Hi Don, Are the pups in a wire cage? It could have been scratched by metal or plastic when moved by the parents. Once I had a missing gerbil in a wire cage and I searched without conclusion. I later found the 2 day old pup on the desk next to the cage, still kicking :) thank goodness. you know, it might not have medical know how but I would either healing cream or rubbing alcohol to prevent infection later. Oh yeah, the pup may have difficulty feeding, only because of competition with other pups. He might be disabled or weaker than them, therefore pushed out. :( if he's looking smaller you can either feed him yourself with a formula, or take the pup and the mother aside and let him nurse without the other pups for awhile. These are just some suggestions, it's what I would do. :) Good luck, i hope he ends up okay! -Rachel >From: Don Naseth <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Reply-To: Don Naseth <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: 1 Lost, 1 Injured Pup :o( >Date: Mon, 13 Aug 2001 20:07:15 -0700 > >Hello List, >Well, Pandora and Blade had 6 pups back on 8/3/01 and lost 1 on Saturday, I >don't know what happened though, I guess it's was just natural causes, >there >were no visible injury on him :o( > >What does concern me though, is one of the remaining pups seems to have >lost >it's right front paw :o( and again, I don't know what happened to it ???? >It wasn't born like that because it has a scab that has formed and seems to >have healed pretty well and to my knowledge, there's no "prosthetics" >available for gerbils yet ...... I'm sorry that wasn't called for :o( >it's >really nothing to joke about. > >Will that affect his ability to eat? being only 10 days old I don't know >that it is a problem now, still nursing and all :o) he's as active as the >rest of the litter and thank the "Gerbil God" that there doesn't seem to be >any infection going on. I'll be keeping a very close eye on this little >critter here in the next several days now :o( Any response or >recommendations will be very much appreciated on how to help our little guy >:o) Thanks in advance ...... > > Don @ TPC >Registered Breeder > Washington State _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp
