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Post by peppey on Oct 16, 2015 22:35:56 GMT
Hello, I recently bought two 3 month old degus from pets at home as one of my two adult degus had sadly passed and it was weighing down on my lone degu. I decided to take the risk and buy from pets at home because I could not find any other degus local. When I recieved my degus they were incredibly friendly, jumped all over me, but I soon noticed fudge was rather skinny, and after a few days her health deteriorated. I noticed how slow fudge ate her food, and started to wonder about teeth problems, but she shows no other symptoms such as drooling and dropping food. Today when I got home from college I found fudge sitting deadly still at the bottom of the cage, I quickly picked her up and she was like a doll, letting you do anything to her, so I quickly ran downstairs and cuddled her, and syringed her mushy degu pellets I had sofened in some water, at first it was spilling out of her mouth and her breathing was shallow but she soon picked up, I honestly thought she was a goner. I had took her the vets 2 days before but the vet basically didnt know anything about degus, so it was pointless, the other two degus do not bully her by the way. Any ideas anyone?
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Post by bouncy on Oct 16, 2015 23:19:47 GMT
Whereabouts are you? I wonder if there's a specialist vet near you on the thread in this section? At least you managed to get some food into Fudge.  |
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Post by uglibug on Oct 17, 2015 7:44:03 GMT
Its good that she has had some food. It may also be worth getting a heat pad as malnourished she could have trouble maintaining her body temperature. See if you can get some critical care from your vet and definitely look for another vet to take a look at her, she could have spurs on her molars which can make it hard to eat and cause ulcers. If this is the case they would need to be filed off but tooth problems in a goo so young is unusual. It could also be a stress reaction so try and keep her quiet and relaxed, try offering mushed food from a saucer and see if she will eat that, but syringe feeding is better than nothing.
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Post by peppey on Oct 17, 2015 9:46:15 GMT
Whereabouts are you? I wonder if there's a specialist vet near you on the thread in this section? At least you managed to get some food into Fudge. I live in South Wales, the problem is I am a student and the college has messed up my money at the money so I have none. Luckily her health is looking so much better at the moment, so I hope it keeps improving until I can find a specialist to take her to. |
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Post by peppey on Oct 17, 2015 9:51:37 GMT
Its good that she has had some food. It may also be worth getting a heat pad as malnourished she could have trouble maintaining her body temperature. See if you can get some critical care from your vet and definitely look for another vet to take a look at her, she could have spurs on her molars which can make it hard to eat and cause ulcers. If this is the case they would need to be filed off but tooth problems in a goo so young is unusual. It could also be a stress reaction so try and keep her quiet and relaxed, try offering mushed food from a saucer and see if she will eat that, but syringe feeding is better than nothing. Yeah, I think the heat pad is a good idea. For now I have been cuddling her to keep her warm and filling up a fluffy hot water bottle that she cuddles to, it's just a pain because it needs changing every hour or two (I watch her carefully to make sure she don't start nibbling the actual water bottle). Thanks for the advice, I will definitely be looking into a vets that can help me. |
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Post by moletteuk on Oct 17, 2015 10:43:09 GMT
Check out our vet list deguworld.proboards.com/thread/15521/vet-guide?page=1 There is one specialist listed there but I think he is more for referrals of special cases. It's probably worth ringing round your local vets to find one with degu experience. Since Fudge is so young it is unlikey to be an issue with her molar teeth, but with her coming from Pets at Home I am suspicious that she could have mouth ulcers/ infection, we have had a couple of nasty cases of this in youngsters from PAH see this thread which also links to a previous case deguworld.proboards.com/thread/19203/great-start-ownership-opinions-advise Can see in her mouth at all, perhaps a glimpse of her tongue? Perhaps it is worth ringing the vet you saw a couple of days ago, ask if they looked in her mouth, tell them you have heard PAH have an issue with mouth ulcers, ask if they will give you some antibiotics to try. Here is dose info www.degutopia.co.uk/deguvetlist.htm It would obviously be better for her to see an experienced vet, but that might be difficult to achieve today, whereas a phonecall to the other vet could get her some medication right away. |
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Post by Bexi87 on Oct 17, 2015 17:54:39 GMT
Also, if she does have an infection or ulcers PaH should offer to pay for her treatment. May be worth ringing the store you got her from and tell them about the issues and see what they say?
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Post by animalmadchloe on Oct 18, 2015 20:14:22 GMT
You should wrap the bottle tightly in a tea towel and jam it in a shoe box! I do this and if it's tightly wrapped they usually don't nibble at it. I would only use warm water not boiled just incase!! heat pads r much safer though non toxic and no boilling water I'd say if your degu is anorexic looking there's clearly something going on that needs further investigation Amazon are doing snuggle safe heat pads on offer at rhe moment 15.00 posted I think from 22 pounds they are a good investment |
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Post by animalmadchloe on Oct 18, 2015 20:28:52 GMT
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Post by klbishop on Oct 18, 2015 21:40:07 GMT
if things get bad again, critical care from a vets can be useful. Ifs a liquidated meal, not suitable for regular food but can be really helpful in getting passed a bad period of health
good luck and hope she feels better soon x
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Post by deguconvert on Oct 19, 2015 2:17:11 GMT
I would keep offering the mashed foods, and also offer her porridge oats. The oats have dense calories and she is definitely needing those. Also don't be afraid to offer her nuts in tiny pieces, such as walnut, pecan, hazelnut, almond, Brazil, sunflower seeds, chia and hemp seeds.
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