# New here, needing positive stories and maybe some advice



## Becs1051 (Jun 23, 2011)

Hi all, my name is Becs and I am after some positive stories and any advice you may have.

Yesterday I adopted a new gerbil from the rehoming centre of our local petshop. She came to me with a very sore nose and is on baytril (in her water) and metacam (one drop per day). She is also very very thin but seems to be eating. She is sleeping a lot and I have not seen her drink yet but have been out most of the day - the not drinking concerns me mainly from the point of view of her not getting the antibiotics.

I have done a bit of research and it seems that the most likely cause of a sore nose is an allergy to wood chip/shaving bedding, which she was on in the pet shop. She is now in a cardboard box and tissue based environment in an aquarium.

Does the treatment that she is on sound reasonable, and is there anything else I can do? I feel as if I should be putting something on her nose although she would probably just wash it straight off again. I really want to give her the best chance I can as she is only a young gerbil and is so pretty 

Any help would be welcome, thank you - oh and I didn't mention, her name is Maisie <3


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## Sarahhampson (Nov 3, 2010)

Awww poor little thing love the name that's my daughters name  I don't really know anything about gerbils but I would feed her some water on your finger or a syringe I had to do this with my rat when she was Ill


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## Lil Miss (Dec 11, 2010)

i would give the antibiotics by mouth with a syringe, rather then in her water, gerbils dont drink much, and the taste can actually put them off drinking at all so they become dehydrated aswell, baytril in water is pointless


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## Becs1051 (Jun 23, 2011)

Yes that was my concern too. I'll try to get some into her with her metacam this evening. Would you dilute it as prescribed or just give her one drop neat?

If she doesn't improve I will take her to my own vet, but would like to give her a couple of days on the current treatment first. She is pretty bright in herself when she is awake


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## Lil Miss (Dec 11, 2010)

what does she weigh? i would imagine the dosage would be around the 0.02ml - 0.03ml mark twice a day


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## Becs1051 (Jun 23, 2011)

Lil Miss said:


> what does she weigh? i would imagine the dosage would be around the 0.02ml - 0.03ml mark twice a day


I don't know for sure but I would estimate around the 50g mark. She really is tiny, especially next to Badger who is very well fed


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## Lil Miss (Dec 11, 2010)

assuming you have the 2.5% solution the dosage for 50g is 0.02ml every 12 hours


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## Zanki (Jun 1, 2011)

I find that getting some jaffa cakes (cake bar or normal), remove the chocolate, use the sponge and a little of the orange and put some baytril on it. This is the only way I've been able to get a gerbil to take baytril by the mouth. Mine would never take it from the syringe even if it was mixed with juce. 
Other than that, keep giving the little guy high fat foods. I had a sick gerbil who never gained any weight and I used to feed him Hummus all the time to keep him going. He was sick pretty much since I got him and died a few months later. 
There is also some honey you can get to put on the noes to help heal it.


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## ceretrea (Jan 24, 2011)

I'm sorry but I am very anti people on forums giving specific dosages. Please get your dosage direct from your vet. We can tell you if it sounds right but no one who has not seen your animals should be giving that to you.

I wouldn't put anything on the nose if the vet has said not to, it could just irritate it more. I do agree putting Baytril in the water is not effective, you are best off either putting it on a piece of dry bread or biscuit or syringing it straight into the mouth. Try straight in the mouth first and the food as a last resort. If you do give it on food make sure the food is a small piece and you feed it to the gerbil in a carrier with no bedding. Thats the only way you will know if its been eaten.

Hope you see some improvement soon.


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## Becs1051 (Jun 23, 2011)

Thanks all for your help. I have just given her her meds, and I was encouraged by how lively she was. She was actually awake when I went to get her - she's been asleep all day - and she doesn't have that droopy look that really sick gerbils have. I think sleeping a lot will be good for her really because at least it gives her poor nose a chance to heal - when she's awake she keeps washing it all the time 

I am off to prepare a gourmet selection of treats for her now - I am sure poor Badger in the next cage will be most upset and wonder where his is! And Zanki, I once had a very elderly gerbil who was "kept going" for months and months by chocolate flavoured breakfast cereal! Not an ideal diet I realise, but when you're a kid with gerbils it's a bit of a case of "let's see what else he'll eat!"

