Post by teemu on Apr 28, 2023 13:20:16 GMT
Sadly, there is now enough of a twist in Pulla's spine that it's notable on inspection. His lower back, below the rib cage, is curving in and a bit to the left. I think he's always had issues with his back, or at least for most of his adult life, as I have described earlier on. But I don't think it was actually notable enough to be observed at rest. He likes to lie down on my hand, and when I stroke his back, it's easy to feel that his spine is positioned asymmetrically and dips, even when it should be straight or curving outwards. I've compared to the other degus, and the dip is small but clearly very different from everyone else.
I don't think there's anything to be done, vet-wise. Animals this small are not surgically treated for scoliosis or the like. I'm mostly just wondering if anyone here has had similar experiences with any of theirs, and if there's anything I could do to ease his life. I don't think this is yet affecting his quality of living notably, as he can still climb, maintain his balance, jump and run. It's just that his back feet are really flatfooted due to the way his spine is shaped and he can't do the whole gallop that the others do. And obviously he's not as agile or fast as the others, and cannot jump as far - and generally does not jump at all unless there's no other way to reach something. But I don't see him actually suffering from it. But it will probably get worse with age, as it has become more notable over time.
I wonder if it would be better to have a smaller cage for him, where he could access things easier? He is now living in a very large, multi-level cage. He's still navigating it really well, and I've never seen him struggle to reach food or water or any spot he wants to get to (he even runs the wheel a lot), but I'm worried about forcing him to be more mobile than he feels comfortable with.
One thing that I do think about is the fact that I suspect that there is some uncomfortable scarring in his abdominal wall (under the skin, in the muscles and tissues) from the large surgeries he's had, and potentially more scarring in his lower abdomen from the castration that went really badly for him. He sometimes looks pained and hunched over, and he pulls out all the fur in his belly consistently, and did do so even when he seemed to be living a really happy life with Posso. I don't think it's just stress-related, at least. I've sometimes seen him do it, and he looks kind of miserable and pained when he barbers his belly and chest. Again, I sadly think that there isn't much that could be done there, as any scarring he potentially has is internal, and they'd have to open up his belly again to even take a look - and any operation would just create more damage to be healed...
It's not a constant thing, more like something that seems to just bother him sometimes (in the way old scars tend to bother everyone at times), but I do wonder if there is something like that that might have caused him to avoid full ranges of movement, which could have made his back issues more pronounced from lack of use and favoring an unnatural gait. I know for a fact that he had some issues like this even early on in life, before he had any surgeries, but they surely would not help the situation, in any case...
