Other rodents Flashcards
What must chinchillas have?
Dust baths
Common problems in chinchillas (9)
- ‘slobbers’ (malocclusion)
- gastric dilation/GDV/colic
- fur slip
- fur ring
- listeriosis
- giardia
- sudden death of fat chinchillas
- barbering
- seizures
‘Slobbers’/malocclusion in chinchillas
Weight loss, wet chin/forelimbs
Irregularities palpable along dental arcades
Normal that the basal plates change with age with pocket ends, abnormal if these become irregular and elongated
Examination needs to be conscious then under GA for full assessment (+/- radiography)
treatment often unsatisfactory, long term support, antibiotics/analgesics, vitamin C, calcium/D3 supplementation
Gastric dilation/GDV/colic in chinchillas
Often follows dietary change, but may be due to parasites, FBs, stress etc.
In guinea pigs it may be due to the weight of cystic ovaries
An emergency - more guarded prognosis than in rabbits
Fur slip in chinchillas
fur loss through careless handling
Fur ring in chinchillas
ring of fur caught around penis
need to extrude penis fully from prepuce to remove
if caught early it will recover
Listeriosis in chinchillas
Haemorrhagic enteritis, rectal prolapse, death
Zoonotic
Wild rodent contamination of food
Fluid replacement therapy, gut support, antibiotics
Giardia in chinchillas
Important if owner immunosuppressed
Diarrhoea is the main clinical sign
May get rectal prolapse
Treat same as in dogs
Sudden death of fat, ‘healthy’ chinchillas
Liver disease, hepatic lipidosis
High fat diet
Talk about diet if obese on clinical exam
Barbering in chinchillas
Lack of fibre in diet
Seizures in chinchillas
Often young animals
Calcium deficient diet
Common problems in degus (5)
- Diabetes mellitus
- Tail slip
- Dental disease
- Wounds
- Pododermatitis
Diabetes mellitus in degus
Genetic predisposition
Too much sugar in diet
Treat with dietary correction
Tail slip in degus
Poor handling or injury
Need treating fairly quickly, should be self limiting in terms of haemorrhage etc.
Dental disease in degus
If any resp disease keep this in mind
Predisposition for upper molars to grow up into nasal passages
Radiograph
Not much you can do about it
Wounds in degus
Fairly common
Fights, bite each other
BUT must still be kept in a colony
May need pain relief and/or topical treatment
Try not to split colony up
Pododermatitis in degus
More common than in guinea pigs
Inappropriate husbandry
Should not be kept in mesh cages
Correct husbandry, pain relief, antibiotics
Difference between myomorphs and other rodents
Molars are not continuously growing in myomorphs, just the incisors
Common problems seen in all myomorphs
- overgrown incisors (can also get rotten teeth if diet too sugary)
- lymphocytic choriomeningitis (not common in pets, but potentially zoonotic)
Common problems in hamsters (8)
- impacted pouches
- everted pouches
- skin conditions
- proliferative ileitis (‘wet tail’)
- pyometra
- ‘hibernation’
- hamster polyomavirus
- urolithiasis
Impacted pouches in hamsters
Often with inappropriate bedding materials
Often with inappropriate food items
May ferment and become infected
Treat by everting them, flush and clean, and put them back in
If infected give antibiotics/anti-fungals as needed
Everted pouches
Trauma, infection, tumours
Emergency as it may bite it off if it is hanging out, may lead to hole into cheek or haemorrhage
Can be removed, tie off and cauterise, put stump back in
Warn owners it cant store food
Skin conditions in hamsters
Idiopathic alopecia
- glandular areas on flanks
- glands are overproducing rather than an actual disease
Asymmetric flank alopecia
- mites, ivermectin spot on or SA advocate
- allergy, bedding related or disinfectant
Symmetric flank alopecia
- ovarian disease, spay
- hyperadrenocortical disease, supralorin implant
Proliferative ileitis (‘wet tail’) in hamsters
post weaning stress induced scour
poor prognosis
needs intense antibiotics - doxycycline
food support and subcut fluids, keep warm
Pyometra in hamsters
Sporadic occurrence in Syrian hamsters
oestrus every 4 days and mucoid discharge from vulva
almost always open
antibiotics and anti-inflammatories
may need to be spayed
‘Hibernation’ in hamsters
Don’t want them to as it is stressful
low temperature
treat with gentle warmth and fluids etc.
Hamster polyomavirus
Benign cutaneous tumours - may be multiple and large
Or multicentric lymphoma
Spread through urine
Treat with removal if individual, if not treatment will be a challenge
Urolithiasis in hamsters
Haematuria, dysuria, soiling of the perineum
Diagnosis by radiography (dental plate)
Treatment
- Muscle relaxant (diazepam syrup)
- Increase fluid throughput (Ribena?)
- Antibiotics
- Urinary supplements and Vivitonin if indicated
Common problems in gerbils and duprasi (5)
- Otitis media/respiratory disease
- Sebaceous gland adenoma
- Nasal dermatitis
- Tail degloving
- Fits
Otitis media/ respiratory disease in gerbils and duprasi
Caught from owner?
Beta-haemolytic streptococcus
Head tilt
Sebaceous gland adenoma in gerbils and duprasi
Benign
May be metaplasia/hyperplasia
Scent marking gland on ventral abdomen
Remove the whole gland if possible as can recur
Nasal dermatitis in gerbils and duprasi
Bar across the nose, bar chewing
If they have correct husbandry they should have other things to chew on
Tail degloving gerbils and duprasi
Inappropriate handling
Fits in gerbils and duprasi
Certain strains have genetic predispositions
Can try treatment, but often not that successful
Common problems in rats and mice (6)
- Wounds
- mammary tumours
- skin conditions
- pin worm
- respiratory disease in rats
- pituitary gland neoplasia
Wounds in rats and mice
ring tail
- low humidity
- clean, topical creams etc, need to be stopped from chewing tail
fighting or self inflicted with pruritis
rats: need thorough cleaning, potential surgical closure, self interference prevention
mice: may be very hard to get satisfactory outcome
Mammary tumours in rats and mice
Mostly benign in rats, but often large and multiple
Repeated surgeries or early neutering
- Castration or ovariectomy/spaying before 5 months
Most tumours in rats are hormone driven
Tumours in mice are usually malignant
Main risks are self mutilation
Skin conditions in rats and mice
Zimal’s gland neoplasia
- sebaceous gland at base of ear canal
Fur yellowing
- old male rats
- scaly skin and sebum
Bullying
- loss of whiskers and balding of face
- rats can get red discharge around eyes and nose
Fur mites
- Radfordia ensifora
- ivermectin/small cat advocate
- control bacterial infection
- control pain/pruritis
other external parasites
- Notoedres muris
- Sarcoptes
- Trixacarus
- Ringworm
Pin worm in rats and mice
Self inflicted trauma to anus and perineum
Tape strip/faecal test to confirm
Ivermectin/Fenbendazole several times
Respiratory disease in rats
most commonly mycoplasma
environmental triggers
antibiotics may help in first instance, but not relied on
can be ongoing respiratory noise
correct environment
nebulisation (salbutamol, dilute F10 solution, steroid inhaler, bisolvin)
Pituitary gland neoplasia in rats
non-breeding females
overweight animals
signs due to raised intracranial pressure
often poor prognosis
corticosteroids first line of treatment
Fluid therapy in rodents
Herbivores: 50-100ml/kg/24hrs
Omnivores: 50 ml/kg/24hours
