Sick Degu

[TrishWiese]

Hi, my name is Trish and I have a male degu (Doyle, 4 years old), a male chinchilla, (Sinae, 4 years old, which I just got about a month ago), and 2 female cats (Mazzy, 3 yrs. old and Vada, 9 months old).

I have been pretty sick with the flu for the past 3 days and noticed last night that my older cat was acting a little sick. She was just laying around and felt a little bit hotter than normal.

Then my boyfriend and I realized that the degu was also acting sick. Not opening its eyes all the way (though they are not swollen), breathing a little rapidly off and on, not drinking or eating, making noises whenever we try to touch him, and basically just laying around in his cage.

I stayed up all night with the cat and the degu and noticed early this morning that my cat had a cut underneath it's chin. We allow the degu to run around freely and it has always gotten a long with the cat and now with the new chinchilla. I know some of you will think that this is not right, but it was originally my boyfriend's degu and he had always been allowed to run around. We slowly introduced it to the cats and they have always gotten along great.

Now, after noticing the cut on the cat I checked the degu and there are no signs of any injury. I placed a hot water bottle in there (because of something said in an earlier post) and the degu is now resting its head on it. I'm thinking maybe tooth infection?..But with all the other factors I am completely stumped. We are taking the degu and the cat into the vet tomorrow, but until then I was wondering if anyone could help me figure this one out or tell me what to do to make this poor guy more comfortable. Thank you so much for any help.

[Purplebunny]

Welcome to PT!
Is your degu eating and drinking anything, could he have eaten anything he should not? Have you looked inside the mouth to check on his teeth, are they the usual orangey colour? Can you pick it up at all and examine it? Apart from that I really dont know what else to suggest, apart from seeing a vet..
Hope all goes well tomorrow and get well soon vibes to your degu and cat.. Keep us informed..

[Sasami]

It sounds like you need to see a vet ASAP. That sounds pretty bad.

Welcome to PT!

[Amethystbelle]

You definately need to see a vet asap in my opinion. Is there any chance your degu could have caught your cold? As they can pick them up and the half opened eyes and laboured breathing could be a sign on infection, it could also be a sign of a tooth problem as well or even an internal injury as degu's hide pain very well and sometimes its not possible to know anything is wrong till the last minute. I agree with Sasami it sounds pretty bad and really needs veterinary attention straight away before its too late. Goodluck at the vets and keep us posted!