Gerbil hind legs

Question
Hi - Have been trying to find some info about our gerbil's problem, but no luck so far.  Mimi is about 2 1/2 - 3 yrs old, and recently began limping on one back leg.  It seems to be progressing over last 2 weeks as she is less mobile - seems to be BOTH back legs as of the last couple days.  She is still eating (so far) and kind of drapes herself over her food dish as she has some trouble standing erect next to it...hasn't been doing nearly as much, if any, digging, chewing, etc.  Can't detect any injury except perhaps a very slight bit of swelling in the foot/feet.  She never liked having a wheel (she pretty much ate the first plastic one) so I was a little concerned maybe not enough exercise?  We are sadly lacking in exotic/small animal vets where I live - Wyoming - everybody's got horses and cows, and rodents are for shooting :) Been trying to take her out and let her hobble around a little more often.  Any ideas?  

Answer
Hmmmm... well this is certainly something i've seen but have never been able to figure out what it was. My guess is there could be blockage of blood to her legs or gerbil arthritis since she is so old, but since there is swelling to me it could be that she is not getting enough blood to her hind legs. Without a vet diagnosis there is really nothing you can do for her. She is old in gerbil years so the doctor probably wouldn't have much information to give to you anyway. I am not a vet myself so I really can't diagnosis what she has. My best petcare knowledge would have been to tell you to go to a vet but since you are lacking vets, my best advice would be to just make her as comfortable as possible. I would buy a softer bedding for her like carefresh or sorbent's bedding to make moving around easier. Bring her close to her water bottle so she won't be dehydrated and just bring her to her food bowl to help her out. Since there is really no cure for her that I've known of the only thing you can do is to make her comfortable. You've given her a full and happy life. You should be a proud parent. I really think old age is just settling in for her. She may not live much longer since she is having trouble getting up but you've done all you can do and you should be proud of yourself for that. Good luck and I hope she does recover and gets better on her own but if she doesn't you should know you have done all you can do for her. :-) Keep me posted on anything that happens.