I'll see how Maisie seems in the morning and decide then whether to keep going as we are over the weekend, take her back to the vet in the pet shop or take her to my own vet who is experienced in small animals.

Thanks again


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## Lil Miss (Dec 11, 2010)

personally i wouldnt trust a vet in a pet shop, you would be much better taking her to your own compitant vet


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## ceretrea (Jan 24, 2011)

Lil Miss said:


> personally i wouldnt trust a vet in a pet shop, you would be much better taking her to your own compitant vet


There's nothing wrong with companion care..and they are in a pet shop. I trust them with all my animals. They aren't all that trustworthy but being ina pet store shouldn't rule them all out either.

Go with your gut re the vets, you'll know if somethings not right.


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## Lil Miss (Dec 11, 2010)

ceretrea said:


> There's nothing wrong with companion care..and they are in a pet shop. I trust them with all my animals. They aren't all that trustworthy but being ina pet store shouldn't rule them all out either.
> 
> Go with your gut re the vets, you'll know if somethings not right.


SOME of them are ok, but some of them are far from ok, personally i would stick with a vet i know and trust


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## GerbilNik (Apr 1, 2011)

Hi. Just to say I've recently adopted a gerbil in a similar position to yours. The best thing you can do for her nose is to buy some Manuka Honey. Although this is initially expensive it can be kept for quite a while and comes in very handy. It has very good healing properties and is having a wonderful effect on the gerbil which I have. Baytril has a vile taste, so mixing it with a small amount of apple juice may help. I always believe in trying your best to get it directly from syringe into mouth as even by putting it on pieces of food there is no guarantee that its being taken in. As has been said, putting it in the water is a waste of time. Firstly gerbils don't drink much being desert animals, secondly if they taste the baytril in the water they will most likely refuse to drink it which can prove quite dangerous in an already unwell animal.
To help her put on weight, you are best to give her plenty of nuts and seeds (pine nuts, sunflower seeds, millet seed, peanuts, hazelnuts etc). If you can get some dried coconut that will help her also. A little bit of organic peanut butter goes down a treat too. I agree with consulting your vet about the baytril but for a gerbil it's usually 0.1ml in a 2.5% solution

This is the day i got alfie - you cant see it properly but his nose was very red and inflamed here









This is him last week - you can see how his little nose is much less red and swollen.


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## Becs1051 (Jun 23, 2011)

Alfie is gorgeous and hearing a positive story is lovely. I hope he continues to improve. Has he been on any medication or is the improvement all down to love and manuka honey?

Maisie is booked in to see my vet this afternoon so I'll see what she has to say. Really hoping it's not too late for her.


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## GerbilNik (Apr 1, 2011)

Hiya. Alfie was treated with fuciderm cream topically, and Marbocyl (a different antibiotic) before he came to us. It did help a little but really didn't have much effect but I'd say that's probably partly due to stress because he had been moved back and forth between the adoption section and quarantine in the pet store, had no where to hide or feel secure and was on his own. 
I would stick with a small amount of beddng for you gerbil and use as you have been plenty of really soft substrate. I have been using a mixture of finacard, toilet tissue and kitchen roll. I've also been letting Alfie out for playtime in the bath for a few hours daily as he had been in the adoption section for months without any stimulation and that has helped him become much happier which in turn i believe plays a part in the healing process.
I'm taking new pictures of him today so will show his nose progress later.


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## Becs1051 (Jun 23, 2011)

Thanks, I really appreciate the support. I look forward to seeing the pictures of Alfie. At the moment I am 50:50 between thinking that we can get her through this and come out with a happy gerbil at the end, and thinking that the vet will say there is nothing they can to and the kindest thing would be to have her PTS. They are good vets though and in my experience they will try to save the animal if there is hope (they were the ones who operated on my bunny to remove his eye a couple of years ago because it was so badly infected).

It also worries me that my four year old son wants to come to the vets with me. He's already very attached to Maisie. I will update after we've seen the vet this evening.


