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Post by hpdegus on Apr 20, 2019 21:44:15 GMT
So will be responding to previous comments (I just saw Pickett stick his back paw ridiculously far in his ear...) but he just pooped on me. Two, connected, very very tiny dehydrated poops. I'm gonna try a seed/oat mush to see if I can get more water in him.
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Post by hpdegus on Apr 20, 2019 22:02:27 GMT
photos.app.goo.gl/gB4iM1KS1kRvytXN7Pics of poop. And a recovery gel? My roommate uses this for mice. Would this be acceptable to try? Tried oat/seed mush. No instant success. I left it near him, so we'll see.
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Post by hpdegus on Apr 20, 2019 22:22:23 GMT
moletteuk No baby food, but I can try to grab some later. I think hes feeling more picky than normal, since hes sick. He did eat a few seeds, as well as a lot of rice puffs. The seed/oat/water/CC mix is near him in the cage, so we'll see if he'll eat that. I did offer him water both from a bottle and a syringe. Not interested. Hes hovering in the mid 160s. Which is what he was this morning. Yesterday morning he was around 174. Ideas on when is a good time to start force feeding/watering?
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Post by hpdegus on Apr 20, 2019 22:24:33 GMT
deguconvert Ouch! That sounds like a rough summer! I've been wondering the same thing myself! Savvy had some great ideas for what may have happened. I've also noticed that he gets sand in his ears while he takes a dust bath. Maybe the culprit?
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Post by ntg on Apr 20, 2019 22:45:53 GMT
The recovery food is safe but not high in fibre like he ideally needs. However, if he'll take it then very short-term it should be okay. You could maybe try something like fibreplex as an alternative if it's available?
Some bene bac might be good for him too with him going on antibiotics... I am right in thinking you're in the US aren't I? If not, then Vetark ProC is easier to get in the UK.
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Post by hpdegus on Apr 20, 2019 22:54:12 GMT
ntg I am in the US, I'll look for both of those? They should be at a generic health store (like CVS) right? He doesnt seem interested in trying any of the recovery foods... but maybe hes a bit full on rice puffs at the moment.
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Post by ntg on Apr 20, 2019 23:06:10 GMT
Haha it's quite possible he's just enjoying the treats! The things I mentioned are pet specific items so the pet stores are more likely to have them than health stores. You want rabbit/guinea pig specific ones if possible too.
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Post by deguconvert on Apr 20, 2019 23:53:16 GMT
Have you tried offering the "mush mix" you made up for him on your finger? Or a tiny spoon?
That water thing you show in your photo . . . when it says "diet" does that mean that it is low/no calorie, or sweetened with aspartame (or similar sugar replacement), or that it is for dietary assistance? IF it has any kind of sugar replacement in the ingredients, I would totally avoid it.
The poos in the picture . . . which one came out first? The tiny one or the larger one. I could be completely loony for thinking so, but I'm thinking that if the small one was out first, followed by the larger, that is a better indication of improvement than if it is the larger followed by the smaller. Larger coming last says hydration is improving, as is movement in general. Smaller coming last says there is either less food moving through and/or dehydration is a growing issue. Am I loony?
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Post by deguconvert on Apr 20, 2019 23:55:18 GMT
OH . . . and the summer of the ear infections? It did have a rough 3-4 weeks in there! Thankfully it happened at the end of the last week that I was a counselor at a youth camp, so I didn't miss out on anything. Though . . . those last two days were HARD.
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Post by ntg on Apr 21, 2019 0:55:38 GMT
DC it's this stuff: www.clearh2o.com/product/dietgel-recovery/Ingredients: Purified Water, Corn Syrup, Vegetable Oil, Hydrocolloids, Wheat Protein, Electrolyte Mix, Food Acid, Mineral Mix So made up mostly of carbohydrate and sugar (about 25% each) so I'd probably only use it once while looking for something high fibre he'll eat instead.
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Post by hpdegus on Apr 21, 2019 4:28:25 GMT
ntg I really hope that's the reason! Honestly, just happy for him to eat anything. Cool, I'll pop into the local pet stores, see what they have. deguconvert I've tried the mush mix many ways. On my finger, on a spoon, as a ball, in a food dish. No dice. He doesnt seem interested in the diet gel anyway, so probably for the best. And no idea which came out first! Picked him up, felt something weird and saw the poops! I was gone for quite a while tonight, which hopefully gave him a chance to rest without me hovering, as well as drink some more.
