Dear List,
This is only the second time I've written, and it is not with happy news. We lost
Mario yesterday. After 2 days of lethargy and refusing to drink, we took him to the
vet. The vet examined him and said he found a mass in Mario's abdomen, that it could
either be a tumor or a blockage, and that there wasn't much he could do. He gave us
the option of rehydrating subcutaneously, warming with a hot water bottle (actually,
a surgical glove) and giving antibiotics, with about 10% chance of survival (if it
was a blockage and Mario was able to pass it); or putting him to sleep. My youngest
daughter (whose classroom gerbils they were and who brought them to us) wanted us to
try to save him, so that's what we did. Looking back, I guess that was not the best
decision for Mario, because within the hour of coming home from the vet, he had
revived enough to convulse in pain and die! Better for him to have gone peacefully at
the vet's? But I think we wanted to feel we had done all we could for him.
As near as we can tell, he would have been 3 years old in a week or 2. From what I've
been reading here on the list, that's a pretty good life expectancy for a gerbil.
Also, even though he seemed to recover from a similar illness last summer (see
below), he never regained the weight he'd lost (he used to be the heavy one!) and was
slightly less curious and more reclusive then he had been before. I suppose he could
have been developing a tumor all that time, just hiding it well as a survival
instinct.
We still are fretting about whether we fed him something that caused a blockage. We
never let them chew anything fibrous (like cotton balls) after Deb Rebel's reply to
my first posting, but I know he had some cheddar cheese on Sunday. Does cheese cause
constipation in gerbils? Also, he ate some Shredded Wheat & Bran cereal and some
celery leaves (not stalk). Could food fiber cause the same problems as cloth fiber?
I'm wondering what to do with Luigi. He is also nearly 3 years old. He is still
active, friendly and curious, but seems a bit frenzied since Mario's loss. We did put
him in the sickness tank with Mario's body, and he snuggled it and tried to groom it,
but in the big tank he still appears to be frantically searching for his brother. How
do we tell if he would like another companion? If so, how long should we wait to get
one? What is the success rate of introducing an old male to another male (there are
no females in the house)? We just love having gerbies, but would really prefer not to
have to maintain more than one tank (10 gallon) at this time.
I really appreciate you all letting me vent, and look forward to your answers to my
questions. I joined this list as an assignment for an internet class I'm taking, but
have enjoyed it so much that I plan to rejoin it at my home address. Thanks again.
Till later...
Mo
Maureen M Weibel wrote:
> Greetings, List!
>
> I'm relatively new to the list and have not written before, but have enjoyed
> learning about all of you and your pets. I am not an expert gerbil owner, as I
> have only two males, nearly three years old, that we've been keeping for about 2
> 1/2 years. "Mario" and "Luigi" were the classroom pets, and the teacher asked us
> to keep them over the summer, then she didn't return to school the next year. We
> all love them dearly and sometimes wonder what we did with ourselves before
> gerbils. Anyway, regarding sick gerbils, I discovered something by accident last
> summer that might be helpful. One day I found Mario to be very lethargic with his
> eyes glued shut. I wet a Q-tip to try to moisten his eyes to help him get them
> open. Instead, he started chewing on it and it dawned on me that he had been too
> weak to reach the water bottle and was dehydrated, and he was drinking the water!
> I just kept wetting the Q-tip and offering it to him until he showed no more
> interest. I continued to do this several times a day until he recovered. It seems
> to be an easier way to help a sick gerbil get water than using an eyedropper or
> syringe. Best of luck in treating your sick ones.
>
> Mo
>
> --
> Mo Weibel
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> CIS133DA, Sec 1922
--
Mo Weibel
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
CIS133DA, Sec 1922
