Vanilla acting strange

[cookiedegus]

Hello again,

After Maja's passing, Vanilla has been very moody,(other degus not so much, still active and eating everything is normal no strange behavior) the first days(3) she was fine, active and etc, but today she suddently just doesn't want to do anything. She lays anywhere she can find, and seems to be very sleepy, she is sometimes doing super quiet squeaks, but nothing seems to be bothering her (other degus). She isn't eating her regular food, but drinking and eating salad, leafs. I am thinking she is either depressed, or she could be feeling unwell. What's weird tho, is that when she goes to a different place, she is a bit active, not sleepy, but still very slow and sleepy. She's never been this way. I also noticed some white stuff near her private part, wiped it with a tissue, but it was kinda sticky idk how to describe, so that's concerning me too. I'm taking my girls to a vet this week (probs Saturday, still haven't texted him yet) to see how they're doing and milka cataract.

Thank you for answers in advice!

[bouncy]

Who is in the cage with vanilla?

[deguconvert]

I echo Bouncy's question.

It may be that Vanilla had an especially close bond with Maya, and she is in grieving. Degus can grieve hard. I had two boys that grieved when the alpha of their group of three died. I thought they would be OK given enough time, but they ate less and less and were visibly losing mass. I had to bring in two pups to cheer them up, which it another story altogether . . . but they did perk up. Anyway, in our case I feared we would lose them to grief if I didn't find some way of helping them get through it.

That doesn't mean you have to get new degus. Do you have a good bond with Vanilla?

[cookiedegus]

Nov 2, 2021 0:41:40 GMT bouncy said:

Who is in the cage with vanilla?

Milka, her sister. Canelle her mother and her sister Sakura. Tho I can assure that Maya wasn't the alpha, because the moms climbed on her quite a lot, but the sisters did defend Maya sometimes. I do have a quite good bond with her, she's going on my hands, isn't afraid of me and eats food out of hands, let me pet her in some places.

[moletteuk]

Since Vanilla was ok for the first 3 days after Maya died, I'm concerned that Vanilla does have a health issue. She shouldn't have any discharge from her privates, did it have any smell?

[cookiedegus]

Nov 2, 2021 17:08:41 GMT moletteuk said:

Since Vanilla was ok for the first 3 days after Maya died, I'm concerned that Vanilla does have a health issue. She shouldn't have any discharge from her privates, did it have any smell?

No it didn't

[moletteuk]

I was just thinking if she had an infection there may be a smell. I'm not sure an absence of smell tells us much.

[bouncy]

If there is some reorganisation going on, it may well be that Vanilla is getting bumped down, or doesn't like the extra "activity". I would definitely keep an eye on her health, though. She may be hiding something, so keep a close eye on her eating, drinking, and weight.