|
|
Post by joewood on Oct 20, 2015 15:51:09 GMT
Help My 1 year old Degu Ren was fine last night. he would come and play and was eating fine. This morning he seemed fine but was on his own, by 12pm he was quieter than usual and dident come to the cage door as he normally does. I took him out to see what was up and he was clearly not himself? This also happened a couple of weeks ago with2 of his brothers. We recued them from someone who couldent keep them any more. They both seemed fine but once they looked a little peaky they passed within hrs? Whats going on. Im so devo. I Love these likkle guys. They have apple wood in their cage and cardbourds but nothing that i can think that could hurt them? Could it be the monkey nuts? Their no real sign that their ill no runny nose nothing? They just became a little off for a couple hrs then dead? anybody had anyexperiance of this? Ive rushed Ren to the vets and hes hypothermic. currently in an incubator. I hope hes ok. The house is always at a steady 23c ? Vet recons they sometimes try and go into hybernation. Poor likkle bugger.
|
|
|
|
Post by yasmin on Oct 20, 2015 16:01:01 GMT
 OMG, my sincere condolences.  How old do you think they were? How long did you have them? Doesn't sound like a teeth issue or an infection. Also does not sound like a bloating issue either. Perhaps they both had an issue with a vital organ, like the heart? Don't really know. I have never had this happen to any of my degus before; the fact that your little fellas did not die both at the same time, and the fact that they showed no other symptoms in the days leading up to their passing, makes it seem that they may each have passed away from natural causes.
|
|
|
|
Post by uglibug on Oct 20, 2015 16:12:05 GMT
So sorry for your loss. It certainly seems like it was unpreventable, probably natural causes. We lost one of our girls suddenly; at 11pm when we went to bed everyone was fine, came and had a bedtime treat and fusses, when we got up in the morning she was lying on the floor of the cage having passed away in the night. We also are not sure what happened, we think possibly a heart attack, but rest assured there was almost certainly nothing you could have done to prevent it.
|
|
|
|
Post by joewood on Oct 20, 2015 16:58:15 GMT
Sorry, he is still alive. currently at the vets in an incubator. Two of his brothers passed a couple weeks ago. Hope he makes it he's part of the fam now. Their amazing likke guys. ive just built them an out door cage $metres long so they can dig and play naturaly with a pipe that comes into the house. They live in the house currently.Thinking twice about letting them outside now? i wasnt going to let them use the outdoor cage till spring. Ive just got my fingers crossed at the moment. |
|
|
|
Post by moletteuk on Oct 20, 2015 17:38:51 GMT
I'm sorry for your losses, I hope this little guy makes it.
Have you had a good look around just to check they haven't got hold of anything they shouldn't, pulled something into the cage like bits of a toxic houseplant, or eaten anything off the floor, any chemicals, anything like that?
Animal grade peanuts can sometimes have a toxic mould on them, but human grade ones should be OK.
They are normally fine with temperatures between 17 and 24C and higher and lower than that for shorter periods.
|
|
|
|
Post by joewood on Oct 20, 2015 17:55:17 GMT
No cant think of anything. only thing i could think of was i put a couple little cardbourd boxes in their which had usual print on them. could be paint? Hes in for the night now see if he's ok tommoz? Cant think what it is. Vet recons it may be metabolic? trying to go into hybernation early? After his brothers passed i moved them from a wooden cage as they were chewing it to peices and i thought that it may be toxins in the wood. so i built a cage from metal for them just incase. ? Ineed to find out what it is, its really doing my sweade in. Stimpy can't be on his own and i was thinking of getting a couple babys but untill i find out what it is? ? Thanks guys any who i shall see how he is tommorow. Praying he gets better. |
|
|
|
Post by winic1 on Oct 20, 2015 19:37:47 GMT
Are you sure this vet knows much about degus?
Everything I can find says they do not hibernate.
23 C is fine for them, actually at the warmer end of their comfort range. Where they live in the wild it is not normally very much warmer.
Your vet saying the degu may have been trying to hibernate due to the temperature sounds like he's mixed up degus with pet hedgehogs, who will go into hibernation if they are kept at temps below around 23C, because they need a higher temp range.
Let's go through everything:
What do you feed them, regular food, treats, and how often?
What is in their cage that he may have chewed on or been exposed to?
What about your house, does anyone smoke, use hairspray, bug spray, overheat a teflon cooking pan, stuff like that? Being so much smaller than us, fumes will affect a degu long before they would make us sick.
What kind of wood have they been chewing on?
