the door when I open it, but he didn't do this and still isn't today. The other two are absolutely fine so I don't think it is food related, and they have not eaten anything new in their diet. Newton seems slower on his feet (he came out for a potter about once this morning, but was very slow and just slept on a branch, went on the spinning saucer but didn't move just spun round with the other two running on it, isn't jumping right - tends to crawl down branches instead...and he went back into his sleeping house and hasn't come out since . Last night he would take oats, seeds and millet out of my hand and continues to do so today, but refuses to take syringed water and has scratched all my hands with me trying, so I don't want to stress him out any more. There is water in a bowl clearly accessible near where he is and other bowls in other cage sections. He did sniff the bowl when he came out but didn't have any. The water is fresh and the other two have drunk from it no problems. I do use P@H foods and I see there's been issues with 'Natures Touch' but none of my other five degus (two in with Newton, other three separate cage) have any problems and I haven't bought any 'Natures Touch' - just degu pellets, Woodlands herbal forage & some chew twigs. I'm heading to the vets in 10 minutes but wanted to post on here in case you guys have any suggestions for me for when I get back. Oh and Newton is roughly 9 months old. Thank you.
|
|
|
Post by yasmin on Mar 13, 2014 15:15:35 GMT
Good that you are heading to the vet. When my degu Sean started acting like this it was because he had spurs on his teeth that needed to be removed.
Good luck at the vet. Please let us know how it goes.
|
|
|
Post by moletteuk on Mar 13, 2014 19:26:32 GMT
Hope the vet was helpful. How did it go?
|
|
|
Post by cheesecakeyum on Mar 14, 2014 8:30:51 GMT
The vet couldn't determine anything wrong with him (teeth are fine etc) and said it was likely to be a stomach upset that had put him off his food and drink and then as a result he felt even more unwell and then continued to not feel like eating or drinking. She said he felt dehydrated and didn't have any faeces in him, so she gave him a shot of Baytril (antibiotics) and then the nurse and I spent 20 minutes trying to get 5ml of a hydration food sachet down him and some water, but he's a tricky little fella to feed!!
They've given me Septrin (antibiotics) to take home as it tastes nicer to degus than Baytril apparently, some Ranitidine (which I can't remember what that does) and more hydration sachets with lots of syringes. Hopefully I'll be able to get some in him by myself and my ex is coming over to help too.
Just really worried cos one of my old degus, Dylan, went off his food and drink, deteriorated really rapidly and passed away within a day.. Newton seems better than that and is still marginally active and fighting me, which is good, but still, I'm an anxious mother!!
|
|
|
Post by cheesecakeyum on Mar 14, 2014 8:36:00 GMT
Google of Ranitidine reminds me that it's to settle the stomch.
|
|
|
Post by moletteuk on Mar 14, 2014 16:42:20 GMT
Yes, ranitidine reduces acid and can help with gas.
Did you get some Critical Care? This is usually the most helpful thing in getting the gut functioning again. The vet can give you some.
If he is still interested in eating oats and things like that, you could make up some sort of porridgy mix with water. Put a bit of whatever are his favourites in, like oats, oil seeds, chopped nuts, peanut butter. Add in some hydration stuff and /or Critical Care and preferably some crushed leaves like the dregs from a herb mix as some fibre will really help the gut. Experiment with different amounts of water and recipes.
|
|
|
Post by cheesecakeyum on Mar 14, 2014 17:02:59 GMT
No, I don't have any Critical Care, what is that? Is it a food sachet? - as they gave me "Recovery Plus, Advance liquid feed for recovering small herbivores" which the back says has a high level of dietary fibre in it. It's so hard to get anything in him though as he's got enough energy to wriggle around so that when I go to syringe him all I've got is his bottom in the air!! I've had to get friends round to help me as it's hard to do alone. I found this thread deguworld.proboards.com/thread/6023/recipe-food-entice-sick-degu which references a good recipe to entice a sick degu so I've bought some wholemeal flour and am just about to embark on a cooking mission. Thanks for your advice Moletteuk.
|
|
|
Post by cheesecakeyum on Mar 14, 2014 17:06:20 GMT
Also - he has pooed on me three times today, which I take as a good sign as it must mean he's getting stuff in him..? I've another vets appointment at 9.50am tomorrow morning as well so hopefully the vet can tell me he seems a bit better by then *fingers-crossed*.
|
|
|
Post by yasmin on Mar 14, 2014 18:08:08 GMT
Glad that he's pooing – that is a good sign. Hope he starts eating on his own soon. How is administering the Septrin going? I went to the vet with one of my degus, Lilac, yesterday too and she has been prescribed Baytril. Having trouble giving it to her – wondering if maybe I should ask my vet for Septrin. Hope he continues improve.
|
|
|
Post by cheesecakeyum on Mar 14, 2014 18:23:23 GMT
Septrin is like a banana-y smelling syrup, so smells/tastes nicer than your bog-standard antibiotic and is a bit thicker. The vet told me that it isn't licenced for use with rodents as Baytril is, but she professionally recommended it as she felt it was safe, more likely to help and get them to take it easier too. Her opinion was that it wasn't licenced due to the financial cost rather than any harm to small furries. I think the sugar content is higher, but I'm happy to give it to him as they never get anything sugary ever so a few times for ~one week shouldn't harm.
