I'm so upset. We lost another 2-wk.-old baby gerbil today. I took it to the vet (paid $77 total for medicine, puppy formula, and visit - my husband won't be thrilled in the least) and the vet said it was really struggling. She said it didn't appear to be getting milk from the mom and it's stomach was distended. She said it was having trouble breathing due to the respiratory infection. She took it away for awhile & gave it some milk. She sent me home with some bronchialator (?) medicine, puppy milk, and instructions to keep giving it the medicine for the virus. She said I'd have to nurse the baby - to put it in a smaller cage on a heating pad to provide warmth. However, the mom and its brothers and sisters still snuggled with it in the larger tank, so I left it in there. When four hours had passed, I gave the gerbil more milk. It squirmed, but its mouth was open so I thought it wanted milk anyway. I guess I drowned it or something, because it grew limp. I held its mouth open with my fingertip and it breathed some more, but it just didn't make it. I feel just awful. I meant to help it, but I think I was the reason it died - even though I know it might not have lived anyway because it was so sick. I think I'm not meant to be a gerbil owner, because I just can't seem to help them survive. Although I do still have three babies from Nippy's first litter of six (two died from the virus and one died from the accident) and three babies from her second litter of five babies.
Fortunately, the kids aren't very upset, because they're closer to the other bigger 2-wk.-old babies. Those three look pretty hardy. That's why I finally determined I needed to get this smaller one (slightly bigger than the runt who died) to the vet. -Jean
