Poorly Degu

[donnaj]

hiya, I have had my boys for just over 2 years now and had no issues with them but the last few days 1 of them has really puffy up to the point where their eyes are barely open, he keeps falling off the ladders when he is climbing when usually he runs up and down them no problem, doesn't seem to be eating and drinking like he used to do even though he is still eating. He still wonders up and down his cage but slower and the other boy we have seems to push him around and dominate him a lot more now. Usually when we go to the the cage they come running to see us but the poorly one (Link) seems hesitant as if his senses are working properly. There is no specialist vet where we live or I would have taken him there straight away, has anyone had this problem with their degu or have any idea what might be wrong with him?

[deguconvert]

Hello, Donnaj, and welcome to the forum!

I am sorry to hear that you have a poorly degu. He must be feeling very bad to be showing it so clearly. I am sorry to say that those indications are not specific to any one thing, and really could mean almost anything. Whatever it is, it is serious. Can you have a feel of his body and check to see if he has lost weight? Feel his spine, rib cage, if they are prominent than he has lost a fair amount of weight. If you have ever weighed him, weigh him again so that you can have a better comparison and know more clearly what the difference is. Have you watched him eating of late, so that you might have noticed if he was having any difficulty swallowing food, so that it was coming out the sides of his mouth? Or has he been chewing very slowly? These would indicate a difficulty in the mouth that could be the result of overgrown molars, or spurs growing on the molars, or lesions in the mouth, cheeks, or tongue. Degus are prone to diabetes, so dramatic weight loss can also be related to an aggressive form of that. He could have an injury, if there have been dominance issues developing between the two boys. If you can push his fur forward, while holding him, you will be able to tell if there are scabs and wounds that are hidden by the fur when it lays in it's natural direction.

Those are the only things I can think of at the moment, and they can get you started in the pursuit of potential answers. However, it really sounds to me like you need to have him looked at. Not eating or drinking is a very serious indication of trouble.

[donnaj]

Thank you for your welcome,

I never weighed the boys when we got them as thy were not very tame, it took us quite a while to get them to the stage where we could handle them but I can see from looking at Link that he has lost a little bit of weight. He seems to have no issue with swallowing food and no sores around his mouth he just seems to not be eating as much and I haven't seen him at the water bottle in the last 24hrs. He used to be constantly on his wheel but the last few days he has been on maybe twice for a few minutes at a time. We thought about diabetes but we are very careful of what we give them as I am aware of how prone they are to it and they get a treat maybe once a week at the most.

Both of my boys have wounds on their tail and Obe's looks fresher than Link's, the boys have been brought up together and Link was the dominant one when we first got them but now Obe is the one that starts the fights but it's usually just a little pushing around and up on their back legs then they go their separate ways but they always snuggle up to go to sleep together.

My profile pic is of Link when he was fine, I don't know how to post a pic of him now.

[moletteuk]

What country are you in, maybe we can help you find a vet?