Your Degu Vet-Prep Sheet
Hayfold a warm home for small-pet folk · hayfold.com Degu — Vet-Prep Sheet
🔍 Find an exotic-mammal vet — before you need one
- Search the AEMV find-a-vet directory (the Association of Exotic Mammal Veterinarians), or, in the UK, the RCVS Find-a-Vet tool — or search “exotic / small-mammal vet near me”.
- Call ahead and ask the key question: “Do you see small / exotic mammals?” Not every vet does. Ask the exam fee while you’re on the phone, so the cost is one less panic in a crisis.
- Find and save one now, while things are calm — not in the middle of an emergency.
📇 Fill this in now — before the crisis
Two minutes now saves ten in a panic. Print it and keep it with your care notes.
🚨 Is this an emergency now?
See a vet promptly if you notice any of these:
- Cloudy eyes (cataracts), excessive drinking or urinating, or unexplained weight gain — signs of diabetes; see a vet
- Drooling, a swollen face, discharge from one or both eyes, or a change in tooth colour — dental disease (healthy degu teeth are orange)
- Lying flat and still in warm conditions — possible overheating; treat as urgent
- Not eating or passing no droppings — a stalled gut is an emergency
- A dropped, degloved or injured tail — see a vet promptly, as it often needs treatment to prevent infection
- Diarrhoea or soft droppings
When in doubt, a vet call is never wrong — most issues are reversible if caught early.
🚗 On the way / while you wait
✅ Do
- Keep it warm — small mammals chill and dehydrate fast, and cold makes almost everything worse.
- Bring it in its own bedding/carrier with some familiar food.
- For rabbits and guinea pigs, keep offering their normal hay, greens and water — a gut that stops is an emergency.
- Bring a fresh dropping or urine sample if you can.
- Keep it calm and quiet.
⛔ Don’t
- Don’t give any human or OTC medicines — some common antibiotics are fatal to rabbits and guinea pigs.
- Don’t withhold food from a rabbit or guinea pig.
- Don’t let it get cold.
- Don’t handle it more than necessary.
🎒 What to bring
- A fresh dropping or urine sample, if you can collect one.
- Photos and a short video of the behaviour or symptom — it may not show it in the clinic.
- A note of your setup and exactly what — and how often — you feed.
- A note of eating, drinking and toileting over the last day.
- The animal in a secure, warm carrier.
🗣️ What to tell the vet
A general vet may not know this species. Come ready to explain its correct care:
- Enclosure
- A large, tall, multi-level cage — the bigger the better — with plenty of room to run, jump, climb, chew, dig and dust-bathe. It must be metal: degus chew straight through plastic and wood. Multi-level ferret or chinchilla cages can work, as long as the bar gaps are narrow enough that a degu can’t squeeze through or get its head stuck. Give a solid base with a deep layer of bedding to dig, plus hay-filled nest boxes to sleep in.
- Companionship
- Degus are social colony animals and should never be kept alone — keep them with at least one other degu. They live in small groups in the wild and rely on that company for their wellbeing.
- Temperature
- Keep them cool: the enclosure should be no warmer than about 20°C. Put it in a cool part of the house, away from radiators and other heat sources. A degu lying still and flat on its stomach may be overheating — treat that as urgent and speak to a vet.
- Substrate
- A solid cage base with a deep layer of bedding — hay, shredded paper, paper tissue, or non-toxic wood shavings — so they can dig and burrow, plus hay-stuffed nest boxes. Avoid dusty bedding, which (with poor ventilation) can cause respiratory problems.
- Enrichment
- Degus are energetic and need outlets: a large, solid exercise wheel and tunnels, plenty of safe things to climb and chew, room to dig — and a dust bath. Offer a shallow, heavy bowl of chinchilla sand about 4 cm deep for them to roll in, but only two or three times a week for around 20 minutes each time (constant access isn’t good for them).
- Diet
- The critical rule is no sugar. Degus are highly prone to type 2 diabetes and can’t handle sugar or rich carbohydrates. Give unlimited good-quality hay as the majority of the diet — it matters more than anything else and wears down their ever-growing teeth — plus about 1–2 tablespoons (≈10 g) of degu nuggets a day. If you can’t get degu-specific nuggets, guinea-pig or chinchilla nuggets are acceptable only if they contain no molasses (and no dried fruit); rabbit, hamster and gerbil foods are not suitable. Skip fruit entirely (too sugary), and give only tiny occasional pieces of higher-sugar vegetables like carrot, sweet potato, beetroot or parsnip. Provide fresh water at all times.
- Supplements
- None needed — and the priority is the opposite of supplementing: keeping sugar out. Avoid sugary commercial treats, which are a common hidden cause of diabetes in degus.
⚕️ Small mammals are prey animals and hide illness until it is advanced, so any change in eating, droppings, drinking or behaviour is urgent — in rabbits and guinea pigs, not eating or passing no droppings for 12–24 hours can be a life-threatening emergency (gut stasis). They also chill and dehydrate quickly, so keep it warm. Tell the vet about your diet and any remedies you’ve used, and ask for exotic-mammal-safe medicines and doses — several antibiotics that are routine in other pets are dangerous to rabbits and guinea pigs.
Then note which of the warning signs (above) you are seeing, when they started, and whether they are getting worse.
❓ Questions to ask
- Do you routinely see small / exotic mammals? If not, can you refer me to a vet who does?
- What are the likely causes — and could my setup or diet be contributing?
- What is the treatment plan, the likely cost, and what should I watch for at home?
- How do I prevent this from happening again?