Post by stevesue1969 on Sept 26, 2016 20:27:54 GMT
Now here is a tricky one that has 2 vets and myself very confused. I will try and break the problem down but please ask questions and help me solve my poor little Degu's breathing problem
3 weeks ago I came home from work Thelma sat fighting to breath and sneezing,(No nasal, eye or ear discharge). I rushed her straight to the vets and they gave her antibiotics but said she may not make it past the night. We drove 30 minuets home took her in doors and put her large carry cage on the sofa and let her settle a little before we moved her back to the main cage. I went outside with my partner for 10 minutes to have a "inappropriate word" and came back in and wow she was up and about stood upon here back legs wanting to know what's going on. Yes her breathing was no right but she was now very active and acting like she was getting better. In the morning her breathing was not good so she went back to the vets, we the had to give her batril and metacam for a week.
We have stopped all drugs to take a swab and her is what is so confusing. At night she seems to get back to her self and mornings she is ill even looks like she is about to pass away but some parts of the morning she can be very good then in a blink of an eye she is ill and struggling to breath. Some evening she can have big sneezing attacks but other evenings she is a hyper active little terror. We have worked out for sure her sand bath makes her sneeze so she has been stopped from having a bath until we sort the breathing out. We have changed to oxbow hay, we have changed her bedding deep cleaned her cage and the flat, we have dust extracted paper on the floors and she is in a very large mesh cage. (6ft high x 4ft wide x 2ft deep). Now here is the puzzle, when she comes out on the floor every night she sneezes but not a lot but looks about 90% well apart from her breathing and small sneezing. During the day if she is looking ill we take her out of her cage and put her into her large carry cage and she looks better in seconds and I mean seconds, if we take her out and put her back in the main cage she goes down hill within a minute. There is all the same bits in the small cage as there is in the large cage. I have now had her in the small cage for 4 hours and she is acting normal, very active (I know degus are very active but Thelma has always been super hyper active) only problem is a very small sneeze every now and again and her breathing is still a little bad but no where near as bad as when she is in the big cage.
My main cage is in the corner of the room and the small cage is in the middle of the room on our coffee table so could this be an air flow problem. We have 2 air purifiers going and when it gets warm we have air con going. She drinks ok and eats ok, she even eats and drinks when she is looking ill, she has not lost any weight.
Ok I hope someone can help Thelma
3 weeks ago I came home from work Thelma sat fighting to breath and sneezing,(No nasal, eye or ear discharge). I rushed her straight to the vets and they gave her antibiotics but said she may not make it past the night. We drove 30 minuets home took her in doors and put her large carry cage on the sofa and let her settle a little before we moved her back to the main cage. I went outside with my partner for 10 minutes to have a "inappropriate word" and came back in and wow she was up and about stood upon here back legs wanting to know what's going on. Yes her breathing was no right but she was now very active and acting like she was getting better. In the morning her breathing was not good so she went back to the vets, we the had to give her batril and metacam for a week.
We have stopped all drugs to take a swab and her is what is so confusing. At night she seems to get back to her self and mornings she is ill even looks like she is about to pass away but some parts of the morning she can be very good then in a blink of an eye she is ill and struggling to breath. Some evening she can have big sneezing attacks but other evenings she is a hyper active little terror. We have worked out for sure her sand bath makes her sneeze so she has been stopped from having a bath until we sort the breathing out. We have changed to oxbow hay, we have changed her bedding deep cleaned her cage and the flat, we have dust extracted paper on the floors and she is in a very large mesh cage. (6ft high x 4ft wide x 2ft deep). Now here is the puzzle, when she comes out on the floor every night she sneezes but not a lot but looks about 90% well apart from her breathing and small sneezing. During the day if she is looking ill we take her out of her cage and put her into her large carry cage and she looks better in seconds and I mean seconds, if we take her out and put her back in the main cage she goes down hill within a minute. There is all the same bits in the small cage as there is in the large cage. I have now had her in the small cage for 4 hours and she is acting normal, very active (I know degus are very active but Thelma has always been super hyper active) only problem is a very small sneeze every now and again and her breathing is still a little bad but no where near as bad as when she is in the big cage.
My main cage is in the corner of the room and the small cage is in the middle of the room on our coffee table so could this be an air flow problem. We have 2 air purifiers going and when it gets warm we have air con going. She drinks ok and eats ok, she even eats and drinks when she is looking ill, she has not lost any weight.
Ok I hope someone can help Thelma
If so, maybe worth taking out inflammatory foods like sugars/grains to see if helps at all??? Just thinking I generally give my degus their main pellets/food in the morning and then forage, seeds later on nearer the evening which is generally GF and they then ignore their main feed. I mention it as gluten brings on coughing asthma in my daughter and normal asthma in my cousin so literally just a shot in the dark if nothing else can be identified lol!