Think of everything you can tell us, IF it is anything in their environment, maybe we can help you figure it out. It could, however, also be bad genetics from being inbred or carelessly bred, since you rescued them from someone else, perhaps they just had a bad start, and no matter how well you've taken care of them, it's just not your fault.
|
|
|
|
Post by bouncy on Oct 20, 2015 22:13:36 GMT
Poor little things! Got my fingers crossed for Ren :
Him feeling chilly (or hypothermic says the vet) suggests his body thinks there's a serious issue, and has pulled all the blood away from his extremities to his core, similar to how our bodies react to shock. Do you have any other pets that may have scared them whilst you're out?
|
|
|
|
Post by deguconvert on Oct 21, 2015 3:15:38 GMT
What have you used to clean the cage? What kinds of wood have they had access to?
|
|
|
|
Post by Bexi87 on Oct 21, 2015 16:37:05 GMT
It might be extreme but have you got a carbon monoxide alarm? Just thinking even the slightest leak could cause a problem for little animals.
|
|
|
|
Post by yasmin on Oct 21, 2015 22:11:02 GMT
How is Ren doing today?
|
|
|
|
Post by joewood on Oct 22, 2015 9:37:17 GMT
Sorry he died yesterday night at the vets.Totally gutted, what ever it is its serious thats 3 now in as many weeks. Food wise pets at home food. Occasional treat which were monkey nuts. I do put in slice cucumber and carrot just a little fresh food. I wasputting inhay but stopped two weeksago incase it was something in the hay. i made them a new cage out of metal as they chewed theirlast gage which was wood and i was worried that it may have been toxins in the wood. They have a few hammocks that i made but cant be them. House temperature is allways warm as my wifes never happy unless the fule bill is more than £150 month. So defo not the cold. I have two children that are 9 and 14 and very gental around them. Noload bangs in the house. I have a rescue cat that adopted us. she was very ill when we took her on and is very old. Shes never interested in them too old and tired bless her. Their was anouther cat that kept sneeking in the house that could have scared her. The upper layers of Rens home is made out of thickplywood? But they have never chewed this. They liketoilet roll tubes so we put the odd one into play with. 3 peices of apple wood that i got from an old orchard, but i saw on here to cook it and dry it for some time. I cleaned off all of the bark so their was no fungas ect. the only unnatural thing that i had in their was a wiskers box that had print on. But looing at the box he haddent chewed that. Im Stumped. It may be genetic? Stimpys still lively as ever and ive binned the nuts just incase their a dodgy batch. All three were fine then seemed weak, so i seperated them and within hrs were dead. Cleaning wise we did clean out their cage thoroghly but with no chemicals. then they started to fight abit and i read on here about their urine so my wife only clean a 3rd of their cage at a time but with no chemicals. We dont spray air freshener near them or anything else. I have been unwell with flue for over two weeks but surly cannot pass it on? What ever it is scary as when it comes on their gone in hrs and so far none have pulled through. Im staring to think that my home has Dagu Ebola? Ive still got to go pick him up from the vets today i couldent do it yesterday. ill see what he says. But like someone said i dont think that the vet has had much experiance of treating Degus as the Nurse was asking me what it was??? so dident sound like they get many in surgury. RIP little Ren!.
|
|
|
|
Post by moletteuk on Oct 22, 2015 9:46:36 GMT
I'm very sorry.
It really doesn't sound like you have done anything wrong, and it really comes across that you have been wracking your brains to think of things. Cases like this do crop up and it is perfectly possible that there was some sort of invisible genetic issue, or an invisible disease that you couldn't do anything about.
Do you have any degus left? This is a delicate subject, but if you do, it could be worth considering a post mortem examination to see if they can discover the problem, but you would need a good vet to make this worth while.
RIP Ren x
|
|
|
|
Post by winic1 on Oct 22, 2015 13:53:43 GMT
So very sorry.
It sounds like you have been taking excellent care of them. If it was something that got put in the cage or fed to them, it would seem that they all would get sick all at once, right away.
Do you have just one left, or more? This could possibly some illness they were carrying when you got them, or it could just be bad genes.
Just in case, I would hold off on getting any new degus for a while, make sure it isn't some kind of illness lurking with the others that could be passed on to the new youngsters. If all goes well for a while then assume it's safe to add more.
It's so sad to lose one of these wonderful little guys. So very sorry.
|
|
|
|
Post by bouncy on Oct 22, 2015 19:26:00 GMT
Poor little Ren  I think it's worth finding an experienced vet, tell them what's happened, and asking them to give your remaining googoo a quick check to cover all the obvious bases. Does your cat go outside? Is it possible it or the kids could have inadvertently brought something back in on their shoes/hands/paws? |
|
|
|
Post by deguconvert on Oct 22, 2015 20:31:37 GMT
I am so, so very sorry!! RIP Ren.
|
|
OMG, my sincere condolences. 
