Since he was born with an congenial disability, he might have had
another condition which shortened his life. His neck bone sticking out,
might have been his cage mate attempting to clean up and was not related
to his death.
In the wild, gerbils clean up, to avoid attracting predators.
One possible explanation, is that he had a incomplete circle of willis.
See old messsage
from the Gerbil Mailing List from April 1999--
I read this in the book "The Labortory Hamster and Gerbil. Approximately
40% of gerbils have an incomplete circle of willis. As a result,
ligation of one carotid artery will result in a cerebral infarct on the
side ipsilateral to the ligation. It was taken from Labortory Animal
Science 29, The Pathology of the Mongolian Gerbil. 645-651,1979
What does this mean?
Julian Barker reponded- circle of Wil lis \-'wil-es\ n : a complete ring
of arteries that is formed by the anastomosing branches of the carotid
and basilar arteries at the base of the brain and is a site of aneurysms
Willis, Thomas (1621-1675), British physician. One of the major figures
of English medicine in the 17th century, Willis was a founder of the
Royal Society. With all his notable achievements, he is known especially
for his extensive study of the nervous system. In 1664 he produced
Cerebri Anatome (``Anatomy of the Brain��), the most complete and
accurate description of the nervous system up to that time. This work
contained his description of the circular anastomosis of arteries at the
base of the brain that is now known as the circle of Willis. His
description was not the first but it was the first complete one and was
accompanied by an equally complete illustration. What the book is saying
is that gerbils often have an incomplete circulation system at the base
of the brain. If you cut of the blood supply on one side in 40% of
gerbils you will cause a stroke on that side. This circulation problem
could explain some of the problems gerbils have with strokes or
unexplained deaths.
--
Gary's web pages -
http://home.talkcity.com/StudioDr/go5
