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Post by uglibug on May 13, 2016 13:34:18 GMT
Our old boy Mater has been slowly gaining weight over the past few weeks and is now a whopping 340g!! Should we try and limit how much he is eating, if that's even possible, or should we disturb him a bit more and encourage him to get more exercise. Treats have been cut right down and he doesn't seem to be eating excessively so other than giving him the occasional prod to get him out and about and moving around, is there anything else we should be doing? I'm all for letting him enjoy his twilight years but I'm also worried about his weight affecting his health.
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Post by deguconvert on May 13, 2016 15:06:51 GMT
I'm not sure what to suggest, lol! Can you tell us what he eats in general?
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Post by uglibug on May 13, 2016 16:32:11 GMT
They have unlimited access to nuggets and hay (although they don't seem to be eating more than they used to), they get a good handful of forage each day, a seed mix once a week and a nut in shell once a month. Other treats are given by hand, but we have cut his treats right back to two a day. He just seems to want to sleep half the day away, he gets up, has a treat, then just sprawls out. He only seems to move to eat, drink or when we open the doors for them. Even during free run time he just has a quick mooch round, then goes to sleep on hubby's head. He's turned into a right lazy sausage!!!!
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Post by bouncy on May 13, 2016 18:39:01 GMT
Metabolism slows as we age, because we're no longer growing or developing. Although Mater is eating the same as before, he no longer needs all that energy intake, especially as he's also not on the go as much. He's likely to continue gaining (albeit at a slower rate without treats), unless you reduce portion sizes slightly
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Post by moletteuk on May 13, 2016 19:51:22 GMT
What kind of scale has the increase been on over time, have you got records over the last few months or more?
It always comes down to reducing food or increasing exercise or both, so it's a case of working out which is most acheivable.
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Post by sarahraisin on May 13, 2016 20:41:47 GMT
They say between 5-10grams of food per degu so may limit how much of that he can have and just provide lots of hay! looks like hes being a typical man haha! very happy to laze around! Maybe create a sort of assort course for him when he comes out or put him in a different room so it becomes exciting again for him as he may be bored. If they weight gain is significant and hes drinking a lot of water maybe take him to the vets for a once over to get peace of mind
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Post by uglibug on May 13, 2016 21:01:03 GMT
He's always been a big goo, around 300g, but he's been steadily gaining since October. We put it down to a winter weight gain to start with, but it's not going down again. In October he was 307g, November 313g, December 317g, January 324g, February 329g, March 332g, April 337g and this month up to 340g. Will invest in some new toys, maybe see if we can find something to get his attention and get him moving about more, the weather here has been quite humid lately, so none of our crew are bouncing off the walls atm.
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Post by moletteuk on May 16, 2016 16:12:50 GMT
Hopefully his appetite will slow down a little with the warmer weather, and perhaps the odd prod in the evenings will get him moving enough to lose a few grams. I think in the context of his autumn weight and the gradual increase, it's not too alarming, it's obviously not ideal, but winter weight gain is a thing that some of us do notice. Have you seen it in your degus before?
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Post by uglibug on May 16, 2016 18:44:11 GMT
Yes, all our crew put on a few grams in autumn/winter and get nice fluffy coats (we have very old, very expensive to run, storage heaters so they don't get used much). The difference between Mater and the others is that they have shed their winter weight and his is still going up.
Have ordered a saucer wheel for them from a local pet store so will try and get him interested in that, thinking maybe being a senior he may be having back pain? So a saucer might be easier for him. He seems to have taken a fancy to some apple wood blocks that we got, so have put one on each floor to try and get him moving.
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Post by moletteuk on May 16, 2016 19:25:13 GMT
Ah OK, I see the increased concern from the others starting to lose the weight and Mater still going up.
Did the vet say much about his general condition, did you talk about possible back pain? I wonder if there is enough reduction of activity or reason to suspect pain to warrant trying him on metacam for a few days to see if it livens him up at all?
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soremi
Foraging Degu
Posts: 109
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Post by soremi on May 16, 2016 19:43:00 GMT
In her last months Georgia was a sleep type too but she was always happily ran to me (she was a very social degu to humans) so to made her more active I was taking her to ran on me and my boyfriend, turns out she really loved to run over keyboard, the old type with high keys. I also just take her in some non-degu area(she was really slow and I just had to call her to come to me) and she started to be very active exploring new enviroment. Also I was taking her to family meetings because she really liked running through people laps, bite moustaches smell smokers (all my pets have that strange fetish to smokers) and if somebody wasn't interest in meeting her and didn't come to gave her honours she was squeaking at him and made angry degu noises When it was time to say goodbye and I carried her to her cage she was strongly protesting. But not every degu is social of course still a trying more human interaction might help if degu is not a super fast escaping type.
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Post by uglibug on May 16, 2016 23:19:41 GMT
His general condition was good, he's a little scruffy but it's just that time of year we think. His teeth look good, he was quite perky (he even peed on the poor vet, lol) and he is a little overweight, but not dangerously so atm. We have previously discussed the possibility of him having a touch of arthritis but not really talked about doing anything about it, if you see what I mean. Tbh, I hadn't really thought about that contributing to his increased lethargy, but if I'd got aches I suppose I'd try not to do too much either. I have some metacam left from an old injury so I will check that it's still in date and give the vet a ring and see if we should try giving him a small dose and see if he perks up any.
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Post by bouncy on May 16, 2016 23:29:25 GMT
Uglibug, when arthritis was suspected for Scaredygoo, we found that the standard Metacam dose didn't make any change, now he's on the much higher dose (three times stronger and twice a day) recommended by the specialist, it's made a substantial difference. He still has weakness, but he's out and about loads. Spidey also knows the pain has diminished, because he actually lets him leave the cage!
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Post by uglibug on May 17, 2016 19:06:59 GMT
Well, I'm going to pick up some fresh metacam tomorrow and we're going to try him on one drop each morning for a couple of weeks and see if it helps him get more mobile. If there's any improvement, even a little bit, then we know its a pain problem and we can look at adjusting the dose until we find the best for him. The vet is a bit wary of long term use but we decided between us that at his age, it's worth trying to make him as comfortable as possible, so we'll have a go and see what happens.
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Post by uglibug on May 20, 2016 17:59:35 GMT
Yippee!! Think it's doing something, Mater stood up on his back legs tonight, actually stood, not sat on his butt, that's the first time he's done that in ages!!
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Post by bouncy on May 21, 2016 14:26:57 GMT
That's excellent! It's such a nice warm and fuzzy feeling when you see a positive reaction to the meds! I welled up with Scaredygoo. Long may it continue!
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Post by deguconvert on May 22, 2016 19:38:21 GMT
WOO HOO!! Celebration!! So glad for you!
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Post by yasmin on May 23, 2016 2:32:54 GMT
That's wonderful.
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Post by moletteuk on May 23, 2016 18:53:24 GMT
Nice
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Post by uglibug on May 29, 2016 7:23:41 GMT
Success!! We weighed the goos this morning and Mater lost 0.2g!! OK, it's not a lot but at least he's going in the right direction.
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