On Tue, 04 September 2001, Jen Barron wrote:
>
> 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
>
It might be worth a try to change his bedding to plain unscented, unlotioned etc.
toilet paper, in case he has developed an allergy to aspen. Allergies do sometimes
develop later in life for humans, so I don't know why that can't be true for animals
too.
I've seen at least one post suggesting he should be euthanized, unless I misunderstood
the post. It can be very difficult to determine when this is appropriate. I've had
to choose one way or the other several times, so I know how very hard it is. What I
have started doing is asking myself, "Is he or she getting any enjoyment out of life,
or is it nothing but pain?" I look at whether the gerbil is still eating, drinking,
chewing on cardboard, and whatever else he or she usually does, and how much time is
spent simply huddling in a corner, obviously miserable. Then I make a decision.
Recently I was considering putting Spunky to sleep because of a continuing ear
infection & possible tumor that is making him miserable. (He's been to the vet three
times & nothing we do does anything more than slow it down, nothing stops it.) I sat
and watched him for awhile, as he sampled his dinner then enthusiastically tackled a
piece of cardboard. It was like he was telling me, "No Mom, not yet ... yeah my ear
hurts but I'm not ready to go yet!" So he is still with us, for now.
I'm not suggesting you should or you shouldn't put him to sleep, I'm just sharing my
own thought processes when I have to deal with this myself. You know your pet better
than anyone else, and you are the best qualified to know when he is ready to go.
Tana and The Little Rascals
Now at http://rascals.mybravenet.com
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