Good-bye, Isabell. Good-bye Daisy.
Last week, R called to tell me that Isabell, our oldest remaining degu, had died. She was 9 years old.
Isabell was born in our apartment in 2004. Her parents were Lucy and Sparky. She lived with us her whole life. She was a sweet girl and a good mama. She was a bossy little lady! She bossed her daughter Daisy around all the time. She was kind of big for a degu, very bulky. We called her a mini-bear. She liked to hog the wheel and she liked to sleep on top of her daughter, Daisy.
Isabell was healthy as a horse her whole life. I don't think she ever even had a vet visit, to be honest . . . she just never ever had any problems. Even on her last day, R said she was healthy and bright and active right up until the end. He went into the office and found her showing symptoms of stroke. He held her while she died.
Her daughter, Daisy, was left being our only degu. Daisy was sad. She missed her mom and was clearly depressed. R said that when he cleaned her cage, she dug a hole in the bedding and stuck her face in it and laid there :(
But yesterday, she was starting to perk up, and today she ran on her wheel and seemed happier and fine. And then this evening, R went into the office and found her dead. She was 8 years old.
Daisy was kind of a miracle degu. About 5 years ago, she started losing weight and had some goo in her eyes. She dropped her food. These are symptoms of tooth overgrowth. We took her to the vet and he found that actually, she was missing an entire tooth. The tooth that was missing had a lot of scar tissue where it had been, so it had been gone for awhile. The tooth that was overgrown was the one across from it, that was supposed to be worn down by rubbing against the now-missing tooth, (Rodents don't actually wear their teeth down ON objects they chew; instead, their teeth rub against each other when they chew, including when they eat. If a tooth is missing, the tooth opposite overgrows.)
The vet anesthetized Daisy and trimmed her tooth. Because there was no opposite tooth, we expected that we would need to bring her in every 3 months for another trim, for the rest of her life. The miracle is that she never needed another trim. Her opposing tooth never gave her another problem. For some reason, it just didn't get overgrown ever again.
Daisy was slow to get her full growth because when she was a baby, she was kind of runty, so her sisters blocked her from eating. We would have to house her separately sometimes, so she could eat and gain weight. She did eventually reach full degu size. She was born with us and lived with us her whole life, and we loved her. She sometimes resented Isabell's bossy-ness and they had some arguments. Sometimes they would spend a whole day squealing at each other.
Once, back in 2007 or so, the girls were living in a big plexiglass cage. Isabell had begun chewing on an area of the cage. In an attempt to dissuade her, R set the exercise wheel (which was a heavy, solid metal contraption) right in front of that area, kind of blocking it. Isabell, however, was not deterred: she knocked the wheel over and went to chewing. Daisy, though, wanted to run on the wheel, so she painstakingly got her little shoulders under it and pushed it back upright. Isabell promptly knocked it back down. Daisy pushed it back up. This went on for a couple of days at least. Daisy and Isabell both knew what they wanted.
We will miss these little girls. I hope they were happy and that death didn't hurt them. They were both quite elderly, but I think it was the loss of her mother that was just to much for little Daisy. She had so much heart.
Isabell was born in our apartment in 2004. Her parents were Lucy and Sparky. She lived with us her whole life. She was a sweet girl and a good mama. She was a bossy little lady! She bossed her daughter Daisy around all the time. She was kind of big for a degu, very bulky. We called her a mini-bear. She liked to hog the wheel and she liked to sleep on top of her daughter, Daisy.
Isabell was healthy as a horse her whole life. I don't think she ever even had a vet visit, to be honest . . . she just never ever had any problems. Even on her last day, R said she was healthy and bright and active right up until the end. He went into the office and found her showing symptoms of stroke. He held her while she died.
Her daughter, Daisy, was left being our only degu. Daisy was sad. She missed her mom and was clearly depressed. R said that when he cleaned her cage, she dug a hole in the bedding and stuck her face in it and laid there :(
But yesterday, she was starting to perk up, and today she ran on her wheel and seemed happier and fine. And then this evening, R went into the office and found her dead. She was 8 years old.
Daisy was kind of a miracle degu. About 5 years ago, she started losing weight and had some goo in her eyes. She dropped her food. These are symptoms of tooth overgrowth. We took her to the vet and he found that actually, she was missing an entire tooth. The tooth that was missing had a lot of scar tissue where it had been, so it had been gone for awhile. The tooth that was overgrown was the one across from it, that was supposed to be worn down by rubbing against the now-missing tooth, (Rodents don't actually wear their teeth down ON objects they chew; instead, their teeth rub against each other when they chew, including when they eat. If a tooth is missing, the tooth opposite overgrows.)
The vet anesthetized Daisy and trimmed her tooth. Because there was no opposite tooth, we expected that we would need to bring her in every 3 months for another trim, for the rest of her life. The miracle is that she never needed another trim. Her opposing tooth never gave her another problem. For some reason, it just didn't get overgrown ever again.
Daisy was slow to get her full growth because when she was a baby, she was kind of runty, so her sisters blocked her from eating. We would have to house her separately sometimes, so she could eat and gain weight. She did eventually reach full degu size. She was born with us and lived with us her whole life, and we loved her. She sometimes resented Isabell's bossy-ness and they had some arguments. Sometimes they would spend a whole day squealing at each other.
Once, back in 2007 or so, the girls were living in a big plexiglass cage. Isabell had begun chewing on an area of the cage. In an attempt to dissuade her, R set the exercise wheel (which was a heavy, solid metal contraption) right in front of that area, kind of blocking it. Isabell, however, was not deterred: she knocked the wheel over and went to chewing. Daisy, though, wanted to run on the wheel, so she painstakingly got her little shoulders under it and pushed it back upright. Isabell promptly knocked it back down. Daisy pushed it back up. This went on for a couple of days at least. Daisy and Isabell both knew what they wanted.
We will miss these little girls. I hope they were happy and that death didn't hurt them. They were both quite elderly, but I think it was the loss of her mother that was just to much for little Daisy. She had so much heart.