jr
Foraging Degu
Posts: 90
|
Post by jr on Jan 29, 2017 11:17:34 GMT
Just a degu sleeping in a bathrobe, what of it.
|
|
|
Post by moletteuk on Jan 29, 2017 11:28:00 GMT
Awww sweet
|
|
|
Post by bouncy on Feb 3, 2017 16:25:16 GMT
How's the little Ripley and her cordon bleu diet? Everything settled? Piling on the weight? Still chilling in the radiator vicinity?
|
|
jr
Foraging Degu
Posts: 90
|
Post by jr on Feb 5, 2017 14:14:24 GMT
How's the little Ripley and her cordon bleu diet? Everything settled? Piling on the weight? Still chilling in the radiator vicinity? All of the above yep, thanks! - 190g now, nice. Occasionally playing with her teeth as of a few days ago, but the vet did tell me to expect multiple visits before it truly calms down so it looks like I'll be down there again in the next couple of weeks. In herself she's basically normal and back to full energy - but this also means more skittish, wary, wise and a LOT harder to catch. She still has a preference for soft food so not sure how her diet will play out long term. Once she reaches the 230 area I'll restrict what I give her and see how she adopts hard food only.
|
|
|
Post by bouncy on Feb 6, 2017 0:06:39 GMT
Glad she's fighting fit! Must be a relief for you too, with every gram that goes on I wonder if part of her playing with teeth is a sign of something growing back from the roots where the teeth came out/broke off? Probably not used to teething
|
|
jr
Foraging Degu
Posts: 90
|
Post by jr on Feb 8, 2017 20:42:57 GMT
I wonder if part of her playing with teeth is a sign of something growing back from the roots where the teeth came out/broke off? Probably not used to teething Well you know how they push sand out of their mouths after some good rolls - it's like that, but at random, and not with sand. Pretty sure it's just the sensation of having something in her mouth, which is either overgrown teeth or something irritating her tongue. It hasn't got any worse, which is good and she's still happily pottering around for now. The vet said there's no point in bringing her back until she's in obvious regular discomfort with her teeth because of the chronic nature of the problem. 195g:
|
|
jr
Foraging Degu
Posts: 90
|
Post by jr on Feb 8, 2017 21:17:12 GMT
I also e-mailed the original vet and asked them to consider an exotics vet referral programme for degus that they can't treat (in the politest of terms because I really want them to actually do it).
I refrained from suggesting they get a f*ing clue, though I did mention that my supposedly euthanised girl was now thriving and despite being banned from treatment there, was quite uninterested in what they had to offer.
|
|
|
Post by bouncy on Feb 8, 2017 22:24:19 GMT
Hahaha you tell 'em!
She's looking very self satisfied!
|
|
|
Post by goolover on Feb 9, 2017 14:18:12 GMT
What a journey you have both been on jr , a really interesting read and all the better for the fantastic outcome. This type of thread is great for those of us who are facing similar problems and can gain more insight. I for one didn't think about feeding them porridge, dried oats yes but not cooked, its good to know this. Your girl looks adorable and so pleased for you both. Thanks for sharing her progress with us
|
|
jr
Foraging Degu
Posts: 90
|
Post by jr on Feb 10, 2017 0:28:05 GMT
What a journey you have both been on jr , a really interesting read and all the better for the fantastic outcome. This type of thread is great for those of us who are facing similar problems and can gain more insight. I for one didn't think about feeding them porridge, dried oats yes but not cooked, its good to know this. Your girl looks adorable and so pleased for you both. Thanks for sharing her progress with us Thanks very much! It's been pretty tough - deep down I knew she wasn't ready to shuffle off this mortal coil, but not sure what would have happened had I not worked from home and had the heating cranked up to full given her condition! Yes it really piles weight on - I get a mortar and pestle and grind up about 7 sunflower seeds first. Then I get, hmm, probably 2-3 dozen Rude Health puffed oats and mash them up really finely along with the sunflower seeds until I get a powder (this is a lot harder than it sounds because the puffed oats are hard to mash up, but it's all about elbow grease). Then run your tap hot and splash it into the mortar and mix with a spoon until you have a consistency that drops off a teaspoon pretty easily. She loves it and it smells absolutely delicious. I use critical care fine grind for her timothy hay needs, which again she prefers freshly made. I think they have a natural drive to eat it because she will always have 2-3 servings a day even though she prob prefers the porridge taste wise. I replace the pastes about every 4-6 hours and it really seems to fatten her up. There's a bunch of other pastes and combos that can be made, but critical care and seeds/oats together provides a lot of what they need as well as fattening potential without much in the way of sugars. Any paste that doesn't fatten her up is not useful to me currently because I need her over the 200 mark before I start looking at long term health.
|
|
|
Post by goolover on Feb 10, 2017 9:23:16 GMT
Will get my bf to put the elbow grease in then, sounds to much for my skinny arms lol. Great to know as my girl needs her teeth sorted soon, I have recovery powder in already, which is a life saver so will put your recipe into practice if she struggles with eating afterwards. Know what you mean about having the time to give them without having to leave them for long periods. We are lucky that their is always one of us in so we never leave them on their own and my heating has been on full blast constantly due to having a sick girl around xmas who has just recovered then now another with her teeth, keeping them warm is so important. I sit here sweating and have to keep going to cool down at the back door but its worth it. About 2 years ago another one of my girls got pneumonia and was so sick, she lost so much weight she looked like a little duckling and we were expecting her to die. We actually took her into our bed on the night we thought she would pass as we couldn't think of another way to make sure she had constant heat and she made it through the night. We kept her tucked up in our dressing gowns during the day and then to bed for about 3 days solid and she is still with us, made a full recovery. I am positive taking her to bed with us that night and providing constant heat saved her life. Oh and putting the shower on about 5 times a day creating like a steam room to clear her airways also helped. Now, not many people could have done that with their jobs! Yes getting her over the 200g mark sounds good to me, i'm sure she wont have any problems reaching that weight with her protein packed porridge.
|
|
|
Post by moletteuk on Feb 10, 2017 11:45:17 GMT
Is she starting to eat other things yet?
