>>What should I put in a gerbil first aid kit and what is each item for and
>>should i change the items in it every month and put newer things in
>>(medicines)
>
>I would suggest:
>
>1. a small packet of powdered esbilac milk replacer for puppies. Purchase
>replacement according to the expiration date stamped on the package. This
>is important to have onhand in case you have abandoned babies that need to
>be hand reared, as well as to feed to sick animals to give them liquids
with
>concentrated nutrients at the same time.
I use KMR kitten milk replacer. I can get it in small poptop powder
containers and premeasured powder packets.
>2. Needle-less Syringes. You can buy these via vet catalogues
>such as KVvet or through your local vet. They are marked by cc's
>so you can measure how much an animal is intaking of fluids, liquid
>foods or medicine. The tips are small so fit easily into their mouths.
>The syringes are disposable and cheap (like 10 to 25 cents
>depending on design) so buy several so that you
>use a new one each time (and reduce risk of reinfection).
If in a pinch, talk to a pharmacist. I have gotten a few from a local
one after vet hours when I was out.
>3. Eyedropper, glass. Not as good as the needleless syringes,
>but being glass you can disinfect it and reuse it easily in case you
>run out of syringes. Also use for applying saline drops to a rodent's
>eyes (rare occurance, but a tumour or abscess behind the eye can
>occur sometimes (dealt with it here) which pushes the eye out and
>makes it impossible for them to blink and lubricate it).
If this is the case (eye lube) get some Celluvisc or Refresh eye drops.
They can be had in small packages, with small disposable plastic
ampules in the box that hold a few drops. Celluvisc is a thicker
fluid, and things tend to gum up more in the eye, but if they are really
having a dry-eye problem, go for those.
>4. Neomycin (generic, if buying from a catalogue) or "Dry Tail" medication
>sold in petshops. For diahrrea caused by stress, particularily in animals
>recently moved to new homes. We use it more with hamsters then gerbils,
>but still good to have on hand just in case. Replace according to stamp on
>label.
Most stores around here have a run on it from about March through
May, so make sure to have stock on hand before this time frame...
this is the time of year when a lot of the southern suppliers that
ship to most wholesalers who provide most retailers with their
small rodent stock have sickness problems. So everybody needs
the stuff about then.
>5. Tetracycline (generic if bought via catalogue) or if from a petshop,
>Tetracycline caplets sold for fish (the bird ones, ornacyn, cost more for a
>less concentrated drug. The fish ones are easier to do math for figuring
>doses, has more meds per caplet for a cheeper price, and thus can treat
more
>gerbils at a time. Replace according to stamp on label. STORE IN
DARKNESS,
>light will break it down making it ineffective). Good for common
>communicable illnesses in gerbils. Apply a note to the bottle reminding
>yourself NO DAIRY PRODUCTS OR ITEMS CONTAINING CALCIUM TO
>BE GIVEN WITH THIS
>DRUG (calcium will bind to it and deactivate it). Read all labels
especially
>pet multi-vitamins which contain calcium, remove any mineral wheels, etc.
This is important. It breaks down fast with exposure to light!
>6. A paper or cardboard "roll" to fit over waterbottles if you put
>tetracyclien int heir water (to keep out light which can destroy the
>medicine).
This is very important. It breaks down fast with exposure to light!
>7. Acidopholis Pills (bought in a health store or most drug store). This
is
>excellent to give along with tetracycline, which sometimes may kill off
>natural, good florain the gut. When this flora is killed off, the animal
>may suffer diahrea or gas. Acidopholis helps the animal maintain a healthy
>level of good gut flora. Replenish supply according to date on label.
>
>8. Clean Rags and towels. For cleaning up with disinfectants, wrapping
>around animals while treating them, using to line a nesting box for babies
>you are hand rearing etc.
A pack of white bar rags can be gotten reasonably, and they can
be bleached. Use along with paper towels. Also keep a roll of
unscented undyed toilet tissue around. This makes excellent
nesting material to offer.
>9. A Small "Kritter Keeper" or a small 2 or 5 gallon tank with secure lid.
>This is a "hospital room". Use it to keep a litter you are hand rearing
in,
>or to seperate out and give special care to a ill or injured adult-
>especially if they are NOT suppoed to be running around or otherwise being
>active while their injury heals.
Size Medium or Small on the Kritter Keeper. You can't wire a
waterbottle into one though. I was told that little round gusset hole
in the lid is for an air line, not a water bottle wire.... If you can't
put a 5 oz Lixit (round ended non climbable bottle) into a kritter
keeper, it is too small to keep an animal in for extended periods.
However, ones that size make great short term hospital cages.
Else I recommend a 2.5 gallon glass tank.
