The pup is doing well today, his breathing is normal now. So I am very
optimistic about him. Thanks to everyone for the good advice. Any thoughts
on how long to continue the tetracycline? This is already day 10.
We are on vacation at a beach house...just me, my husband, kids, the family
dog...and a gerbil family of 7. Yes, even though we had a house/pet sitter
at home I just had to bring my pup along to see to this respiratory thing
(and of course I couldn't separate him from mom, big sister, and 4
siblings).
And Yes, my husband is a sweetheart. An admitted non-gerbil fan, he's gone
out in the middle of the night on a KMR run, hung out at the post office for
a gerbil shipment, and now is vacationing with a tankful the little guys.
-- Donna A.
Donna Anastasi wrote:
> As you may recall, nine days ago I put my puffed-up, clicking pups on
> tetracycline (canary dose).
>
> Four pups are doing great (sadly, one died) and my sixth pup while
> round-bellied with a pretty good sleek coat is showing signs of labored
> breathing tonight. I started him on supplemental KMR feeding about 4 or
> 5 days ago when he was really fading -- he's still small about 2 inches
> (5 cm) in body length.
>
> Does anyone have any suggestions about further care? What about bedding
> material? (they are on Carefresh with toilet tissue).
>
> -- Donna
>
> PS -- I found on the web that respitory infections are a symptom of
> inbreeding. I got Cara from a petstore so I don't know her history.
> But this was a problem in her first litter, too. I won't be breeding
> Cara again.
