I had this situation with a 3 1/2 y.o. female gerbil. It is a frustrating
situation- as they age, they are less capable immunologically to keep the
infection at bay. We went through the same drugs as well, in the same
order.
What seemed to work the best, and what we used up until we had her put to
sleep, was a Baytril/Doxycycline combination. 3cc Baytril mixed with 3cc
Doxy suspension, given twice daily. The initial course was 2 weeks, then we
extended it to one month. She ended up on it indefinitely, until this
combination eventually stopped working as well. But is did keep her going
and keep her comfortable longer than should would have been otherwise.
Another possibility is asking the vet about doing an oral or nasal culture
to determine exactly what bug is causing the infection- you will then know
exactly which drugs will kill the infection. It's possible, though, that
the "bigger guns" as far as meds go, may not be able to be tolerated by a
gerbil. I did not have a culture done in my case.
A second vet I consulted also suggested the possibility of nebulizer
treatments with Amikacin, which I did decline to do. Amikacin can be hard
on the kidneys and, given the fact that older gerbils so often have kidney
problems/failure anyway, I thought it was just too risky.
Good luck and I hope your gerbil continues to fight- definitely look into
the Baytril/Doxy combination treatment as a next step.
Jill
----------
> From: Jen Barron <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: C: Respiratory problems in older gerbil
> Date: Tuesday, September 04, 2001 11:58 PM
>
> Hello all,
>
> My husband and I are wondering if anyone has any
> advice on how to handle a gerbil who is almost 3 years
> old and seems to be having respiratory problems. They
> began about 3 months ago, and nothing about their
> bedding (Aspen) was changed. The other younger gerbil
> is fine, with no visible problems.
>
> Sancho, the sick gerbil, started breathing heavily..in
> other words, when sitting still, you could see him
> move back and forth much more than normal. It got
> worse over a few days, and so we took him to the vet.
> Sancho was put on SMZ-TMP, and the infection came back
> a week or two after, then on Baytril, same thing, then
> longer on Baytril, and now he is just starting to show
> signs again after being off for about two weeks
> (longer than last time).
>
> The good news is that he has never been bad enough to
> lose appetite or energy, and still chews vigorously
> and scoots about. The bad news is that he just looks
> miserable as he breathes heavily. Has anyone here had
> this experience? We even tried another vet, and no
> new insight, except that we went ahead and treated
> Sancho's cagemate just in case she was passing it back
> to him. I am in Madison, WI, so if anyone out there
> has any suggestions for vets who are aggressive in
> treating this sort of thing, let me know.
>
> Thank you in advance for your time...
>
> Jennifer
>
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