Overdose of sunflower seeds

[chris24]

Hello everyone,

My wife and I have three female Degus of advanced years (approx. 7 years old) who are generally in good health. We feed them each one or two sunflowers seeds daily as a treat but last night the pot containing the seeds somehow ended up in the cage overnight. The girls managed to chew through the plastic pot and have eaten a large amount of the seeds.

Two of the girls seem relatively normal (perhaps a bit less active), but one is sat fluffed up in the cage looking very sorry for herself. How concerned should we be at this point and should we be thinking of taking them to the vets?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Regards,

Chris and Kim,

[bouncy]

I wouldn't worry too much, unless you can't account for parts of the pot. Think of it as a child pigging out on chocolate at Easter. They'll have over-indulged. They may feel unwell as a result, which you might notice by their poo, and you may see a chalkiness to their wee, but just keep them hydrated and help them find some older poos to help their guts.

Not knowing how big the pot is, it's hard to say whether they have ingested anything to cause harm, but you may need to consult your vet if this causes excess discomfort, or their tums don't settle in a day or so.

[chris24]

OK thank you bouncy that puts our mind at rest a little. We will keep a close eye on them over the next few days. The pot is fully plastic and it looks like they've only chewed it rather than ingested any of it.

[moletteuk]

I would try and check their poos today, make sure they are all doing normal poos. Encourage some hay and forage eating if you can. Probably also worth having a good look around the cage, they may well have stashed a lot of the seeds.

[chris24]

Their poos are looking normal as of today and they are eating some nuggets so I think we are all ok. I gave the cage a good hoover after the incident to get rid of any sunflower seeds I could find.

Of course we will continue to monitor the girls over the next few days.

Thanks again for your help.

[bouncy]

Glad to hear it! Although our big concern is how well they are able to hide their pain, they are very resilient little fluffs!