Gerbil Eye

Question
Dear Sheila,

My gerbil's eye is bleeding from the tear duct, it keeps drying and going all crusty and he's trying to rub it off.
He's quite an old gerbil, and our vet doesn't really have a small animal specialist.

Also, I have some Roborovski hamsters and I was wondering what was the best way to introduce a new one. I bred them for a while but there were no boys and the father is suffering from deppression. He's 8 months old. Do you know anything about Roborovskis? Just some basics on introduction would be fine.

Thank you, hope you can help.
Becky

Answer
Hi Becky

Sorry to hear about your gerbil.  Are you absolutely sure it is blood?  The reason for my question is that most rodents have a special gland behind their eyeball called Harderian Glands.  These glands produce a reddish material that may look like blood.  Its purpose is to act as a lubricant for the eye and it tends to be produced in larger quanities when the animal is unwell.  This can be cleaned away gently with a damp cloth.  

If it is blood, then he really needs some sort of eye treatment as he might have actually injured his eye, scratched it etc. It is important that the area is kept clean so that it doesn't infect.   If it is the reddish discharge from the glands, then whilst this in itself isn't serious, it could indicate that there is something else wrong with him.  You have mentioned that he is quite old, are there any other signs of old age?  How does he behave generally?  Is he still eating/playing normally?  Does his coat look OK or is it dry and dull?  I think it would be worth you examining him to check that there is nothing else happening.  

Regarding the roborovski hamsters - whilst it is a good idea to put dwarf hamsters together, sadly in reality this doesn't always work out.  If you think he is 'depressed' then how about adding some more toys to his cage, or putting him in a larger cage with things to do?  I would be very reluctant to try and introduce him to another hamster (unless you wanted to mate him) as it would more than likely end up with them fighting and their lives becoming miserable.  If you did decide to mate him, then you still run the risk of the litter not having any males, and you could end up with loads of female hamsters.  I foster hamsters for a rescue centre and invariably end up looking after single dwarf hamsters for this very reason.  You might find a site that can advise you as to how to introduce him to another male, but I personally wouldn't want to try this.

I hope you get on OK.

Regards