gerbil bitten by a cat

Question
One of my gerbils got loose earlier today and was pounced on by my sister's cat. The cat had her in his mouth but dropped it when I yelled and ran towards it. The gerbil ran away and took a few minutes to catch. I thought she was ok, but then found a puncture mark on her back just behind her head. I cleaned it and put on antibiotic ointment. For the past few hours, my gerbil's been laying in the bottom corner of her cage and hasn't moved (except to dodge my hands when trying to catch her to put on the ointment). I don't know if she's in shock (especially since she's used to the 2 gerbil-friendly cats at my house) or seriously hurt. Any advice?

Answer
Hi Laura

I'm sorry to hear about your gerbil.  

It could be that the bite actually went deeper than you thought and that she has been injured.  Also, are there any other bite marks on her?  If she has one puncture mark, she is bound to have more because of the way a cat would hold her in its mouth.  She may well be in shock right now - I had a gerbil once who was bitten by his brother and he was pretty ill.  He was losing fluid out of his wounds, and I wonder if perhaps your gerbil is too.  If this is the case, you can buy a packet of oral rehydration powders (in the chemist) and mix with water as per the instructions.  If you can hold her - give her some of this from a dropper.  If she has lost any fluids this will help replace them.  

Do you have a local vet that you can take her to?  Would you be able to take her in her cage, rather than stress her by transferring her to another cage?  If so, I would be tempted to do this.  

I do hope you get on OK.

Regards