Posted on Apr 22, 2010 under My Gerbils |
As you know, Ob has his scent gland removed on Monday, he seems fine despite it and his brother and boys are being brilliant and keeping him company.
What I forgot to mention though was Rodney’s trip to the vet too – somehow, the little bugger had picked up lice.
Yeugh!
I noticed them on Sunday, treated Rodney Monday, and by Tuesday they were all dead. Mwahaha. Thank goodness for Xeno 450.
As a precaution though I bleached and cleaned his tank & bowls and thoroughly washed his hammocks before throwing them in the freezer, just in case! 
I have a feeling the source was either his new food (fortunately he has has his own food bag); or the week before, I had been to a petshop, touched a couple of rabbits and went home and cuddled Rodney without washing my hands, naughty naughty. None of the gerbils appear to have any so I’m quite relieved.
For you IGS’ers, there’s a FAQ on mites (basically can use it to cover all parasites as they all act very similar) on the forum.
For eGerbillers and all others (who I’m sure are anxious to see what the heck the IGS is), there are numerous threads on the eGerbil forum covering mites and other parasitic beasties, one of which is here, gerbils and mites.
Posted on Apr 19, 2010 under My Gerbils |
Ob finally had his scent gland removed today after the vet insisting a couple of weeks back that it’s dermatitis. He’s groggy but otherwise fine, ate a couple of cheerios and has fiddled with his belly a little but nothing much.
One thing struck me when I was collecting him – haven’t vets gone awfully americanised? Or at least mine appears to have.
The nurse told me to “keep him on paper tissue or a towel” until they next saw him, and that shavings would irritate his tummy and cause him to effectively rip the stitches out (which by the way, are inner stitches).
Well, I have to say, I’ve never had an issue with a gerbil on shavings after an op before. Yes, if it was dust, damn right it’d be causing problems, but not wood shavings and toilet paper. Oh, and they gave me some man-made fibre blanket to keep him on all week, and effectively said to keep him apart from his tankmates. What was it I said the other day on the forum? Anything you put in with a gerbil will be chewed. Hm. And if a gerbil is on its own, has nobody to distract or entertain them, well guess where their attention will go.
Not only that but also as a first, I was given a bottle of baytril and told to give him two drops a day. For.. what? He’s had a tumour removed?
Yes ok, if there’s a chance of infection setting in, sure, prescribe an antibiotic, but baytril? Seriously? Do they know that baytril is not recommended for any seizure-prone species, and correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t gerbils the model species for scientists to test seizure stimuli and seizure meds on?
It just seems to me that some practises are now just googling the odd problem that they didn’t cover much in vet school and find americanised sites like yahoo answers or american-ran forums, where they come to the conclusion that pine kills!!, peanuts and sunflowers are bad!!, and other well-known chinese whispers. Reedonkulous.
Posted on Nov 25, 2009 under My Gerbils |
Ooooh I’m such a doofus, I forgot to update on Rudy.
He had his scent gland removed on monday (23/11) as he had a small tumour which was just into the scabby stage. Vet made quite a neat job of it, and despite fiddling with it a fair bit at the beginning (which is understandable) and giving me nasty looks (which is also understandable), he’s doing quite well with it. Has scoffed down plenty of food and treats and seems none the worse for wear.
A couple of photos of the little soldier – there is more on the eGerbil forum, “Rudy’s Zip” (you need to be a member to view).
(be warned for belly shots)
Rudy and Donnie having a little plum after coming home from the vets – all three went at 8am, and were back by 12. 
Donnie checking his dad is okay – he loves Rudy.
Benson slept from the moment they got home – he wasn’t too worried about Rudy.
And a couple of zipper shots.
