amyg
Newborn Degu
Posts: 2
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Post by amyg on Mar 11, 2017 9:34:59 GMT
Hello,
I have four male degus, two 11 month olds (Dizzee and Rascal) and 2 2 month olds (Bramble and Pickle). One of my older boys (Dizzee) has recently decided to start spinning in circles like a dog chasing their tail. He still eats, drinks, sleeps, plays and generally acts the the same as before.
Is this normal?
Thank you in advance for any advice!! X 😊
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Post by moletteuk on Mar 11, 2017 10:06:21 GMT
Hi Amyg, welcome to the forum. It's not normal at all, you should get him to a vet. If you check out our vet list, you may find a recommended one in your area, for a case like this I think you need to find an experienced degu vet deguworld.proboards.com/thread/15521/vet-guide?page=1Occasionally small rodents are born with a neurological condition that can present like this, but since this has come on at 11 months age, it could simply be something like an ear infection or could still be something in his brain.
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Post by randomname on Mar 11, 2017 10:58:34 GMT
it could also be an indication of difficulties pooping or around that area. I had a guinea pig that did it when his anal glands were impacted, he was trying to reach them. Are you able to watch him for a while, see if he's pooping ok? Or lift him up & look in that area & around the base of the tail? Also might be worth checking his back end for any signs of fungal, bacterial or parasite infection, mites could have come in on some hay? I'd get him to the vet's as soon as possible too.
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Post by degulover21 on Mar 11, 2017 17:11:55 GMT
my degu did this once last year, only once. never did it again:/
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cookiedegus
Burrowing Degu
Fly high my sweet girl Maja [url=https://postimg.org/image/dwub0fayl/][img]https://s6.postimg.cc/3zja7d3cx/heart.gif[/img][/url] you won't be forgotten.
Posts: 183
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Post by cookiedegus on Apr 23, 2021 14:02:39 GMT
Hey, i am back to this old thread, but my degu has done it too, his name is Marshmallow and he's a 4month old degu, parents healthy and brothers/sisters are too, he's the only one spinning from 0,5months old, and he is at 175g, which is kinda normal, he's eating, drinking, he does have wounds near his hands on both of them, and he is spinning a lot, sometimes 30mins of squeqking(idk how to write that word) but i'm heading to vet at 27th, but last time he was here the vet couldnt find anything, it could be brain damage or a neutrological issue, or since hes tilting his head, it could be an ear infection? I don;t know..
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Post by teemu on Apr 23, 2021 14:23:12 GMT
If he's also got a notable head tilt, I would guess it's an ear infection. Does he have problems keeping balance? Have you seen him stumble or fall over? If those are present, then it could very well be an inner ear infection.
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Post by deguconvert on Apr 23, 2021 18:30:35 GMT
Cookiedegus . . . is the squeaking happening at the same time as he is spinning? Or do you see him sitting alone and squeaking none stop? Have you seen him cleaning his man parts? That usually results in a long barking session.
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cookiedegus
Burrowing Degu
Fly high my sweet girl Maja [url=https://postimg.org/image/dwub0fayl/][img]https://s6.postimg.cc/3zja7d3cx/heart.gif[/img][/url] you won't be forgotten.
Posts: 183
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Post by cookiedegus on Apr 25, 2021 18:13:20 GMT
Cookiedegus . . . is the squeaking happening at the same time as he is spinning? Or do you see him sitting alone and squeaking none stop? Have you seen him cleaning his man parts? That usually results in a long barking session. He sometimes squeaks a lot, too when spinning, he does squeak when he's alone too, he is cleaning his parts and another thing i noticed, that he has some "seizures" he just goes out of the house and has those uncontrolable movements like jumping doing saltos in the air but they stop about 5mins later, im going to the vet this tuesday, hoping to hear some news...i hope he knows whats going on, or i will have to go to another vet.
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cookiedegus
Burrowing Degu
Fly high my sweet girl Maja [url=https://postimg.org/image/dwub0fayl/][img]https://s6.postimg.cc/3zja7d3cx/heart.gif[/img][/url] you won't be forgotten.
