Please help!
We have a dead gerbil this evening who was perfectly healthy
(or at least seemed so) earlier today. He was about 9 months
old, and until this eveing seemed healthy, energetic, etc. He
had no symptoms at all--no sore nose, no wet tail, he isn't anorexic,
he didn't seem to suffer a fit. He did have a small amount of
blood on one foot, but we think that might be due to his cage-mate
dragging him around (perhaps to rouse him?). There are no other
marks on his body. We have read everything we could on the net
on gerbil diseases and are quite stumped.
His cagemate does seem lethargic, especially compared to her very
frisky behavior earlier this morning. Her eyes are droopy and
she is running on the wheel, but very half-heartedly and only in
fits and starts. She also seems a bit puffy, but it is hard to tell.
Our other 3 pairs of gerbils (in separate cages) all seem frisky and
fine. We are not handling them, however, just in case what our
poor gerbils have is contaigous.
Any help in clearing up this matter would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Chris and Kelly Keil
