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Post by hpdegus on May 25, 2021 23:51:45 GMT
Hi all, sorry if someone has posted about this and I've missed it! Long post, summary at end.
Ollie (one of the rescues, cataracts in both eyes, diabetic and low on weight) has always had weepy eyes and a slightly runny nose. The nose seems to be from a previous fighting injury that semi-closed a nostril. Vet isn't 100% sure about reasons for the weepy eyes, could be teeth (though doesn't appear to be roots from the x-ray) or allergies. Ive switched hays and tried to be better about dust. All in all though, I wiped his eyes and nose every few days for the past few years.
I moved to a new place last August and the pollen is awful here. Its gotten hot recently (80+ F) so I've had windows open at night and a window AC unit running during the day. Ollie's issues have gotten much much worse. I came home last night and his nose was really blocked up. Ive checked on him four times today and had to clean him up each time (though not nearly as bad as last night). So I'm thinking he might be allergic to the pollen?
Does anyone have any suggestions? I could move their cage (the small area they're in has the AC unit) to the larger room during the day, but I open those windows at night. I don't think there are any anti-histamines for degus! I don't have seasonal allergies and don't have a great idea on how to handle this, especially since it has been hot.
TLDR I think Ollie had pollen allergies and would love advice on how to handle this.
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Post by savvy on May 26, 2021 0:12:34 GMT
Dixie had rhinitis which caused similar symptoms to what you're seeing.
I had to be really careful with dust and sieved all of his food, changed his substrate more often than normal, and he had to take steroids. But what made the biggest differences was removing his sand bath and only allowing it occasionally, and changing his toilet paper bedding to one made from bamboo as its less dusty.
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Post by hpdegus on May 26, 2021 0:16:08 GMT
Hm, maybe I should talk to the vet about steroids? If it stays this bad I think it would be worth the potential side effects.
Would you be able to share more details about the bedding? I use paper based Carefresh, but I've definitely noticed more dust than I'd like.
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Post by savvy on May 26, 2021 0:20:55 GMT
It was the side effects of the steroids that hastened his death, so please only give them as a last resort, Dixie was on them for almost a year.
The bedding I use is Green Mile which is basically shredded cardboard boxes but they've been tumbled and dust extracted so they are nice and soft. I'm not sure if there's anything equivalent outside the UK.
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Post by hpdegus on May 26, 2021 0:24:23 GMT
Absolutely, thank you for the warning. It would definitely only be as a last resort. I'm really hoping that once pollen season is over it won't be nearly as bad.
I'll look into that, and see if I can find something like that here.
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Post by savvy on May 26, 2021 0:24:35 GMT
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Post by hpdegus on May 26, 2021 1:39:18 GMT
Thank you for the info! Would you just leave it as a whole roll and let him go to town? Or do a bit of pre-shredding?
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Post by savvy on May 26, 2021 2:08:04 GMT
You could do either, it depends on what they prefer doing.
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Post by moletteuk on May 26, 2021 9:26:38 GMT
I think there might be an antihistamine available, certainly worth asking the vet.
Would it be possible not to open the window in the room they are in? Or open it later? Evenings are the worst time for letting pollen through windows, it's supposed to settle in the air to window height in the evenings. Not sure if this situation improves later in the night as the pollen settles further - surely it must depend on the wind situation??
Other option might be an air purifier? Not sure if the air con you have will have a filter in it, probably not as efficient as a purifier.
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Post by hpdegus on May 26, 2021 11:08:43 GMT
Oh, that would be great if there is. I'll call them.
So I turn on the window AC unit in the morning and that stays on until maybe 10pm? I've tried to cool that room down with fans, but the only thing that has worked is leaving the AC on. It does have a filter, but I can see if I can change it out to a more fine one.
And interesting, I didnt know that about pollen! My situation is probably further complicated since my house is built on a hill so I'm on multiple levels.
I actually run an air purifier constantly in that room. Not sure how much good it does while the AC is on though.
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Post by teemu on May 26, 2021 17:01:23 GMT
Fans don't really cool down the air like an AC unit. It just feels cooler on the skin since it moves air around and displaces some of the heat built up on your skin, but it doesn't actually cool the ambient air down in any way, since movement doesn't make things cooler at all. That's the reason they don't seem to be cooling the room down.