Posts: 183
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Post by cookiedegus on Apr 25, 2021 18:16:08 GMT
If he's also got a notable head tilt, I would guess it's an ear infection. Does he have problems keeping balance? Have you seen him stumble or fall over? If those are present, then it could very well be an inner ear infection. The thing is, his legs ar SUPER strong, like, when they're fighting, he almost falls, but he stops the fall with his legs (hanging like a L over a wooden floor) but he does have some problems with balance, he does fall over a lot of times, most of them, due to fighting.
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Post by teemu on Apr 25, 2021 20:03:43 GMT
Degus are surprisingly clumsy for animals that are supposed to be excellent climbers and jumpers, and I've seen degus fall over a lot during fighting. But if it seems like his balance is so bad it's actually making it hard for him to do common things, then there's obviously a problem there, and an inner ear infection sounds like a definite possibility when spinning is an issue. It's treatable with antibiotics and not hard to diagnose, so the vet visit should clarify things.
Uncontrollable movements and jumping sounds pretty weird though. Does he seem to be jumping against bars, or just jumping in the air doing weird movements? I've seen rats doing weird bursts in the cage due to respiratory infection and panicking from having difficulties with breathing, but it doesn't sounds like he's got any breathing issues or signs of a respiratory infection? It sounds like it might actually be something related to the brain as well, if he's having weird episodes like that... let's hope that a vet visit clears things up!
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Post by deguconvert on Apr 26, 2021 5:51:49 GMT
It sounds like this is happening quite a lot?
Cookiedegus I would really like to see this behavior. I know you put up a video for us to see a few months ago, and in it I couldn't see anything abnormal. Would you try again for us?
I would like to see the spinning. I would like to see and hear the squeaking. I would like to se the seizures.
The benefit to capturing these behaviors is that not only can you show us, but you can take the videos and show your vet as well, which I think would be extremely helpful to you and to Marshmallow.
In some ways I can't help but wonder if the movements you are calling seizures are the same as what we call popcorning. Where the degu performs a series of jumps that look a lot like corn as it is popping. Almost uncontrolled, straight up, in random directions. It is typically the result of the animal being joyful and full of energy. Kids (baby goats), lambs, and guinea pigs are known to do it a lot as well.
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cookiedegus
Burrowing Degu
Fly high my sweet girl Maja [url=https://postimg.org/image/dwub0fayl/][img]https://s6.postimg.cc/3zja7d3cx/heart.gif[/img][/url] you won't be forgotten.
Posts: 183
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Post by cookiedegus on Apr 26, 2021 6:30:33 GMT
I will try to capture the videos, i do know i have a video of spinning cause he does is 24/7 seizures may be hard to capture but i'll try
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cookiedegus
Burrowing Degu
Fly high my sweet girl Maja [url=https://postimg.org/image/dwub0fayl/][img]https://s6.postimg.cc/3zja7d3cx/heart.gif[/img][/url] you won't be forgotten.
Posts: 183
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Post by cookiedegus on Apr 26, 2021 15:43:39 GMT
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Post by moletteuk on Apr 26, 2021 16:10:26 GMT
The videos are really helpful, Cookiedegus, I would certainly show them to your vet and talk it all over with your vet. It's a bit beyond what we can advise on on the forum, but I can share my thoughts.
The spinning where he didn't squeak doesn't seem as distressing as it might, but it depends how often he does it, or how much of his time he spends spinning. The one where he goes out of control and squeaks is definitely a problem, particularly as it seemed to distress him. Was that the end of a seizure when he is in your hand? It seemed a fairly light seizure as he seemed to come round quite quickly, but a seizure is a seizure and is not a good thing. It seems to me this is a neurological issue. Something to watch out for would be if he takes longer to come round from a nasty spinning episode or from a seizure.
I had a degu who had seizures, but she was fairly old and we think it was due to a tumour in her brain. The vet put her on phenobarbitol and this did stop the seizures, but it is a drug they need to stay on for life, so might well not be suitable for a young degu.
