Depressed prairie dog?

[ChrisK]

Help!

My beloved prairie dog Samantha will be eight years old in July. Generally, she's gone through "funks" in the spring where she is lethargic and lacks an appetite, but this is something new.

Over the past two weeks, she has had little or no interest in leaving her "nest" (she sleeps on the top floor of a three story cage). She still has an appetite, but prefers that I give her food in bed...she's reluctant to go "downstairs" to her food bowl even to eat. She is usually pretty lively - she usually gets up with me in the mornings and spends a lot of time outside her cage - but over the past weeks she just refuses to get out of bed. If I lift her out of her cage, she will just struggle to get back inside it.

I am terrified that this signals a "decline" as she is getting up in age. I just don't know what I would do without my little friend. Has anybody else experienced this behavior with their PD?

[Scarlette]

I'm guessing it's because she is getting up in age. I don't have experience with older pd's, my girls are only 3 years old. Is she still urinating ok? How are her teeth? Does she still eat when you put her food by her bed?

I would talk to a vet to make sure it is or isn't age that is causing her to be lethargic. It could very well be a health problem that can be fixed.

She is getting up there in age. I hope she has at least another year or two with you! Please keep us updated. My heart aches for you.

[ChrisK]

Her health and teeth seem fine. And she still has an appetite. I'm afraid that she's just getting old, and I'm just having a very hard time accepting that she's not her usual little bundle of energy any more. She did spend a few minutes with me in bed last night before going back to her cage.....and I even coaxed a wahoo out of her. I think I just need to try to cherish all of the time that she does still want to spend with me, and just let her sleep as she wishes. It's just so hard to think of her as being elderly....and it just seems to have caught up with her so quickly. She's just so dear to me.

[Deana]

I know exactly how you feel! (Or how you felt, now that I see how old this post is). I have already lost 1 elderly female, & now I have another one. Do you still have your baby? If not I am sorry for your loss. There is no love like the love of a prairie dog. My little Snuggle-bug is the most precious animal I have ever known. We don't know how old she is because we adopted as an adult. She has to be at least 8 or 9. We have seen each other through bouts of depression (hers & mine), weight gain (again; hers & mine), etc. She lives for me & I live for her. We may as well die at the same time because I am pretty sure the other would soon die from depression. Deana