Sarah Vabulas <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote
>Hi. I was feeding all my gerbils yesterday when I noticed my 9 week old
>Siamese female was limping. Concerned, I took her out, and to my horror, saw
>that her left hind foot was mutilated. It is mostly chew off, altough still
>attached is twisted around and dead. The other half is a stump covered in
>dried blood. I was shocked- she was in with her normally placid mother who
>had never done anything like this. I took the mother out, and after feeling
>her, realized that she is very thin. I am not sure what to do about either-
>the skinny mother who is eating well but not gaining anything, and the
>half-mutilated baby. The baby looks good otherwise and is moving around
>well. Any ideas? Thanks
>
>Sarah
Other than the mother there are two other possibilities. One is a break
that twisted and damaged the blood supply to the foot. It is possible
that the gerbil would chew the dead foot herself in this scenario.
The other possibly relates to fibrous nesting materials. Is there
anything like cotton wool, fabric, paper strips, hemp fibres, hair or
anything else that could wrap round the leg? Jackie has even found her
hair tangled up round a gerbil's legs before.
--
Julian
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
National Gerbil Society
http://www.gerbils.co.uk/