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Post by teemu on Apr 26, 2021 16:27:12 GMT
Whoa, that's really something, alright. That does not seem like ear infection. If I had to guess, I would suspect that that's something brain-related. Especially in the last video, where he goes completely "off the rails" with that, it's obvious that he doesn't just have a weird play behavior or something, he's actually having an episode and can't control himself. I do know that going in circles like that can be related to some neurological issues. Rabies, for example, causes behavior like that due to neural damage it causes. I seriously doubt that he's got rabies, of course, but it's an example of an issue that causes something like that.
From the way you describe it, it seems to be either a thing he was born with or at the very least something that happened very close to his birth (issues with birth etc). So it's entirely possible he was born with brain damage. I'm not sure how well these things are even known in degus, but it's possible a specialist would have an opinion about it at least, like whether it will become worse with age or such. At the very least (I know this is obvious and you're likely already taken it well into account, but it bears mentioning) you'll have to take special precautions with his living arrangements. It seems like a seizure like that might easily cause him to hurt himself, either due to banging his head into something hard or because of falling down from somewhere.
I guess it's also possible that he would have some sort of a balance issue (vestibular syndrome like in dogs or something like that) that makes him panic when he tries to move fast and he spins out, but even that sounds a bit far-fetched compared to having brain issues. It doesn't match ear infection behavior, and having it all his life would strongly suggest something neurological.
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Post by deguconvert on Apr 26, 2021 18:27:02 GMT
Those are exactly the things we needed to see . . . and I thank you for recording those and sharing them with us. PLEASE show your vet as well. The loss of hair around the left(?) foreleg . . . is that a recent development? Is there hair loss in other areas as well? If one were only to see him standing still and take note of his body condition and fur . . . he looks to be very healthy . . . but the spinning is definitely abnormal, so much so that seeing it is really necessary.
I agree . . . it seems neurological . . . and I wonder if it might be a form of epilepsy? I do hope your vet is able to help you and Marshmallow with this.
Again . . . THANK YOU for those!
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cookiedegus
Burrowing Degu
Fly high my sweet girl Maja [url=https://postimg.org/image/dwub0fayl/][img]https://s6.postimg.cc/3zja7d3cx/heart.gif[/img][/url] you won't be forgotten.
Posts: 183
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Post by cookiedegus on Apr 27, 2021 5:16:12 GMT
The loss of hair is due to his injuries (while fighting) and he licked those off himself cause it was uncomfortable, I posted another video where his weakness is showing.
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Post by deguconvert on Apr 27, 2021 6:22:23 GMT
I have seen it. I really do wonder if it could be epilepsy. He is so healthy in all other respects, and clearly knows where he wants to go, but can't control his movements, just as you've described. In a really weird way . . . it makes me think of Tourette's! Clearly he is able to eat and drink OK, can wee and poop just fine, and does eventually manage to go where he wants to go.
Maybe you could have called him Sonic? If he starts collecting gold coins for you . . . .
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cookiedegus
Burrowing Degu
Fly high my sweet girl Maja [url=https://postimg.org/image/dwub0fayl/][img]https://s6.postimg.cc/3zja7d3cx/heart.gif[/img][/url] you won't be forgotten.
Posts: 183
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Post by cookiedegus on Apr 27, 2021 7:36:56 GMT
Lmao, I could clal him Sonic but his brother is Thunder, a good match maybe?
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cookiedegus
Burrowing Degu
Fly high my sweet girl Maja [url=https://postimg.org/image/dwub0fayl/][img]https://s6.postimg.cc/3zja7d3cx/heart.gif[/img][/url] you won't be forgotten.
Posts: 183
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Post by cookiedegus on Apr 28, 2021 18:04:49 GMT
I have been to the vet yesterday and he gave me some antibiotics (two) for five days, it seems like theyre really working (hes being separated from others causde of fighting and the injuries, we think its from them but it could be something else) and he doesnt spin now! he sleeps well and is bein happier:)
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