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Degus are very sensitive to some diseases.
Below I will mention the most common degu diseases and health
problems. I will also try to mention the symptoms, so that you
can recognize a disease, and what you should do when your degu
has a certain disease. If you can't find out what's wrong with
your degu, ask for it in the pet's store, or better, consult
a vet.
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Disease |
Diabetes |
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Symptoms |
Drinks much water, has white eyes
(cataract). A diabetical degu won't become very old. |
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Prevention and cure |
Diabetes cannot be cured, but it
can probably be prevented. Don't feed your degus much sugars and fat. Cataracts doesn't have to be a sign
of diabetes. Many degus get cataracts when becoming old. |
|
Problem |
Broken tail |
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Symptoms |
The degu's tail has let loose |
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Prevention and cure |
The degu's tail can let loose when
somebody pulls it, or when it's stuck somewhere. This mechanism
serves survival in the wild. The tail lets loose when an enemy
pulls it. Never
pull a degu's tail, and never
hold a degu at it's tail ! When broken, a degu's tail won't recover. |
|
Problem |
Broken limbs / wounds |
|
Symptoms |
Your degu has difficulty walking
and/or is bleeding |
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Prevention and cure |
Degus are very flexibel, and they
won't get hurt or break their bones very soon. Even when they
fall from a high place, they most times seem to have no problems.
But I still recommend you to sensibly furnish the cage. Make
sure that your degu can't fall from too high distance, and that
there are no sharp objects to which a degu can hurt itself. If
a degu unfortunately is hurt, then you can first wait a few days,
and see if the wound heals. If it doesn't heal, you should go
to the vet. |
|
Problem |
Tooth problems |
|
Symptoms |
The degu has white teeth (instead
of orange), teeth are broken, teeth are too long and have grown
into the jaw (If this last thing has happened a degu can't eat
anymore). |
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Prevention and cure |
If your degu's teeth have broken,
you probably don't have to do anything. The teeth always keep
growing, so a broken tooth is no problem. But make sure that
your degu keeps eating. If the teeth have grown into the jaw,
you have to go the vet as soon as possible, because in this case
your degu can't eat anymore. A vet can cut the teeth. The teeth
can grow into the jaw if the teeth are not straight in the mouth,
or if there are not enough possibilities for gnawing.
If your degu's teeth are white
it probably has a mouth disease, which cannot be cured. Your
degu won't live very long after it's teeth became white. You
can prevent mouth diseases by regularly refreshing the drink-water. |
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