Ill degu

[soremi]

Hi, my degu has been ill for long time, she sometimes get better but in general way she have some discharge from her eyes, she sleep a lot and need warm. First diagnosis was eye infection, she get eyedrops with antibiotic, it as better but still not as good as before ilness. After that she get oral antibiotic and anti-inflammatory liquid beacuse vet think that she got fistula under her tooth, but she can't see it in her mouth. Afther that she get probiotic. She was fine for two weeks, now I have to get her to vet again - and she get one more antibiotic plus probiotic, which get me worry. Is my vet know the diagnosis or only guess? Degu has little bit of discharge in eyes(white) sometimes from nose, but really small, need a lot of warm and to me her teeth are more yellow than orange. She eat a lot so it's no so bad I guess, but I think she has problem with chewing(but vet said teeth are fine). Any ideas what it is? Or what she need to get better? She like rosehip but only fresh, I try to give her dry but she don't like it. Maybe I suppose to soak it? I give her dry hawthorn berry which I know that degu can eat them and they have some vitamin c. Hope that it will help. Any ideas?

[Bexi87]

Has your vet been able to do a full examination of her mouth? It may be worth trying to sedate her to get a good look, she could have spurs that are affecting her ability to chew/eat .

[uglibug]

If your vet has had a good look and can't see a problem the next step would be an x-ray to check for overgrown roots pushing up into her nasal cavities. This would explain the discharge from her eyes and nose. If this is the problem then you can offer paliative care to keep her comfortable and well for as long as possible.

[soremi]

She have x-ray and vet get full exam but she didn't see anything wrong. She can eat, only slower than usual.

[moletteuk]

All the symptoms shout dental issues to me. It seems odd that nothing has shown up on xray, I would have thought that a fistula would show on an xray, but maybe not, maybe you could ask the vet to have another look at the xray or get a second opinion.

If the antibiotics have helped, then this suggests there is an infection, but perhaps a longer course of antibiotics is needed or it could be worth trying a different antibiotic.

Anti-inflammatories (metacam) also acts as a painkiller, it is most likely to only offer symptom relief, it is unlikely to help cure anything, likewise the probiotics won't cure anything, they can help the gut a little if you feed them at a different time of day to the antibiotic.

I would be tempted to phone the vet and see how confident they are with the diagnosis and see if they have any more treatment ideas, if you aren't happy after that perhaps you could try another vet or ask you vet if they have a specialist they could refer you to.


Teeth should be more orange than yellow in an adult degu, if the colour is pale this can indicate mineral deficiency. If you think this could be a problem then you can feed lots of forage and a selection of oil seeds including some high calcium ones like fennel, black cumin (nigella/kalwanji), dill, celery, coriander. It's good to have these as a regular part of the diet anyway, check out our feeding guide for more info deguworld.proboards.com/thread/16425/degu-feeding-guide

[soremi]

Yep, I know how anti-inflammatories work and they quite often prescribed when doctor or vet don't know the diagnosis in Poland. I wouldn't agree for anti-inflammatories if she hadn't prescribed antibiotics too. I thought that she know what she's doing and only want to relief pain with anti-inflammatory. But giving my degu antibiotic again in short period of time just doesn't seem right to me. She also didn't care when I said that my degu sneez a lot, she said that it is beacuse of heating season, but degu is sneezing from 2 months, even if without discharge every day that might be a part of diagnosis. Vet is a specialist of degu in my state, but maybe I try regular vet.

[bouncy]

Do you have any sources of dust or irritation near the degu home? It could be a combination of causes? I have one degu who gets a wet nose if he gets caught in a dusty air. He sat under where I was sawing tonight and, sure enough, when he came back, he had a bit of dust bath sand stuck to his nose.

I wonder if the second course of antibiotics is because the vet started with a broad spectrum drug, which wasn't effective enough? If this is the case, it's safe. I know humans are different, but my consultant recommended to me finishing the antibiotics before starting the probiotics, as it makes the antibiotics job harder. If prescribing probiotics, doctors often prescribe the antis first, to give the pros a good starting point.

[moletteuk]

I think you need to have some evidence that the antibiotics are improving things to continue medicating with them. Or if there is proof there is a fistula and there is only limited response to the antibiotics, then it would be preferable to try a different antibiotic.

Another idea to gather more information regarding the eyes, sneezing and sinuses linking everything would be to do a nasal sinus rinse, but this would involve another anaesthetic. They can collect the solution used to rinse the sinuses and then get a lab to analyse it, it can show infection cells or cancerous cells or inflammation markers.

[soremi]

Well, vet said that last improvement was after antibiotic, even I think that was after anti-inflammatory drug I am not a doctor. I talk to vet today and she said that we have to try antibiotic and if it won't work after week she will do another x-ray.
I don't think that it's a dust problem, my degu don't take bath often but she sneeze all time, hay is always source of dust, but she has been using it for long time, so I don't think that it is the problem.

EDITH
I decide to put my bathrobe to my degus playgrond when I go out and my boyfriend told me that they sleep in it so I cut it and give them part to nesting( which make my other degu extra happy, she always want to pull it to the cage) and I make outside nest with terrarium lamp above for extra warm. They love it and soon ill degu gets better but now one of they eye is smaller than other. Have no idea why but she look better, warming + antibiotic help I hope that vet would say that she is finally healthy.