Tobias update:

It’s been five weeks since Thomas died and Tobias seems to have been doing quite well with the loss, he doesn’t seem to have been mourning. Tobias is still active and has his appetite.

Tobias hasn’t been drinking much so we went to the vet who couldn’t find anything wrong, not even dehydration! Six days later Tobias developed cataracts, there was no sign of them the week before and there aren’t any of the other usual indicators of diabetes (drinking and urinating more). It’s most likely that the cataracts are because of diabetes but because there is no treatment for degus it was decided that as Tobias isn’t currently struggling it isn’t worth the risk of anaesthetic to do a blood test.

The usual cause of diabetes is diet, however it is also possible to have a sudden onset of diabetes and my vet is confident in saying that Tobias’ presumed diabetes wasn’t brought on by his diet.

I’ve tried to introduce Tobias and Daniel but unfortunately Daniel is too aggressive. Daniel’s cage was moved in to Tobias’ room for a few weeks during which time they only had contact through the cage bars when one of them was out of his cage for a run. Tobias was mostly curious about Daniel, Daniel was aggressive, there was a lot of teeth chattering and trying to bite Tobias through the bars. I had hoped that the aggression would reduce given enough time but after Daniel managed to bite Tobias’ finger and break it Daniel’s cage has been moved back to the room with the other three degus. Tobias’ finger initially looked to be healing well but became necrotic and needed amputating. Given Thomas’ difficulty with anaesthetic I was worried about Tobias but he’s doing well and is anxious to get out of his temporary one level enclosure and back in to his usual cage.

Tobias is on his own for the moment but I’m looking to get some pups to introduce him to. I’m hoping to find a breeder within a two hour drive but haven’t found anyone so far. I’m also looking out for anyone re-homing pups at the right age, I haven’t come across any yet. Ideally I would get the pups from a reputable breeder as they’re likely to be better socialised and healthier. I love my four rescue degus but there was a lot of inbreeding and I’m constantly at the vet with them and I would like to avoid that level of stress with the next degus I get.