Newton hates being held still and doesn't like the syringe..especially now he's sussed what's going to happen each time and also cos he sometimes gets wet from it all down his front where he's not very cooperative. However, once the syringe is lodged between his teeth he appears quite happy to chew on the syringe whilst we slowly push 0.1ml at a time down into his mouth for him to swallow. The main problem is when the whole 1ml syringe is empty and it needs re-filling...getting him to take it again! If you've any helpful techniques for syringing I'd appreciate that?! I try to wrap him securely in a tea-towel to prevent fidgeting, but it's mediocre at best!
|
|
|
Post by yasmin on Mar 14, 2014 19:38:40 GMT
Right now I have banana-flavoured Baytril and Lilac won't go near it. I have tried syringing antibiotics into my degus including using the tea-towel method and find that more is spilled than is ingested.
What has worked in the past for me is a combination of the following:
First I just bring the syringe up to the degu (while he/she is in the cage) and sometimes they will bite the syringe long enough for me to squirt some of the antibiotic into them.
This seldom works a second time (though I still keep trying, just in case) so from there I move onto putting a drop of the meds onto a piece of puffed rice, a piece of their hard food (like a pea flake or dried carrot flake, which they love), or I open up a sunflower seed partially, put a drop in it and then feed that to them. The sunflower seed option works most of the time though I am not sure they get the full dose. (However, it is better than having half of it spilled onto the degu or on oneself, which happens to me when we try direct syringe feeding.)
My problem now is that Lilac turns away from the food at the very smell of the banana-flavoured baytril. The vet is special-ordering me peanut butter flavoured baytril (should get that by Tuesday) – thought I'd give that a try.
|
|
|
Post by moletteuk on Mar 14, 2014 20:25:30 GMT
The Recovery Plus food is very similar to Critical Care, so no need for Critical Care.
Sorry I don't have any suggestions for feeding the ABs. For the recovery food, you can put a little dollop on a leg or somewhere a bit annoying so that they lick it off, you probably won't need to do this if he is still eating some food though, you can just mix it in.
Septrin does contain some sugar, but I can't see that it would really be a problem in a short course, it must be a tiny amount.
|
|
|
Post by cheesecakeyum on Mar 15, 2014 13:24:34 GMT
Yasmin - Let me know how Lilac gets on and how the peanut butter flavour Baytril works out, that sounds like an ideal flavour! I made up the treats from the other post that I referenced and he's been eating those a bit - the recipe gave enough for two whole baking trays of 'balls' - took me forever to roll them all up!! Took Newton back to the vets today and we both agreed he seems a bit better..he's slightly more alert and he's gained 4g so more antibiotics and stomach stuff and hopefully he'll be ok. Thank you both for your replies, it's really nice to chat about it to other degu owners.
|
|
|
Post by ntg on Mar 15, 2014 13:33:10 GMT
I'm glad Newton's perked up cheesecakeyum, fingers crossed he continues to improve.
|
|
|
Post by cheesecakeyum on Mar 16, 2014 13:15:52 GMT
Hi, Newton is still better than originally when he was ill, but seems to have plateaued. And today my parents and I have noticed that his left eye appears to have a slight milky-ish film over it. I will ask the vet about it on Monday when I go back again(!), but any comments helpful. I will scroll through other sections of the boards now to see if other people have written about this too. Thank you.
|
|
|
Post by deguconvert on Mar 16, 2014 20:56:36 GMT
Is the milky film all over the whole eye, or is it limited to the pupil of the eye?
|
|
|
Post by moletteuk on Mar 17, 2014 11:52:19 GMT
Here is some info on cataracts deguworld.proboards.com/thread/9481/different-types-cataractsWe have had reports before of cloudiness that appears almost overnight and may disappear again. I don't know if it is an osmotic cataract appearing very suddenly or not. This could be the case with him being on high carb emergency food at the moment. On the assumption that it may be, I would try to get him off the grains and carbs (oats etc) and onto more fibrous slow release food as soon as possible, plants, leaves, grasses, herbs etc. This would include checking what brand of food he is on and selecting a grain free one too. Hope the vet can help.
|
|
|
Post by cheesecakeyum on Mar 17, 2014 16:38:16 GMT
Hi, thanks both. Newton's eye has got worse. It's not very white, just a slight white-ish film over the whole eye, looks just like a fine layer of gunk. It is also now protruding more than his normal right eye. The vet said that it is not a cataract as it's not white enough and looks different to that. She said that due to the protusion and the look of it it will need removing asap. She thinks there may be an absyss behind it, potentially a tooth problem, so whilst knocked out they will assess his back molars more too. Due to the protusion Newton hasn't been able to close his eye properly and it is ulcerated on the bottom half (dried out basically). His op is tomorrow. I'm taking him in for 8.30am and the operation will be sometime between 10am-2pm, so I can phone after 2pm and find out how it's gone. Very worried as I know he might not pull through Other than the deterioration of his left eye he does appear to be picking up a bit...I spotted him eating two degu pellets this morning and he's had a little trot on the wheel twice when the others haven't been on it. I hope the vet can help too.
|
|
|
Post by anita on Mar 17, 2014 18:02:11 GMT
Poor Newton he really has had a bad run of it hope his op goes ok will be thinking of you both.
|
|
|
Post by cheesecakeyum on Mar 18, 2014 20:30:20 GMT
Hi, Newton survived the op and I was able to take him home late afternoon. The vets said that it was a good, straight-forward op to remove the eye and that there was an abscess quite deep behind it, which they mostly drained (although the eye socket may still weep a bit in the next few days). Newton needs to continue his ABs and syringe feeds and hopefully with tlc he will come on leaps and bounds *fingers-crossed*. As he was on ABs before the op this will help to ward off any infection. Unfortunately he just needs to be kept separate from his cage-mates for a few days whilst his stitches and glue heal over a little more. I'll let you know how his health continues, but thank you for your support. I was so relieved when I called the vets at 2pm and they said he was ok, that I had a little cry!
|
|