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Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Health Concerns


Health concerns

[edit] Teeth problems
Misalignment of incisors due to injury or malnutrition may result in overgrowth, which can cause injury to the roof of the mouth. Symptoms include a dropped or loss of appetite, drooling, weight loss, or foul breath.[7]


[edit] Trauma
Common injuries are caused by gerbils being dropped or falling, usually while inside of an "exercise ball", which can cause broken limbs or a fractured spine (for which there is no cure).[7][8]


[edit] Neglect
A common problem for all small rodents is neglect, which can cause the gerbils to not receive adequate food and water, causing serious health concerns, including dehydration, starvation, stomach ulcers, eating of bedding material, and cannibalism.[7]


[edit] Wet tail
While gerbils do not get wet tail, diarrhea can occur, usually caused by a virulent strain of E. coli or Salmonella, which is most common among weaning gerbils (3-6 weeks). Symptoms include lethargy, thinness, increased irritability, hunched posture, fluid or bloody diarrhea, and a wet, soiled anal area and tail. It is treatable with antibiotics, yet the gerbil may remain a carrier of the germ and spread it to other uninfected gerbils. For this reason, a gerbil that has had diarrhea should not be chosen to breed with.


[edit] Epilepsy
Between 20 percent and 50 percent of all pet gerbils have the seizure disorder epilepsy.[9] The seizures are caused by fright, handling, or a new environment. The attacks can be mild to severe but do not typically appear to have any long-term effects, except for rare cases where death results from very severe seizures.[10]


[edit] Tumors
Tumors, both benign and malignant, are fairly common in pet gerbils, and are most common in females over the age of 2. Usually, the tumors involve the ovaries, causing an extended abdomen, or the skin cancer, with tumors most often developing around the ears, feet, mid-abdomen, and base of the tail, appearing as a lump or abscess.[10]


[edit] Tail sloughing
Gerbils can lose their tails due to improper handling, being attacked by another animal, or getting their tail stuck. The first sign is a loss of fur from the tip of the tail, then, the skinless tail dies off and sloughs, with the stump usually healing without complications.[10]


[edit] Tyzzer's disease
The most common infectious disease in gerbils is Tyzzer's disease, which is often caused by either stress or bacteria, and produces symptoms such as ruffled fur, lethargy, hunched posture, poor appetite, diarrhoea, and often death. It quickly spreads between gerbils in close contact.[10]


[edit] Deafness and inner ear problems
A problem with the inner ear can be spotted by a gerbil leaning to one side quite obviously. The fluids in the ears affect balance. However, this does not appear to affect the gerbils too much, which have an aptitude of just getting on with things, and getting used to their conditions.


[edit] Extremes of temperature
As desert animals, it is easy to make the mistake that as gerbils are used to bitter cold in the night and boiling heat in the day, they can be left in direct sunlight or in subzero temperatures. This can cause damage to a gerbil. The reason they survive in the desert is because they take frequent shelter in their tunnels. Many gerbils living together and plenty of bedding helps gerbils stay warm. In heat, they will trample their bedding flat. Heat can make gerbils noticeably lethargic, so the choice of shade is important. They do sweat when very hot, and become thirsty more often than usual.


[edit] Respiratory problems
Forgetting to clean a pet gerbil's cage for weeks can be a problem. Ammonia will build up, and gerbils may have trouble breathing. In the wild, gerbils will dig more burrows when their current one is filthy, but in cages this cannot happen. Symptoms of a respiratory infection may include exhaustion, apathy, and a strange clicking or wheezing noise. One way to help solve this problem is to give the gerbil antibiotics.


[edit] Birth defects
Gerbils are quite hardy, and it is rare for them to get sick. Seizures are common. Direct inbreeding may produce blind or deaf young with short life expectancies, and missing limbs.


[edit] Swimming
Due to their small limbs, they suffer from an inability to swim well.