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| Gerbil is walking wobbly, head canted, turning somersaults,
unable to walk a straight line, rolling over, rolling on a skewer
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*Walking wobbly may be dehydration. Pick up animal and see
if it's light feeling, and cold feeling. If so treat for dehydration,
and an improvement should be seen within a few hours.
*Walking wobbly may mean an injury. Sprain, broken something....
watch animal closely and see if something is favored or a paw
is tucked under or the like.
*Walking wobbly may be ear infection. Does animal have head
cant? Is it veering when it walks? Is it scratching at one ear
(and drifting that direction). Does it shake it's head a lot?
Did this come on over a day or two and get visibly worse over
a short period of time (hours to days?)
If it's an ear infection it will take a trip to the veternarian
for an injection of Baytril and a round of antibiotics and treatment
at home. The animal should show marked improvement in the first
few days and you must complete the course of treatment as prescribed.
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Suddenly having a somersault, veering problem, head cant
(tilt to side) or rolling over and over means either head trauma
from being whacked, falling, being dropped, being crushed under
something in the cage, or a stroke.
If the symptoms are fairly mild (anything but the skewered
rolling) there is a good chance the animal will recover some
to totally and still have a good and functional life. You may
have to treat for dehydration, feed the animal by hand for awhile,
and adjust the cage contents to allow it to recover. For mild
to moderate head trauma or stroke, it will usually take less
than a month to recover whatever functioning the animal will.
A head tilted to the side from head trauma may stay that way
but the animal adjusts and has a fairly normal life. If it is
a sweet tempered and desireable animal (for it's genetics) it
can be used for breeding if it can cope with a normal partner...as
this is result of an accident and not a birth defect, and so
will not be inherited. It would be better to be kept as a non
breeding pet and will make a fine one. To find out exactly what
happened, this is the time to question the family and friends
and offer 'blanket amnesty' (total forgiveness for the truth)
for an honest answer to 'did someone drop the gerbil'?
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| If it looks like the animal has had a skewer run through
from the anus to the mouth and rolls over and over and over that
way; this is very bad. The trauma is very serious and it may never
recover no matter what care it is given. You may at your option
feed and clean the animal for a few days and see if any improvement
happens. |
| An animal that has passed from a stroke is often found on it's
side, sort of curled up. Cage mates may or may not try to clean
up and nibble on the deceased...and start in just minutes after
the passing. |
Always, remove all toys and things that can be climbed on or jumped
on from the cage, make sure the bedding is easy to move through and
lower the waterbottle so it is easily reached. Offer soft foods and/or
feed by hand with an eyedropper if needed.
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