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Post by hpdegus on Apr 12, 2021 21:47:53 GMT
So so excited for you and Pulla! This is great news!
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Post by bouncy on Apr 13, 2021 10:21:42 GMT
I love the reluctance to expose his shaved belly to the camera. Goos can be so vain!
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Post by moletteuk on Apr 14, 2021 10:09:42 GMT
Lovely to see pics
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Post by teemu on Apr 15, 2021 14:30:58 GMT
Things have generally gone well, and I've spent the past couple of days going over the cage where the new girls will be staying. Pulla's surgery wound is totally gone now and there's just a small white line. However, it seems that Pulla might have taken a bit ill otherwise since I've seen him have sneezing episodes over the past few days. They're different from his earlier sneezes that I attributed to dusty hay, more like quick "pips" instead of the quick hissing sneezes he had earlier. Slightly squeaky and more like actual rodent sneezes this time. I'm not sure how worried I should be, but obviously he's got some sort of a bug going on...
Pulla's totally fine otherwise though, he's active and has a healthy appetite and plenty of energy. I think I'll keep an eye on him for now, since I really don't want to take him to a vet again for now unless it actually starts looking serious. Something like this is probably to be expected since his immune system is likely in a poor condition right now from all the antibiotics, but hopefully it won't develop into anything worse. I can't hear any kind of a sound in his breathing at least, and the sneezes come in fits after which he's fine again.
Of course, it might not be an illness, but just irritation. I'll go through his cage today and give it a thorough cleaning to see if that helps with things. Fingers crossed this won't turn out to be anything worrisome...
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Post by deguconvert on Apr 15, 2021 15:32:10 GMT
Teemu, I don't know if you have seen Savvy's post in the "The Vet Guide" about Vetark . . . but I'm going to copy them here. Moletteuk recommended a product to Savvy for her boy, Dixie. It might be really helpful to Pulla to help his gut recover from the antibiotics. Savvy said, "I have today spoken to my vets again to source some probiotic for Dixie as the antibiotics are affecting his gut flora. They put me in contact with website called vetark, www.vetark.co.uk who are an health site for pets. I spotted that they have a link to search for specialist vets in your area. I thought it may be of use www.vetark.co.uk/pages/Vets-Search-Results.aspx?vt=&area=I haven't tested it yet." Moletteuk replied, "I think it's Vetark Pro C that you want."
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Post by teemu on Apr 15, 2021 16:25:23 GMT
Thank you for notifying me about that! Sadly, it doesn't look like that product is available anywhere in Finland (or at least no store has listed that online), but looking for some sort of an equivalent could be a smart idea! I'll have a look around tomorrow.
EDIT: It seems like lactic acid products for pets are available pretty widely in pharmacies here, at least. They're intended to fortify and stabilize gut flora for antibiotics or otherwise, so that'd be very fitting here. I'm not sure how well those work for degus, though, and I'd have to ask a pharmacist about the amount.
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Post by teemu on Apr 17, 2021 12:58:48 GMT
I found a lactic acid bacteria -based probiotic from the local petstore (the same where the girls will be coming from). They said it's totally safe for degus, and they'd actually used it on pups when they get them to make sure their immune system doesn't suffer too much stress from transport or anything. It can't hurt, and Pulla takes it pretty readily when I take a pinch of oats and let them swell up in water for a bit and then mix the powder with them. He seems to be doing pretty much the same. Not worse at least, and his general health seems to be very good. I've heard a couple of sneezes from him since the last update, but he's not showing any signs of feeling ill otherwise and there's no worrying sounds in his breathing (no raspiness or squeakiness), so things seem to be stable. Fortunately it's also getting a lot warmer here right now, so I don't need to worry about general draftiness too much. I have, however, decided to not give him outing time in the kitched before things are sorted out, since our house has a really terrible ventilation system that essentially works by letting air in through holes in the baseboards around the rooms, meaning the floor is literally always drafty - by design! I usually insulate the kitched by putting towels against the baseboards and the door when he's out, but it seems for the best if he doesn't get any of that draft right now. His cage is well off the floor, of course.
I've also tried to sift my hay so it's got as little dust in it as possible, but that doesn't seem to be doing anything, so it's probably not dust. Cleaning his cage thoroughly didn't really change things either.
(It might be for the best to increase the distance between the two cages to begin with if Pulla's actually ill with something, I think. Wouldn't want the girls catching a bug from him right away...)
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Post by teemu on Apr 18, 2021 20:55:47 GMT
A day later, and things seem to be keeping up. Pulla has sneezed once or twice, but it seems to be going away, if it was anything at all. Maybe the probiotics helped, or maybe he's just a bit sniffly right now and feeling better, but things seem to be going okay right now. It's also Pulla's last evening and night as the only degu in the house. I'm very giddy with expectation, kind of like when you're a kid and you know tomorrow's your birthday I put the bedding and rest of the furnishings into the girls' cage, so things are all ready for them. I'm really intrested to see how Pulla reacts when he recognizes there's more degus in the house. Now that he's been feeling better, it's easy to see he's feeling kinda lonely. He's not sad as such, but he is passive and goes slower. Probably just doesn't see much point in being excited for anything right now. He's very cuddly and wants to get out of the cage as much as possible to lay on me. So it really does look like he needs new friends. Also wondering how quickly degu fur is supposed to grow back. His belly's still totally bald despite it being three weeks (I think) since he was operated on. He's probably still grooming his belly quite a bit, but I haven't seen him actually fussing or complaining about it any more, which probably means that the internal stitches are starting to dissolve and don't poke at his belly skin any more. Which is of course good.
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Post by deguconvert on Apr 18, 2021 22:07:24 GMT
WOO HOO!!! Things are sounding SO GOOD and SO EXCITING!! Can't wait for tomorrow!!
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Post by savvy on Apr 19, 2021 10:09:44 GMT
I think the fur regrowth is different for different colours, if that makes sense. When Bumblebee had surgery, his longer white fur grew in first, followed by his darker colours.
For a couple of weeks he had bald stripes.
Excited to see pics of the new babies!
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Post by moletteuk on Apr 19, 2021 10:45:43 GMT
Once any irritation is removed, fur should start to grow in very quickly, as in a few days. I wouldn't be too concerned about it taking longer though. Have fun today!!
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