>10. if you can afford this, its super- look in the reptile section for an
>"adhesive heating pad". Its a small pad that sticks to the side of the
>tank (the one discussed in point 9). Its much safer then using a heating
>pad or blanket (much much less risk of fire so you can leave it on if you
>arent in the room) and provides direct heat to the side of the wall, not
the
>floor, so an animal can choose to be near the warmest part or move to the
>cooler side of the cage for their comfort. The best models permit you to
>set an ideal temperature that it will not go over. if you cant afford
this,
>have a heating pad and a towel. To use it, put the towel on the table top,
>then the heating pad, then fold the towel over the heating pad and set the
>tank on it. Cautions: never leave the heating pad on if you will be out
of
>the room for a while or leave the house, as this is a fire hazard. Also
you
>need to keep an eye on the pet inside and monitor the temperature of the
>bottom of the cage (the actual floor surface, not just the inside of the
>tank) to be sure they dont burn their feet!
Those reptile heaters stick like the dickens, and don't like water a lot.
So take care if you apply one, and make sure you don't get it wet or
the cord wet (don't soak the tank) when you clean it.
>11. A "sticker" thermometer to apply to the cage in #9 so you can monitor
>the temp inside the cage so it doesnt drop too cool or get too hot.
>
>12. Anti-Stress herbal formula for pets (many brands) or just some "tension
>tamer tea" or other tea containing rosehips, chamomile, etc.. This is in
>case an animal is in a situation where they are caused to severely panic,
>especially if their panicking is causing them to do self-harming behaviors
>(biting themselves, running repeatedly into a wall etc.), interfering with
>your treating them or with their staying still if they are suppored to be
>kept still to heal etc.. Administer either in their waterbottle or with
the
>syringe/eyedropper.
You can also confine them some, and put an elisabethan collar on them
to help control self mutilation.
>13. sterile gauze (find in 1st aid section of a pharmacy). Use to cover a
>wound while you apply pressure to stop it bleeding.
>
>14. This is useful to have in case another animal is injured or in case you
>have a very very "calm" gerbil who wont care if it has something on it.
>Most gerbils will try chewing applications off so it becomes a moot point
>and we usually skip trying to put a permanent application on. But, there
is
>if you want to get it in case, self-sticking bandage wrap in petshops in
the
>health section for cats/dogs. its usually brightly coloured and comes in a
>roll. You just apply the gauze (#13) and then wrap this bandage over it.
>Not the whole roll of course, you cut just as much as you need.
I have a sketch on how to make an elisabethan collar for a gerbil
or hamster, ask me for details. These are if the animal is mutilating
itself or otherwise must leave a wound alone.
Works best if the creature is confined to a medium or large sized
kritter keeper; but then it must be hand fed and offered water with
an eyedriopper several times a day.
>15. Sharp, sterile scissors. To cut bandages, or flaps of dead skin that
wont
>come off etc. (though you SHOULD SEE A VET for such serious injuries, but
>just in case of an emergency, sometimes you need to).
Get a good pair of stainless scissors and you can sterilize them
with 99% rubbing alcohol or the flame method if needed.
[NOT BOTH TOGETHER as this is a serious fire hazard]
>16. Parvosol or other hand disinfectant. You can find it sold for
cats/dogs
>in larger petshops or via catalogues or ask your vet for some. Use this on
>your hands when you need to handle contagious ill animals and later need to
>handle healthy animals since some illnesses can be transfered by your
hands.
> Call me weird too, but i have a strangely high tolerance for this for
some
>reason, so if I am out of something like parvosol, I actually wipe my hands
>with a towel that has bleach on it. I really don't recommend others do it
>though :) Thoguh you should have bleach around anyway to dilute with water
>and use for disinfecting cages.
Bleach is the best sterilizer you can get.
>17. Ivermectin: this isnt that necissary. i use it for treating most cases
>of worms, mites, lice and fleas in animals. Ive used it on rodents inc
>gerbils. You should verify how to dose this with a vet before using it on
>your own. After which, you can buy it through vet catalogues without
>prescription. Note, it is toxic to fish and should not be used near fish
>tanks or items used in them, and should be disposed (including the "empty"
>containers whcih have a residue on them)of in in biohazard receptacles. I
>keep the stuff on hand so i can treat my animals at the first signs of any
>parasite as well as preventively before and after shows and "flea season".
>If you just have a few pet gerbils and don't regularily breed or have other
>pets that go out doors or bring in new animals (rescues etc.) periodically,
>you probably will never need this anyway.
There is a flea and mite spray that works well too, sold under varying
brand names and at varying strengths. You need to purchase the
stuff with a total of 0.66 percent active ingredients. Some stuff goes
as low as half that.
>18. Small container of gatorade (drinks sold in food stores) or pedialyte
>(sold for human babies in grocery stores). Replace according to expiration
>stamped on bottle. This is useful if you have a sick animal that is
>dehydrated, such as due to "wettail" or heatstroke. Get them to drink as
>much as possible as often as possible until they perk up and start eating
on
>their own, then continue giving them a little through out the day to keep
>them from relapsing. If you run out of this, use a cup (8oz) of water with
>a "pinch of salt" and a "touch" of cornsyrup. But pedialtye or gatorade is
>better as it has electrolytes too.