Just be aware that Critical Care contains molasses, and the oats are fairly rapidly digested, so I think it would be beneficial now to try to expand her range of eating. Perhaps try making up something to replace some of the critical care made out of crushed up forage, and try adding in a variety of more crushed up oil seeds into the porridge. Is she eating any forage? Some alfalfa, ribwort plantain and dandelions would be good for calcium content. It's important you try to get plenty of calcium into her, if she gets too much phosphorus and not enough calcium it will exacerbate her dental problems (oats and other grains contain lots of phosphorus and hardly and calcium). Fattening her up is important, but not the only thing to think about now that she is not in any immediate danger.
|
|
|
Post by goolover on Feb 10, 2017 18:30:15 GMT
Is that the same for the Recover Plus moletteuk ? Giving Nina a pack of Dandelion salad everyday now I buy from the local supermarket, she loves it and hopefully it will ensure she is getting plenty of calcium. All of them get the salad too. Costing my a fortune I tell ya!
|
|
|
Post by moletteuk on Feb 10, 2017 19:36:45 GMT
Can't see any sugar in the Supreme Recovery products. It might be worth ordering some bigger forage packs from Zooplus, probably cheaper and more variety of plants.
|
|
jr
Foraging Degu
Posts: 90
|
Post by jr on Feb 11, 2017 2:22:35 GMT
Is she starting to eat other things yet? Just be aware that Critical Care contains molasses, and the oats are fairly rapidly digested, so I think it would be beneficial now to try to expand her range of eating. Perhaps try making up something to replace some of the critical care made out of crushed up forage, and try adding in a variety of more crushed up oil seeds into the porridge. Is she eating any forage? Some alfalfa, ribwort plantain and dandelions would be good for calcium content. It's important you try to get plenty of calcium into her, if she gets too much phosphorus and not enough calcium it will exacerbate her dental problems (oats and other grains contain lots of phosphorus and hardly and calcium). Fattening her up is important, but not the only thing to think about now that she is not in any immediate danger. She was eating random hard things - oddly older hay and bits and pieces from around the cage were things she'd pick up rather than the fresh stuff and no grains bags etc, but her teeth are causing her trouble on the schedule the vet suspected - today she's been pawing at them more so not really been interested in hard stuff today and taken less pastes too so next week she's probably off to Maidstone again. After this treatment I will look to do what you say because my plan was first treatment - fatten - second treatment - encourage better diet and normalise weight - third treatment - finalise the superior diet. The vet thought at least 3 treatments in the shorter term before they would settle down and have long periods between treatments.
|
|
jr
Foraging Degu
Posts: 90
|
Post by jr on Feb 11, 2017 2:49:29 GMT
The molasses is a concern though - I suppose she's been eating CC for almost 3 weeks now on and off - it's a balance between short term recovery and long term impact. I'll cut it down to one serving a day and replace the other 3 daily servings with mashed up selective science and no grain stuff. The oats I'll switch the seed type each time, maybe mash in some ratration mix, but I'm loathe to switch up too much until she's in the 200s. I saw with my own eyes that she was picky with food she didn't like when she was skin and bone.
|
|
|
Post by moletteuk on Feb 11, 2017 11:25:56 GMT
It's certainly a balancing act. Trying to get the diet healthier but without reducing what she will take. If the phosphorus content gets higher than the calcium content, then this can severly affect the teeth within weeks, so one way or another it is best to address this as soon as you can manage.
The high phosphorus is mainly in grains, but she will be getting energy and strength from the grains, in my experience sick degus want to eat grains. A way round it that is a bit controversial could be to supplement with artificial calcium, as they do in commercial foods that contain grains. You can buy calcium powder or liquid drops. Perhaps discuss it with the vet.
Certainly try and get as many of the Ratrations seeds into her as you can, they are high in calcium. Dandelion and ribwort plantain are both available from Zooplus and are good for calcium content. Culinary herbs are also good for calcium, alfalfa is good too. If you have food processor or coffee grinder you can whizz up forage and seeds into quite fine pieces and then make into a paste.
Perhaps you could try the Supreme Recovery food instead of or as well as the Critical Care, that would reduce the molasses problem.
|
|
jr
Foraging Degu
Posts: 90
|
Post by jr on May 13, 2017 0:40:51 GMT
I thought I would conclude the saga by showing a pic of Ripley today (230g) (sitting on top of my dusty computer!):
|
|
|
Post by moletteuk on May 13, 2017 12:32:31 GMT
Brilliant, she looks beautiful, well done on the weight gain
|
|
|
Post by savvy on May 13, 2017 13:01:41 GMT
So glad she's fighting fit again, she is such a cutie!
|
|