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## GerbilNik (Apr 1, 2011)

I do hope everything goes well for you and Maisie at the vets. If you feel she is really going downhill, you make an electrolyte solution that may help to perk her up and often then encourages poorly gerbils to eat and fight a bit more.
With gerbils (and many small furries) it can be difficult to properly syringe feed them without risking them choking, so the best bet is to just put some drops on the mouth and let the gerbil lick and swallow the mixture that way rather than trying to physically get it into the mouth.

*All you do is mix a teaspoon of sea salt (such as Celtic Sea Salt) and a teaspoon of honey in a small glass then half fill with warm water then stir until it has all dissolved. Let it cool first, then feed with a syringe. *
(if you don't have a syringe to hand you can always use cotton bud or something similar in the meantime)


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## niki87 (Nov 18, 2009)

All I would say is to try find an exotics vet. A normal vet will give and dose up correctly anit-biotics, but apart from that they have little clue on rodents. An exotics vet will help with things like creams to use on her nose etc etc...just go the extra mile!

I have heard some people who use sudocrem...the nappy cream stuff and didn't have problems.


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## ceretrea (Jan 24, 2011)

My vet gave me Dermisol for skin healing, Savlon does a similar job. Dermagel is also good but not for noses as it smells strongly. Dunno if any of those would be good, again get it confirmed by the vet that its suitable for your pet's circumstances.


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## Becs1051 (Jun 23, 2011)

Thank you all for your supportive messages. I've only been here a day and I love it already! 

The trip to the vet went well. She has given Maisie a different antibiotic to be given directly into her mouth (not in her water) so I hope we will see some improvement before too long.

I had wondered about putting sudocrem on her nose (have a massive pot of it for my daughter's bot!) but wasn't sure about the licking it off and swallowing it aspect.

She is still eating although the vet said probably not as much as she needs to as her upper lip is sore and inflamed. Oh, and she weighs 65g, so my estimate of 50g wasn't too far off!


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## GerbilNik (Apr 1, 2011)

That's great news  Hopefully it will help things along. I'd probably steer clear of the sudocrem just because as the sore bit is on the nose area it can be easily cleaned off and i don't suppose it tastes very nice!. Rather than you buying a whole tub of Manuka, i could send you a small portion of it if you like? It's a very high strength and if its licked off then it does no harm (and tastes lovely!) The antibacterial properties really are wonderful for healing - they are even using it in the human medical industry for wounds now to help them heal!


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## Becs1051 (Jun 23, 2011)

That's really kind of you, thank you 

I think I am going to give the sudo a miss just because it has quite a strong smell to me, and I wouldn't want it on my nose - gerbils with their sensitive noses would like it even less!

Tomorrow I am going to buy a bag of just sunflower seeds because she seems to like them and it's a bit tedious sitting there picking them out of the muesli! My main priority is to get her to put on a bit of weight, and I am sure that then the rest will follow. I am still flitting between positive "yes, we can do this" and negative "but look at her!" thoughts, but I will try to keep positive for her


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## GerbilNik (Apr 1, 2011)

Definitely stay positive! I've had some gerbils come into my rescue looking a very sorry state who look wonderful now 

Here are the recent Alfie pics for you - this is only around 2 1/2 weeks from when I got him.

This one shows his worst side - you can see the hair starting to grow back now and looks much better than before.









This is his best side and as you can see the hair is growing back well


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## Becs1051 (Jun 23, 2011)

Wow, his nose is looking great now! I can't wait for the day I can post a similar picture of Maisie. And I especially like his "hat" in the last picture. Very smart!


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## GerbilNik (Apr 1, 2011)

LOL  The hat is every gerbils must have for this season


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## Becs1051 (Jun 23, 2011)

Well I am quite encouraged by how Maisie looks today. She came out of her box to see what was happening when I went in to feed Badger, and had a little dig around before she went back to bed (wish I could!). Fattening up is definitely the priority now 

Just taken another picture of her, here she is:


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## GerbilNik (Apr 1, 2011)

Awww bless. Her nose definitely looks like it would benefit from the honey. If you want me to send it i can do it first class Monday - just let me know.


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