Wet mouth but otherwise fine

[nfs102]

Just signed up to ask for some advice as me and my girlfriend are worried about one of our little Degu's.

We have 2 males approximately 5 months old now.
One of them is regularly found dribbling
He has been like this for probably 3 weeks now.
Like his brother he is still a little trouble maker and is eating and drinking well and also runs about in the room we allow them too.

We took him to the vets a week ago but on that particularly day he was not so bad. The vet said he appeared to be fine and could not see any issues with his front teeth or possible abbesses around his mouth. He also said that he was very young to be having teeth problems and it maybe a phase.

Since then we have been watching closely and weighing him regularly and he has not lost weight nor put it on.


Has anyone else had similar symptoms with their degu’s at 5 months old? We are thinking of having him put under so the vet can have a proper look but are worried as he is still young/small and have read stories of degu’s of this age not coming back round! : (

Thank you for reading and hopefully the community can give some advise.

[amie]

I completely agree with Smux. One of my degus has a really wet face sometimes after drinking. I've seen him drinking and he just covers his face in water, lol. Try to watch him when he has a drink. That being said, It COULD be a tooth problem.

[malteser60]

Just to add in my bit, degus are also known to hide their illnesses and injuries well (it's a survival technique so as to fool predators), so they may seem fine but in reality they're in pain. Now I'm not saying at all that he is in pain, just something to keep in mind and to properly scrutanise him as smux and amie have pointed out.

[nfs102]

Thanks for the replies. It doesnt seem to be after he drinks. We have noticed it when he first wakes up, eats etc.

He has plenty of hay in his food bowl and sleep box. He also has wooden sticks to chew on.

I think it must be some sort of tooth problem so we have booked him in for Tuesday to be put under and checked out.

The girlfriend is very upset still though as she has read that putting them under is very risky and some dont recover. I hope he is okay!

[malteser60]

Let us know how it goes.

[nfs102]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

We took Red up the vets last week and they put him out with gas. His gums were swollen and dark red the vet said he may have cut his mouth and it may have got infected. He wasn’t too sure though.

He was given some meds and is on antibiotics now and his gums are now fine after a further trip to the vets.

He’s back to chewing everything and fighting with his brother. He’s even well enough to bite me when I take things lol