Yes, I also keep light corn syrup on hand. This can be used if an
animal 'goes down' (cold and almost totally unresponsive) as a
hand fed mix (50/50 with water) for a few drops to give the animal
quick energy. Then switch to a pedialyte or other rehydrating solution.
>19. Glass jar HALF full of water in the fridge at all times (if not several
>jars if you have more then one pet). Use GLASS becase rodents will
>chew and destroy bottles of plastic etc. Use HALF water because
>water expands when it freezes and filling it full will cause the bottle
>to crack and break. Use this if an animal displays signs of heatstroke
>(drooling on self, heavy or labored breathing, laying on its side stretch
>out, lethargic, vacant stare or loss of blinking reflex, etc. Skin pinched
>returns to position slowly instead of "snapping back" like normal skin).
>Wrap bottle on a paper towel and place beside animal so animal is
>touching it. As animal comes to, get it to take some pedialye (Above).
>
>20. Permanent Marker. If you are handrearing babies and they all look
>alike, use the marker to colour patterns on their tails and/or feet to
>identify them.
>
>21. Card with your vets contact info, especially contact info in case of
>emergency (eg: 2 am or sunday calls). Also include contact info for other
>experienced gerbil fanciers to call if you cant contact a vet.
Yep. Vets are expensive after hours; and some don't have the luxury
of being able to contact one after hours....and one or more of your
gerbil friends might be up at that hour. :)
>22. Sterile saline solution or sterile baby drinking water from a grocery
>store if the vet wont give you the vet solution (presc. only) for flushing
>deep wounds (tap water can contain bacteria!).
Boil water for 10 minutes in a non metal pan; then pour into a rinsed
glass container (such as a canning jar-use some of the still hot water
carefully so as not to crack the jar or burn yourself) and seal with a
new lid/ring also rinsed off. Add one teaspoon per quart of water
of rock salt before sealing. This will work once cooled to room
temperature.
>23. Topical antiseptic. Eg: betadine is very good. use to disinfect
wounds
>and also instuments/objects etc. Caution it stains!. If you cant get that
>you can use hydrogen peroxide though its not as good and you can use
rubbing
>alcohol in very MINOR scratches and to disinfect objects but do NOT use it
>on any other kind of wounds as it can damage the healthy tissue around the
>wound and cause severe pain and physical trauma to a lil critter.
Betadine stains horribly! But you can see where you've been with it.
It is often expensive though. Peroxide can HURT, and animals often
don't like to be treated with it. Avoid using alcohol as it is hydroscopic
and will suck water from the tissues.
>24. if possible, a scale. You can get them sold for weighing foods or for
>postal packages. They go up to 2 lbs and weigh oz's and grams. This is
good
>for weighing sick animals or hand rearing babies to be sure they are
>maintaining or increasing weight and not losing weight (even a loss of an
oz
>in a rodent in one day is SERIOUS and needs vet attention). Also good to
>weigh animals to figure out dosing of medicines.
A loss of more than 10% of body weight is serious in 24 hours.
>25. Empty icecube tray. This sounds weird huh? If you need to use esbilac
>or gatorade or pedialye, while those have a long shelf life- once opened
>they only last a week at most in the fridge, sometimes less. You may need
>whats in the package longer then that with handrearing a litter or very
sick
>animal. So what you do, is pour some of the liquid into ice cube trays and
>freeze them. Then, as needed, remove one cube, and warm it up till it
melts
>and you have a liquid. (If giving to a heatstroke animal, you can leave it
>"chilled". If for a baby or other sick animal, you need to warm it up just
>a little warmer then room temp first. These will last a few weeks when
>frozen like this.
>
>okey, Thats all i can think of off the top of my head for right now, lol!
>hope that helped!
>
>a.g. /myomorpha
>http://www.rodentfancy.com
I would add a tweezers, not extra sharp point, but fairly fine. A
fingernail clipper, like you use on your fingers. A baby one is
great. A couple of disposable portion cups, the little plastic ones
like they offer at fast-food places for sauces.
Kaopectate. Children's formula. This is for extreme cases of
diahrrea where nothing is stopping it and you're about to lose
the animal to the dehydration. Contact me for dosing if you
need it, as it often will kill the animal as save it. It is a last
ditch effort to stop diahrrea.
Styptic pencil. A couple of them. They can also be used to
help stop bleeding....
Jars of baby food; the strained puree stuff. Veggie medley
(minimum) and berry cobbler (optional). These work for
when you have to feed a very ill animal suddenly via syringe;
they will keep for a long time.
Neosporin ointment. This works to keep tissues moist, and
if small amounts of ingested (the animal licks it all off) it
won't kill them. It has a topical anesthetic.
Baggie full of Q-tips. Go for the quality here, they come apart
less. They're great for all sorts of things.
A box of bandaids for yourself, 3/4" work fine. Despite best
efforts, at times you'll get dinged up during care and maintenance,
and having a bandaid to staunch the flow is nice.
Deb
Rebel's Rodent Ranch
