rhoma
Warbling Degu
Posts: 34
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Post by rhoma on May 23, 2015 11:56:10 GMT
Well, it's good news that his airways are improving. Keep watching him, hopefully he will start eating nuggets and hay again soon when he is sure they don't have medicine on. Do you have any dried dandelion herb mix type thing to tempt him if he is looking for fibrous type food? Concentrate on getting the baytril into him, it's more important than the metacam. Try putting it on something strong smelling or something he can't resist, like nut or a little bit of peanut butter, or make a tasty mash of seeds and peanut butter or baby food, just experiment. I actually went out and bought some of that half an hour ago, or something similar anyway. It's sugar free, and has a lot of different dried herbs/fruits/flowers and straw. It also smells strongly of hay and natural things whatever the smell is, so I have had some luck getting some Baytril into him as he can't smell it. Also, do you know why a degu would bury food? I have him a nugget, he took it, ran away, dug a hole and stuck the nugget under and re covered it. He's done this before so it's not a health related question, but I'm just curious as to why he does this sometimes. I thought degus didn't store food.
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Post by moletteuk on May 23, 2015 16:38:30 GMT
Just check what fruits are in the mix, anything other than the odd rosehip or hawthorn berry isn't really suitable. Most degus will bury food, they absolutely do store food! Any surplus they hide so that their cagemates won't just eat it all. It can be quite funny because let's just say some degus are better at hiding it than others. I love the little pat down at the end Just watch for any new patterns if he is storing things he wouldn't normally store, it can be a sign of teeth issues, but it could just be that he is off his food a little with the medication and all.
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rhoma
Warbling Degu
Posts: 34
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Post by rhoma on May 23, 2015 20:40:19 GMT
Just check what fruits are in the mix, anything other than the odd rosehip or hawthorn berry isn't really suitable. Most degus will bury food, they absolutely do store food! Any surplus they hide so that their cagemates won't just eat it all. It can be quite funny because let's just say some degus are better at hiding it than others. I love the little pat down at the end Just watch for any new patterns if he is storing things he wouldn't normally store, it can be a sign of teeth issues, but it could just be that he is off his food a little with the medication and all. I'm pretty sure it's just the odd rosehip. I will look out for any patterns, definitely. The patting down is adorable. Although, he does look annoyed when I have to unbury his food. He decided to bury one of his antibiotic covered bits of food and then decided to sit there,on top of it. It was kind of obvious where it was due to the fact the substrate was a lot deeper in one area!
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Post by uglibug on May 24, 2015 6:41:52 GMT
We got a bit naughty when we tried to give ours meds; we put it on a quarter of a shreddie. I know they're not allowd thrm because of the sugar but they snaffled it up because it was sweet and we figured once a day for a couple of days is better than not getting the meds.
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rhoma
Warbling Degu
Posts: 34
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Post by rhoma on May 24, 2015 8:39:04 GMT
I agree with you there. Antibiotics are more important than worrying about a small bit of sugar. I guess it's just important to be extra strict with their diet afterwards on sugar levels after.
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rhoma
Warbling Degu
Posts: 34
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Post by rhoma on May 24, 2015 13:59:27 GMT
This morning I got a selection of foods and tried them with him. He's eating now- but the only food he will touch w/ medication is the digestives! He has one piece of digestive- very small, soaked in antibiotic. I know the digestive is bad, sugar and all, but I was getting extremely desperate. I'm trying to find an alternative food, but this is the only food that tastes okay with medication in his mind. However, I've always been strict with sugar and he's never had much. The fact he hates anything remotely wet/soggy/soft has meant that the majority of his diet consists of forage, nuggets and hay normally. I've bought some sunflower seeds, just in case he decides to be fussy again. They're high in fat, but he loves them, so I'll give him one or two if I feel he might not be eating enough. He's had two today. I'm going out this evening, so I'll have to leave the degus for a bit. I've left some forage, pellets and hay. So he's got a wide variety.
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Post by moletteuk on May 24, 2015 14:55:53 GMT
LOL well, it's not something I would recommend but it's only for a couple more days and I think it's more important to finish the course of antibiotics. Just keep an eye out that he isn't going hyper and then crashing from the sugar or drinking more than normal. If you have a look at our nutrition charts you will find more info and ideas for diet supplements deguworld.proboards.com/thread/15602/vegetable-seed-nut-nutrition-charts We recommend a mix of oil seeds including some high calcium seeds as a general supplement to the diet, you can buy a couple of mixes ready made from Ratrations or Hansemanns in Germany (if you also interested in forage suppliers) or make up your own from supermarkets, health food shops, spice shops.
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rhoma
Warbling Degu
Posts: 34
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Post by rhoma on May 25, 2015 22:14:12 GMT
I know, I'll just be very strict with him afterwards. xD I'd never dream of giving any of my pets digestives in normal circumstances. I am taking a look at the forage food from Germany, and I'm definitely going to make some changes to his diet. I'm just waiting to see if he's okay first, I need him to be on a settled diet before I change it up again. And right now, digestives and all, it's not too settled! He's still sneezing. Wheezing is almost gone, so's clicking noise and he no longer heavily breathes when picked up. However, when the course is over I'm looking into getting an antibiotic injection just to finish things up. And possibly a vitamin infection.
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Post by deguconvert on May 26, 2015 16:35:41 GMT
So glad he is improving!! I like the idea of the injections, just to make sure it is all dealt with.
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rhoma
Warbling Degu
Posts: 34
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Post by rhoma on May 26, 2015 23:31:24 GMT
So glad he is improving!! I like the idea of the injections, just to make sure it is all dealt with. Thank you. No doubt he'll hate it, but it will clear everything up, hopefully.
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Post by moletteuk on May 27, 2015 11:22:02 GMT
The antibiotic injection can be a really good way to start antibiotic treatment, it's a good way to get a good dose into them right away and bypasses the upset to the stomach of oral antibiotics. I would speak to the vet and see whether they want to just extend the oral antibiotics for a few more days or if they think the injection is worthwhile. I'm not that sure about vitamin injections, I always think it's something they do when they don't know what else to do I haven't ordered yet because I'm well stocked up, but the Hansemann's shop looks really good to me, you can get everything you could want there (seeds, so many types of forage, cobs, dried veg, flowers) and the postage is no worse than Ratrations.
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