----- Original Message -----
From: Cindy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Wednesday, June 13, 2001 2:10 AM
Subject: diarrhea
> I have found yet another one of my gerbils with a bright green
> diarrhea that has stuck to his behind and just matted his fur and
> everything. He is also dehydrated, so I am working on that, but what
> is causing this? Is this a symptom as opposed to an affliction?
> Anybody else experienced it? He is my 3rd and the other two died, but
> I caught it very late with them...
> thanks,
> Cindy
> --
Hi Cindy,
To be honest, this sounds very bad. I'm afraid this is going to sound
brutal, but there is no other way of putting it. Diarrhea in gerbils is
usually serious. In many other small animals it is merely the result of
over-indulgence in fruit and veggies. But gerbils do not like fruit and veg
that much. The cause could be tyzzer's, salmonella, e-coli, giardia or many
other diseases. Something you must bear in mind is that most of these will
be contagious to humans too. So be careful to wash your hands very well
after handling your gerbil and its bedding and keep children, pregnant women
or other people with compromised immune systems well away from him.
Your gerbil needs antibiotic treatment. Unfortuantely, it may still die.
If it does die then you could get the vet to test for what the infecting
organism was. This will be expensive and you need to get the gerbil to the
vets immediately after death. It is only worth doing this if you have other
animals and you are worried that they might get it. If the gerbil lives,
it may become a carrier of the disease for the rest of its life. Therefore,
it would probably be best not to introduce a new mate but let him live his
life out as a single gerbil.
Cheers
Sue
