Gerbil wheezing

Question
Hi, my gerbils are now over 3 years old. One of them has become a little less active over the last week, and 2 days ago i rushed her to the vets because she had a blood colored discharge coming from her eyes. The vet explained how she was just old etc but gave me antibiotics to give to her. When I took her out the cage today to give her the medicine i could hear her wheezing as she breathed. I put her back in the cage after and she didn't really move for 2 hours (just stood in the middle of the cage)and i think she's struggling to breathe. She has finally made it back into her bed but still looks uncomfortable.
I could take her back to the vets...my main concern is that I don't want her to be in pain. I've heard that gerbils are prone to respiratory infections-are they usually in pain at this stage? Should i carry on giving her the anti biotics?when i take her out the cage to give them to her i think it stresses her out more than they are making her better.
I would be grateful for any advice, thank you
Tanya

Answer
Hello!

In my experience antibiotics do normally help with respitory problems and so i would advise continuing to give them to her, otherwise in the long run she may just get worse and be in further pain without the treatment. If you are concerned again i would take her back to the vets for the same reasons i said for the antibotics.

With regards to the red discharge, they aren't harmful nor are they actually blood, but they do tell you the gerbil is ill or not feeling great/or is stressed, so again for this reason i would continue the antibotics and see the vet again.

I think maybe do the course of antibiotics and then go back to the vets afterwards if there is no improvement as this way you are minimising stress the best you can.

I hope this helps,
Charlie