What Illnesses have you delt with?

[andreaS15]

Hey Everyone,

I'm cusious what Illnesses everyone has had to deal with with there gerbils? Or have you ever had a sick gerbil?
So here are my questions,

What did they have?
What were the symptoms?
Did you see a vet?
What did you cure them with?
Did they live?
And how old where they?

[andreaS15]

What did they have?
Bladder Infection

What were the symptoms?
Wet behind & lethargic, small amounts of red(blood) in urine.

Did you see a vet?
Yes, (Cost me $14 including the antibiotics)

What did you cure them with?
Antibiotics given in Cranberry juice. Extra protine (cat food)

Did they live?
Yes, she was 3.5 years at the time

And how old where they?
She lives to be 4 years old.

[BrandyJo]

I've dealt with a few illnesses in my gerbils. The first ever that I dealt with I *think* was Tyzzers, though he never had diarrhea. He just got very sick one night, and in the morning was dead naturally, it was a weekend, so we didn't get to take him to a vet. He was about a year old. We gave him applesauce, Ornacycline, and a heating pad, but it wasn't enough.

The next illness I'm not sure of what it was. Could've been Tyzzers also, I have no idea. She is a pet store gerbil, that we got as a young adult, I believe. Her age is unknown. One night I found her just sitting on her wheel, not moving. So I nudged her, and she barely moved. I didn't expect her to live through the night at all, but she did. She just didn't seem any better. And between mine and my boyfriend's work schedules, we couldn't ger her to the vet during the day, and could've afford an emergency visit. We gave her the ornacycline in her water, and also crushed up a TINY TINY bit of penicillin and mixed it with water and gave it to her through a syringe. This may have been a bad idea. Considering I'm not a vet and don't know the right dosage. But everything I read on Tyzzer's said that Penicillin and Ornacycline were the only effective method of treatment. So, after a night of Penicillin, she got better and is still alive. We got her about 2.5 years ago, like I said, her age is unknown. This happened about 6 months ago.

And last but not least, we came home one night to find Smokey very very lethargic. We immediately picked him up and knew he wasn't in good shape. We tried giving him ornacycline, but he died within about 10 minutes of coming home. We were devestated. He seemed fine that morning. So, it was really a shock. He had no physical problems. It could very well have been old age, as he also was a pet shop gerbil, and he definitely was an adult when we got him. I remember thinking he was huge :D..

Oh, and I forgot about Pirate. She had a wet bottom, which I assumed was diarrhea, but I think it was you, Andrea, who suggested it could be a bladder infection. I gave her ornacycline and Cranberry juice and it cleared up within 2 days. Sadly, she passed away about a month later, but she was older. I got her from a rescue down in Detroit and have no idea how old she was just that "She was too old to breed".

Wow this is a long post. Sorry! Those are my experiences though. I've had gerbils for over 2 years. And in that time have had more than 35 in my posession (never all at once though!)

[Miagerbil]

My hamster Scabby (R.i.p. )Had a mysterios illness.I don`t know the name of it but what happend,was when Scabby got old,He formed this clot of soft bedding in his eye.I guessed it was from Scabby sleeping all the time. My mom and I Heald the sickness by rubbing the clot off of his eye with a rag.It worked but Scabby 2 days after the sickness,died :crybucket

[andreaS15]

My Same gerbil with the Bladder infection had a major stroke at 4 years of age.
I found her, what appeared to be dead one night when i got home. I went to pick her up and say goodbye, but when I opened the lid she moved her little head up to look at me so pathedically, then dropped it back down.
First thing I did was pick her up, she was cold. I warmed her with my body, and put her in a towel on the heater in my room. I stayed with her most of the night (Cancelled my plans to go out, it was a friday). Once she warmed up she started to move around, but it was aparent she was paralized down the left side of her body. It was late there was no Vet open, but knowing what had happend to her myself I knew there wasn't anything a vet could do for her.
For the next couple of months she lived off of opened seeds, apple sauce and cat food. I took out any levels in her home, lowered the water bottle, played with her every day (her cagemate had passed almost a year before), and made sure she had a warm spot to sleep in.
She lived with this for about 2 more months before passing away.
Out of the many gerbils I ever owned, she lived the longest, fought the hardest and was THE smartest gerbil I ever owned. She will always be remembered. :)
RIP Valentawney.

[Doom Gerbil]

I've dealt with:
broken limbs which are generally a case of leave well alone and they heal by themselves,
General fight injuries with intros, again so long as theyres no infection gerbils heal well
fitting, gerbil goes rigid or becomes very limp, always distressing, and treated with peace, quiet and warmth (never breed from a gerbil who's fitted),
Diarrhoiea (sp) which cost me over £100 in antibiotics and tests but thankfully they eventually got the all clear.
Obviously this is over time and among a large number of animals and 3 gerbil species.

[andreaS15]

One thing that I wish I was more like a gerbil... they break a limb and it heals within weeks! Just amazing.
I've had 2 broken legs within my gerbs, all healded in no time flat.

[kimsgerbils]

What did they have?

1.Resp Infection
2.Broken limb
3.Red nose
4.Bite wounds
5.ACCIDENTAL Heavy rabbit cage set on top of

What were the symptoms?

1.Clicky breathing and rumpled fur
2.Broken hind leg
3.Red, sore, furless nose
4.Bite marks and blood, swelling
5. Bleeding from all orifices, squeaking, convulsing, twitching, drooling, defecating

Did you see a vet?
1-5. No

What did you cure them with?

1. ornacycline
2. neosporin, fluids, treats, love and attention
3. changing bedding to aspen
4. neosporin and clean bedding
5. LOVE, warm cage, constant attention for 3 days and bottle feeding and hand feeding.

Did they live?

1. Yes (except 1 pup)
2. Yes... but died 4 months later
3. Yes
4. Yes
5. Surprisingly yes! With 100% mobility regained

And how old where they?
1. 16-24 days old
2. 2-3 years
3. 2 years
4. Various...
5. 12 weeks approx... currently he's 3.5 years and going strong!!

[abcgerbils]

I've had and bred a few hundred gerbils in the past several years (and keep about 20 at a time). Most gerbils have had no issues at all and I find I only need to see a vet one or two times a year, if at all.

Illnesses I've seen are:
scent gland tumor in an older male (1)
stillborn babies (about 1 in 20 births)
respiratory infection at 3 weeks (about 1 litter in 10)
ovarian cysts in older females (3)
strokes in very elderly gerbils (2, may have been more I didn't witness)
Paralysis in one or both back legs (2)

Blind/eyeless (3), fixed wrist (2), kinked tails (5) - None in the past coupe of years after stopping breeding any lines with genetic issues.

One thing I've never seen is a red/runny/allergy nose. I also haven't had problems with diarrhea, yet.

I have noticed that after breeding generations of my own lines (with occasionally adding gerbils from breeders), that the health issues are less than when I started with my petstore gerbils.

[abcgerbils]

PS - Oh yes, I've had a few pups that had seizures. Though the people that adopted them told me they out-grew them with more stimulation and handling, I stopped breeding that line, too. And haven't seen this in any of my current breeding pairs' pups.

[kimsgerbils]

Yes, same here... I've had some with seizures, my first gerbils had strokes, one rescue mom had a pup with a bald patch AND another with an upturned wrist so I kept the mom as a pet to prevent further breeding. I've had 2 stillborn babies ever born and 2 of mine currently have scent gland tumors.