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Post by hpdegus on Apr 21, 2019 4:29:44 GMT
OH . . . and the summer of the ear infections? It did have a rough 3-4 weeks in there! Thankfully it happened at the end of the last week that I was a counselor at a youth camp, so I didn't miss out on anything. Though . . . those last two days were HARD. Still. Ouch. I hate ear infections. I feel like my childhood was one eat infection after another (I swam competitively). That or sinus infections...
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Post by deguconvert on Apr 21, 2019 6:22:49 GMT
I lived with ear/sinus infections, tonsillitis, and bronchitis, the first three years of my life. Then they removed my tonsils, which took care of the tonsillitis, but the ear/sinus infections and the bronchitis didn't begin to slow down until I was in my late teens. Had a hot water bottle perpetually stuck to my head, and learned very young how to swallow pills. LOL! I was on antibiotics at a minimum, 6 times a year, but most years, more often than that. Then I began to suffer from fatigue that was abnormal, so was tested about every two months for mono . . . always negative, and never figured out. By the time I was 19 . . . the year of the infection described above, I knew I had an ear infection before the camp nurse did. She actually refused to believe me until I spiked a fever the next day and they rushed me to the hospital in town an hours drive away. She was . . . too embarrassed to apologize. Because I had to give her my antibiotics to dispense until camp was over, as I was handing them over, I told her it was OK . . . when a body has had as many ear infections as I had had, you get pretty good at recognizing them. LOL! I've not had an ear infection in years how, I am SOOO thankful!! Was not at all sorry to grow out of that.
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Post by moletteuk on Apr 21, 2019 9:44:56 GMT
Regarding the weight loss and gut function and when to intervene and force feed, as long as he is eating something then his gut should recover quickly, degus rarely seem to get into gut stasis. I think the problem is going to be weight loss, he can't afford to lose 15g every day for very long, especially as he seems on the light side anyway, I think you might need to syringe feed today or tomorrow, depending on if he eats any more by himself.
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Post by hpdegus on Apr 21, 2019 13:10:18 GMT
Oh DC, that sounds absolutely awful! I'm so happy you haven't had one for years! I can't even imagine. The worst I had was a 4 month long sinus infection, and that sounds like nothing compared to what you went through!
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Post by hpdegus on Apr 21, 2019 13:12:16 GMT
So I just weighed him, hes at 158. Which is not a big drop from yesterday. I saw him munching on poos and pellets. While giving meds he took several seeds.
I was thinking of weighing at noon (three hours from now) and if hes dropped, I'll force feed. Does that sounds reasonable?
Suggestions for syringe feeding? I've never had to do it before.
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Post by hpdegus on Apr 21, 2019 13:19:21 GMT
More detailed weights:
Recent normal is high 190 Thursday night, 184 Friday morning, 174 Saturday evening, 162 Sunday morning, 158
To me, it seems like weight loss might be slowing.
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Post by ntg on Apr 21, 2019 13:28:02 GMT
It's a good sign that he's eating poops as it'll help his gut bacteria if he's dropped 5g or less from yesterday then I don't think it's unreasonable to wait a few more hours to make the decision. As for best ways, my parents always did it as a tag team, my dad held while my mam fed which works well if there are two of you. If there's just you to do it though, your best option is to burrito him in a towel then slowly syringe it into the side of his mouth to reduce the risk of him choking on it. I remember titchycatnipsandwich having a good video of how to burrito but I'll have to go searching for it.
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Post by ntg on Apr 21, 2019 13:50:25 GMT
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Post by hpdegus on Apr 21, 2019 16:09:18 GMT
Thanks for the video! I honestly had no idea you could use a tooth brush to massage a degus jaw. Pickett is very unhappy with me at the moment. I took him out of the cage to weigh him and he actually nipped a bit. Poor babe is so done with all this handling. Good news though--hes at 159g! And I just saw him drink water! Hes moving about the cage right now. I'm going to hold off on syringe feeding. I dont want to cause extra trauma right now. Correct decision? Hes grinding his teeth a lot in the past few hours though. Not sure if this alleviates any pressure in the ears, or if there is an additional teeth problem. As a write this, hes chewing a stick though
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