A Degu-Circus

It seems like our degu-circus has been never-ending. To be honest, even now, the show isn't quite over yet. Today, however, we wanted to discuss Darren and Duncan in particular. The brothers have been through numerous surgeries because of their behavior.

We will talk you through what happened in detail.

As always, we will break the post down into clear sections.

The First Fight:

Darren had developed a severe lower-respiratory infection. For those of you who have never owned degus, they're not known for their sympathy and empathy towards others. Quite often, degus can bully their weaker cage mates. Sometimes, as strange as it sounds, the occasional torment between degus isn't problematic - no two groups are the same. As they're vastly individual with their own unique personalities, socialization amongst degus is a complicated subject.

Anyway, Duncan is/was the alpha-degu of the group and a stereotypical mans-man. He ruled with an iron fist and was very quick to let his brothers know if he was unhappy with them for whatever reason - it was his way or no way.

As Darren was suffering from an LRI (undetected at the time), he was understandably weaker. Duncan, with his strong presentation, wasn't about to accept his group becoming weaker simply because his brother was poorly. In Duncan's mind, Darren had to go.

In the wild, a degu who was no longer considered part of their group would simply leave, although they would be more susceptible to predators as a result. In captivity, they're caged animals, they cannot get away. Duncan was a 290g-300g degu compared to Darren's 200g compromised frame. It didn't take long for Duncan to do a number on Darren. We separated them as soon as we could.

Darren's First Surgery:

Duncan inflicted significant injuries to Darren's tail as well as superficial wounds to his chin and ear. Given the severity of the injuries, we felt Darren required a qualified veterinarian's opinion. This gave him a stronger chance of recovery than if we carried out basic first-aid at home.

As you can see in the image above, Darren's tail took the brunt of the attack. When at the vets, they performed a thorough clinical investigation to ensure no underlying health issues went undetected - he required general anesthesia. All of his teeth were healthy, no masses could be palpated, his body temperature was normal, however, the end of his tail was cold to touch. To reduce the risk of potential sepsis, topical Flamazine/Silver Sulfadiazine (topical antibiotic) cream was prescribed. We raised our concerns about issues Darren had presented at home. Firstly, Darren appeared lethargic and unkempt. He'd occasionally been producing smaller feces. The most worrying, Darren had lost 30g - 10g of which within 48hrs.
The vet found that information particularly useful. When Darren came round from the inhalant anesthesia, he developed audible respiration. Now, gas can irritate the airways of any patient but Darren's symptoms coincided with a lower-respiratory infection. Once we'd discovered Darren had an LRI, it answered the question as to why Duncan suddenly turned on Darren.
Darren was introduced to Baytril/Enrofloxacin: a broad-spectrum antibiotic belonging to a group of antimicrobial agents known as Fluoroquinolones. Fluoroquinolones are particularly effective against pneumonia, urinary tract infections (UTIs), bacterial diarrhea, and skin and soft tissue infections.
The vet was unable to obtain sufficient quantities of Darren's urine to carry out a thorough urinalysis. If a UTI was present, then Darren was already on the appropriate medication.
The final part of Darren's homecare was intermittent syringe feeds of Oxbow 'Critical Care' recovery diet. 

The days that followed produced some very mixed results. Darren's LRI appeared to stabilize, if not improve somewhat. Whereas his tail was dying.

The 'whiteness' of the tail is Flamazine cream, not bone.

On top of a dying tail, Darren had also lost a further 30g (40g within 7 days). Our vet and the exotic specialists all agreed that radiographs were required. Hopefully, the x-rays would help determine the extent of damage that had been inflicted to Darren's tail - they'd also provide more insight for Darren's teeth and lungs.

The radiographs helped our veterinarian determine that Darren had sadly developed Osteomyelitis of the lower vertebrae. Osteomyelitis is a painful and rare bone infection that can lead to permanent damage if not successfully treated - early intervention is more promising. Sadly, our vet and the exotics were all in agreement that a total tail amputation was necessary for Darren to make a full recovery. As Darren was battling an LRI, the surgery was more high risk; anesthesia puts pressure on the cardiovascular and respiratory system, making respiratory arrest more likely. On the other hand, if the tail was left, Darren was susceptible to gangrene, sepsis, deformities, necrosis, and pain. 

We gave our consent for the vets to go ahead an amputate Darren's tail.

WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES CONTAINING SURGICAL CONTENT!

In a matter of days, it was apparent how much Darren's bone infection had diminished his wellbeing. After the amputation, Darren began to show improvements at a rapid rate. The vet increased his dose of Metacam and also extended the antibiotic course by an additional week. 

Darren flourished and adapted astoundingly quickly to life as an amputee. Once he'd recovered, it was time to find Darren some friendship once again.

Duncan's Neuter:

With Darren no longer suffering from an LRI or a bone infection, we thought Duncan may accept his brother back. 

Duncan wasn't happy to see Darren again. He was less than welcoming of his brother's new disability. Duncan also attacked his other two brothers, Dave and Darious, as well.

Given that his behavior was becoming increasingly problematic, we decided it was within all of the degus best interest for Duncan to be castrated - also known as an orchiectomy.

Duncan handled the surgery with near to no complications. Given the boy's feisty behaviour, we decided it would be best for Duncan to temporarily be housed in isolation to prevent both direct and indirect damage to the surgical site. He did suffer another penile prolapse which became very inflamed and irritated. Fortunately, we were able to resolve the issue at home. He was already prescribed oral Metacam/Meloxicam (NSAID) to alleviate post-surgical pain. We applied topical Vaseline to help lubricate the penis, this aided us when helping return the penis to its usual position. We also applied topical Savlon (antiseptic cream) to any irritated skin. 

After we managed to resolve his prolapse, Duncan's recovery was plain sailing. 

After a few weeks, Duncan's hormones also began to settle. We decided to try and reunite the boys again. Introductions on the neutral ground were significantly better than before. Unfortunately, when it came to the boys forming a group-dynamic, Dave, Darious, and Duncan bullied Darren again. We decided to pull Darren from the group as blood had been drawn and he was becoming extremely stressed. On a positive note, Dave, Darious, and Duncan have lived together harmoniously since his neuter.

Darren's Second Surgery:

Around this time, we'd recently rescued two female degus - Demi and Dolly. We also had two male degus - Damian and Draco. After conversing with several experienced degu keepers and experts, we decided it would be most sensible to try and bond Darren to Demi and Dolly. Only, in captivity, although we could use natural urges to our benefit, we didn't want to actually have our degus reproducing. We opted for Darren to be castrated as it is a less invasive surgery, and he was a lone male - rather than spaying 2 females. Darren was booked in for surgery.

Darren handled the anesthesia and the procedure with ease, I suppose it was nothing compared to his previous battles.

After several months, we're happy to say that Darren has a companion once again! We will explain in a separate post why Dolly isn't part of the group. We hope she will join them in the future. We genuinely shed tears of joy when we saw Darren with a friend again.

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