I've been up most of the night ... My daughter has a pet gerbil named Stu. Stu is a great gerbil but he is quite old, as far as gerbils go. The usually live 3 - 5 years and Stu is more than 4 years old. Dd has taken wonderful care of this little guy and she's very attached to him.

The problem is that Stu has a huge raw wound and scab on his belly. It started out as a small spot - but he's been picking and chewing at it and now it is the full width and 2/3 of the length of his body. We've cleaned it and put antibiotic ointments on it. For a while it was getting smaller. But no matter how we try we can't keep him from chewing on himself.

We cannot take him to the vet because I can't find a vet that treats animals that small and we just can't afford to spend a lot of money on an animal that is close to the end of his life anyway.

I don't know if he's suffering - he's still eating and drinking like normal. He's not as active as he used to be, but that could just be because he's almost 5 years old. The problem is that I cannot look at that wound (or whatever it is) and think that he's not suffering at least a little. It looks raw and painful. My daughter is convinced that he is suffering.

I even called our regular vet (who is an awesome guy and has been really helpful with some our animals special needs) and asked if they could put him down but they told me they don't do it for animals that small.

I don't know what to do. I could kill him to end his suffering sooner - but I don't know how to do that humanely.

Dd was crying until 1 AM and I'm crying now as I type this. It isn't that I'm really attached to the little rodent ... but I hate to see them both suffering and I don't know how to handle this. If this was a bigger pet we'd be able to at least take him to the vet to see what is going on - but with something this small ...

If anyone has any ideas on how we can put this little rodent down ourselves please let me know.

P.S. - I won't do anything about putting him down until it is clear that he is either in pain or that he is dying. But I can't just let him suffer either. I hate dilemas like this.

This is so sad. Can you not phone vets in other towns, even counties/states that could give you some advice by phone?

The British Small Animal Veterinary Association has a forum on their web-site. I don't know how active it is. http://www.bsava.com/

You could also phone all the petshops in your area to ask them if they know of a vet who could give you advice.

That's a really tough situation.

Have you tried wrapping something around the wound? If you can find a material that's hard to chew threw and wrap it around his body a few times, the wound may have a chance at healing. As long it doesn't impede his ability to move, eat and do other things that gerbils do, it would be almost like he's wearing a shirt, but one that won't let him at the wound. You'd probably have to change it a few times, but it's worth a shot, right?

That's a really tough situation.

Have you tried wrapping something around the wound? If you can find a material that's hard to chew threw and wrap it around his body a few times, the wound may have a chance at healing. As long it doesn't impede his ability to move, eat and do other things that gerbils do, it would be almost like he's wearing a shirt, but one that won't let him at the wound. You'd probably have to change it a few times, but it's worth a shot, right?

I'll have to put some thought into what he cannot chew through. My daughter once put him in a large laundry basket to run around and play while she cleaned his house and he chewed through the side wall of the basket!

I'm convinced that he has a superhero alter ego called "Destructo-Rat" who can chew through steel bars! But I'll put my thinking cap on. Thanks for the suggstion.

Diana-

I'm calling other vets and I have a call in to the SPCA two counties over to see what they can suggest.

Elena99's idea sounds really good; perhaps you could try putting something on the material that tastes bad to encourage him to not eat through it.
As another idea, my bf was really attached to her aging guinea pig but the poor little thing developed uterine cancer and the could find no vet to operate. I believe they found a vet at a veterinary school who was willing to do it for free as a teaching exercise. The pig pulled through the hysterectomy pretty well and lived a happy life after that. Maybe you could see if there any vet schools in your area?

The method for euthanizing rodents is an injection of euthosol straight into the heart. Most vets around here will do it even if they don't treat rodents. I'd just call around even if people don't TREAT small animals to see if they will euthanize them.

I finally found a vet that will euthanize him if it is necessary. Some of the office staffs just laughed when I called. People suck.

eek. what you're describing sounds hauntingly familiar. The same thing happened to my sister's gerbil. Cinnamon lived to be about 6 and then developed a gaping hole in her side. We lived in a small town in the middle of Indiana, but found a small animal vet about 45 minutes away. I know you probably don't want to hear this, but there was very little the vet could do, so they put her down. Hopefull your vet will be able to do more. I'll keep you guys in my thoughts.

I found you a website devoted to gerbils. There is a page which gives a link to vets. And there are some in the United States.

http://www.gerbils.co.uk/gerbils/vets.htm


and here is a forum that has a board devoted to gerbils. It seems to be an active forum. But there may be better forums out there. However, I think you're better off phoning one of the vets from the www.gerbils.co.uk site.

The method for euthanizing rodents is an injection of euthosol straight into the heart. Most vets around here will do it even if they don't treat rodents. I'd just call around even if people don't TREAT small animals to see if they will euthanize them.

This is correct but it is very painful, make sure that the vet puts the rodent under with an inhaleable anesthesia before the injection. This is really important info for vets who don't normally work with rodents.

I finally found a vet that will euthanize him if it is necessary. Some of the office staffs just laughed when I called. People suck.
That does suck- big time. I didn't take any of my 5 adopted gerbils to the vet- they died quite suddenly- but I have taken a hamster and my rabbits. I guess almost any pet other than a cat or dog is consdered an "exotic", and not all vets include them in their practice- but laughing was totally uncalled for.

Well - Poor little Stu is gone.

The vet said that we could try to treat the wound but that the key would be keeping himm from chewing and scratching at it any more. When I asked him how to do that he said, "I don't know. But if he doesn't stop it won't heal." When I pressed he admitted that he didn't think that the wound was likely to heal.

He also speculated that since the wound was not infected but still not healing, and that Stu was 5 years-old, had started eating less and drinking more that he may have been diabetic. Which would not be treatable and would likely take his life soon anyway.

So my daughter made the very brave decision to put Stu down rather than to put him through any more.

She is very sad and misses him a lot. But she is coping well and has not let her grief over Stu keep her from caring for her other gerbil, Marty.

Thanks everyone for your ideas and suggestions.

Farewell Stu.

And a thousand hugs for your daughter. It is so sad to say good-bye to a furry loved-one.

And the love and care you showered on him right to the end will make you a friend of all gerbils forever and ever.

indeed, lots of hugs all around. Making the decision that there's no more you can do for your fuzzy friend and wanting him out of his misery is a hard decision, so lots of hugs for you daughter, and you. :hug:

Thanks everyone. We held a wake for him last night.

We even ate some of his favourite treat - sunflower seeds.

We toasted him with many rounds of root beer and we told all of the funny Stu stories we could think of! Even my husband - who is by no means a gerbil fan had many nice things to say about Stu!

I like to do that with my pets, also... remember things about them. I sometimes write them down.

Two of my gerbils went spelunking in a mattress once. I had let them loose in a bedroom with the door shut while I was cleaning out their cage, and evidently they somehow managed to jump up, hang on under the bed, and chew a hole through the bottom. I came back into the room, clean cage in hand... and couldn't find them at first. After a minute I heard the patter of gerbil feet from inside the mattress. (It was on old mattress, anyway). Fortunately they came back out on their own.

Aw, my sympathy to you and your daughter. It sounds like Stu had a good send off and was lucky to have people to care about him!

I'm sorry to hear that. Well, maybe it's for the best, in the end.

Our dog had large wounds like that once. My mom put ointment on him everyday, and wrapped it tightly in gauze and ace bandage. It got better, and then went away completely.


Oh, I didn't read the whole thread. Well, I think that Stu is in a better place, and not suffering anymore.