That is really intresting though, if Ollie is indeed allergic. I don't think allergies in animals like this have been looked into a lot, but I don't really see a reason why it couldn't be the case. Hopefully keeping the air clean will help. For future, if you have problems between keeping the space cool and keeping the air clean, there are actually mobile AC units that push hot air out of the house through a window while cooling down the air they circulate inside the house, so that seems like something that could help. I'm not sure how available they are over there, and they're not all that cheap, but something like that sounds very helpful, if better filters on the AC unit won't help.
As for the air purifier, have you tried moving it right next to the AC unit, so it actually catches much of the air that comes in? I'm not sure if that would work, or if it would defeat the purpose of cooling the air in the first place (I'm not too familiar with how air purifiers work), but it came to mind. The other ideathat comes to me is to keep the purifier right next to Ollie's cage so he benefits the most from the purified air.
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Post by moletteuk on May 26, 2021 18:24:22 GMT
Check out the filters in the AC and the purifier, if you can get some sort of filter stopping too much coming in through the AC then a big enough air purifier with a double layer filter with HEPA filter should sort most of the pollen, I would hope.
What kind of nest do they have? It might be worth experimenting with taking away a lot of nest material or letting them have a bit of fabric that you wash regularly, I'm thinking that a lot of shredded paper might hold on to a lot of pollen.
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Post by hpdegus on May 26, 2021 22:54:53 GMT
Good point Teemu! I did have the windows open and the fan circulating the air, but the room layout is such that the rescues room has bad air flow and heats up very quickly.
Yes, didn't seem to be much info out there on allergies in small animals. I've heard of those mobile units! I had considered that, but I'm not sure how it works with a window screen or how you keep bugs out.
The purifier is both right by the window and by Ollie's cage. I have a block so that the air is going directly onto their cage though. I dont think my purifier is rated for that kind of air flow though (not sure if any are?).
I'll definitely be checking into AC filters. Mine has one, but there might be better ones out there.
Ohhh, didnt even think of that. Its a mixture between fleece, paper bedding, and toilet paper. I wonder if a wooden hut and frequently washed fabric would be better?
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Post by hpdegus on May 27, 2021 21:33:01 GMT
Just heard back from the vet!
He said 1-2 drops of children's benadryl (making sure no additives, just the active ingredient) should be absolutely fine. I'm also going to pick up some saline eye drops to see if that helps at all.
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Post by deguconvert on May 27, 2021 22:15:12 GMT
WOW!! Do you put those straight into his mouth, or in some water? I wonder how he will react? Have you had enough time to go out and buy some, and give it to him?
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Post by hpdegus on May 27, 2021 22:31:05 GMT
At the store now. They only have cherry flavored. So I don't know if they even make unflavored ones.
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Post by hpdegus on May 28, 2021 0:27:00 GMT
I'm going to call the vet again, see if they have some unflavored/dye free benadryl I can pick up.
I know it isn't much, but I'm not sure if giving him flavored and sugary meds is ok? I could be overreacting since its such a small amount for hopefully a short time though.
Thoughts?
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Post by teemu on May 28, 2021 7:37:04 GMT
I don't know about that as such, but since it is alright to give degus, say, banana-flavored things or CC with molasses in it for a short time to get them to eat their meds (or make sure they eat something, or whatever), it should not be notably worse to give them a short course of sugar-added or sweetened medicine. Does the medicine mention how much sugar is in it? Many things we consider natural or healthy actually have a surprisingly high sugar content (Many fruits and berries for example).
Of course, Ollie is already diabetic, so he's even more vulnerable to sugar than usual since his body cannot really process it. Unsweetened benadryl might be available for animals specifically. Although since the course is short, artificial sweeteners might also be okay. I would never recommend them as a constant thing, but a short one-time course likely won't cause issues.
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Post by moletteuk on May 28, 2021 9:27:06 GMT
It's essential to avoid artificial sweeteners. Normally I would say the odd drop of sugar wouldn't do any harm, but I think it's worth trying to avoid or minimise as much as possible for diabetic Ollie.
I wonder if they make benadryl for dogs that might have fewer additives? I know sometimes they give dogs the child versions of things though. Hopefully the vet can help.
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Post by hpdegus on May 28, 2021 13:26:44 GMT
So the vet seems to use the same children's benadryl, or use an injectable version. The senior tech I just spoke with said to try the smallest dose possible, see how he reacts. It's supposed to rain and pollen season shouldn't last too much longer, so I think we just need to get him through it.
I'll also be looking for different bedding options and cleaning the cage more frequently while I do so.
Also should mention that I saw two options in the store, one with sucrose and the other with high fructose corn syrup, so I'll make sure to grab the sucrose version.
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