This may be a bit long.

Last week I heard my Degu sneezing, I looked around the net for some advice on what it may be (made a post here too). I decided to take Dylan to the vets, she spent ages chasing him around the room with a towel, I was nearly in tears because my goo was so stressed out, then she tells me he has pneumonia and sends me home with meds to put in his water. I was unsure about this because the other Degus drink the water too?

I asked for advice from so experienced degu owners and they said I shouldn't put it in the water. Couldn't ring the vets over the weekend because they wouldn't see me. Got another appointment Monday and they told me he'd got worse and its fine he can take it in the water, but I demanded to know their proper doses so I could give him the right amount. Tried lots of methods to get the drugs down him, but he wouldn't eat even his favourite food with it on. The vet rung me to check if he was ok, I said I couldn't get him to take the meds and he's the more timid of the 3 and doesn't like being handled like the other 2. They suggested some things and they didn't work. I rung them again and they referred me to an exotics vets. I rung up got an app, registered my goos with them and saw the vet.

He took everything out of their hamster cage, which I use as a carrier to look at them. Then he gave Dylan a sedative so that he wouldn't get stressed while he examined him. He did loads of tests, and gave him a full examination, and came back and said he is completely health, had I changed anything in their cage? I said I bought a different hay, and he said for me to take it out and replace it with Timothy hay or something similar. Dylan isn't sneezing much at all now, so it seemed the hay I had must have been really dusty.

The vet said I had 3 very healthy and happy goos and I must be taking good care of them. He tested them for diabetes for free and it came back clear.

I'm over the moon that my degus are happy and healthy, he see's degus daily and has been through extra vet training for exotic animals. But I'm annoyed at the other vets for telling me he was seriously ill when he isn't at all.

All that stress they went through for nothing

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very sorry to hear this, I thoroughly believe that a good rabbit vet is worth their weight in gold, a "normal" vet is a waste of money. I feel the same to all small animals tbh, the vets study what they need to gain accreditation, the rest is experience and passion to keep learning

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