nyx
Newborn Degu
Posts: 4
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Post by nyx on Jan 27, 2023 16:51:47 GMT
Yesterday night I came to check in on my group of three male degus, I opened the cage and found one of them... He was dead, and it looked as if he had burst open, you could see his stomach and his insides like they were ripped almost.... I've ruled out fighting as the others were clean and not injured, I have also ruled out him injuring himself on something. What could have caused this?? Would it of been an illness or something preventable? He was only three years old and I feel terrible.
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Post by teemu on Jan 27, 2023 17:54:52 GMT
I'm really sorry to hear that! It sounds really horrible! I'm so sorry for your loss, this would be shocking and upsetting for anyone.
I don't think there's anything that could cause an animal to literally just burst like that. How much damage was on the body, was it more of a small hole or just torn open completely? Sometimes, when an animal dies, the others in the pack will try to clean the body out of the way. It is really gruesome, but it's understandable since they don't want predators to find the body. That could explain why things are in such a state, and I'm having a hard time imagining any other way it would have happened, but not what actually caused his death...
Was he behaving normally before the incident? Did you notice anything weird in his behavior in the past few days? If there was something, it could indicate he was sick with something that caused his death. I know this is a hard situation, but if you have not done so already, you should clean the cage thoroughly. Whatever caused this, it's best if you make sure that the cage is clean for the others.
You mentioned that you've ruled out fighting and self injuries. If you are sure about that, then it's really hard to say what happened, and it sounds like some sort of a freak occurrence. Watch the others very carefully in case they start behaving abnormally at all, in case it happened due to a disease of some sort.
I'm really sorry, again. Sudden deaths are horrible, especially if it's out of the blue.
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nyx
Newborn Degu
Posts: 4
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Post by nyx on Jan 27, 2023 18:02:11 GMT
I'm really sorry to hear that! It sounds really horrible! I'm so sorry for your loss, this would be shocking and upsetting for anyone. I don't think there's anything that could cause an animal to literally just burst like that. How much damage was on the body, was it more of a small hole or just torn open completely? Sometimes, when an animal dies, the others in the pack will try to clean the body out of the way. It is really gruesome, but it's understandable since they don't want predators to find the body. That could explain why things are in such a state, and I'm having a hard time imagining any other way it would have happened, but not what actually caused his death... Was he behaving normally before the incident? Did you notice anything weird in his behavior in the past few days? If there was something, it could indicate he was sick with something that caused his death. I know this is a hard situation, but if you have not done so already, you should clean the cage thoroughly. Whatever caused this, it's best if you make sure that the cage is clean for the others. You mentioned that you've ruled out fighting and self injuries. If you are sure about that, then it's really hard to say what happened, and it sounds like some sort of a freak occurrence. Watch the others very carefully in case they start behaving abnormally at all, in case it happened due to a disease of some sort. I'm really sorry, again. Sudden deaths are horrible, especially if it's out of the blue. The others mouths were completely clean so I don't know how they would of done it, but he was acting completely normal before, and the wound was quite big, going from his back legs to his neck, you could see the stomach ect... If that's helpful
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Post by teemu on Jan 27, 2023 18:10:45 GMT
That sounds really bizarre and really horrifying...
I agree that it does seem rather improbable that they would have been able to start doing a cleanup like that and be totally clean afterwards, but I'm having a really hard time imagining what the cause could be...
I advise you to clean the cage thoroughly, both for the others sake and to check if there is anything strange in the cage. Something like that does not happen by itself, so making sure that things are safe and nothing strange is happening is very important.
Was there a lot of blood around the body when you found him? If things seemed clean, then it's likely that the body only got like that after he died. If things were really messy, especially if there was blood elsewhere in the cage, then something really violent happened...
How long was it from the last time you had checked on them when you noticed this? Are there any pets in the house that could have caused this, or possibly any other person who might have heard something strange?
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nyx
Newborn Degu
Posts: 4
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Post by nyx on Jan 27, 2023 18:18:39 GMT
I'd checked on them maybe an hour before and they were all huddling together and sleeping like they usually do, when I found the body, I maybe got a five minute look at it after crying and getting my partner to clean it out, when we cleaned the cage, there was just a small pool of blood surrounding the body, my partner thinks he could of had an internal cyst or tumors that popped, but he never seemed in pain, and really I wish I had a baby monitor or something as I feel terrible not knowing what happened.
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nyx
Newborn Degu
Posts: 4
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Post by nyx on Jan 27, 2023 18:20:30 GMT
That sounds really bizarre and really horrifying... I agree that it does seem rather improbable that they would have been able to start doing a cleanup like that and be totally clean afterwards, but I'm having a really hard time imagining what the cause could be... I advise you to clean the cage thoroughly, both for the others sake and to check if there is anything strange in the cage. Something like that does not happen by itself, so making sure that things are safe and nothing strange is happening is very important. Was there a lot of blood around the body when you found him? If things seemed clean, then it's likely that the body only got like that after he died. If things were really messy, especially if there was blood elsewhere in the cage, then something really violent happened... How long was it from the last time you had checked on them when you noticed this? Are there any pets in the house that could have caused this, or possibly any other person who might have heard something strange? oh and we also own no other pets and it would of been impossible for something to get in, at first we were worried to put are hands in, incase something was in there, but luckily it was nothing
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Post by teemu on Jan 27, 2023 19:15:10 GMT
It sounds really distressing and bizarre, in any case. If all of that happened in the span of one hour, it was something really strange. The idea about a tumor or a cyst bursting sounds like it could be, but usually something like that would not lead to death, or at least not that quickly. They usually burst open in the body, or it's just the lump that opens up. So it's really strange.
In any case, I'm really sorry that this happened. It sounds like you've been doing everything correctly. Something like that out of the blue is not anyone's fault. Unfortunately, I cannot really recommend anything else, other than keeping an eye out on the others and staying strong.
If what happened really bothers you (which is totally understandable!) you might be able to ask a vet to perform an autopsy on the body. They might be able to shed some light on what happened.
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Post by moletteuk on Jan 28, 2023 11:03:20 GMT
I'm really sorry you have experienced such a shocking death, I'm sorry for your loss. I'm afraid I don't have any further ideas than Teemu has already mentioned, I would take the degu to the vet to be looked over or autopsied if you think this would help put your mind at rest.
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Post by deguconvert on Jan 28, 2023 19:04:10 GMT
OH MY GOODNESS!! How very horrible!! I, too, am very sorry for the horrifying shock and loss that you have just experienced. I have no further recommendations above what has been offered already.
Sending hugs!
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