On Wed, 22 November 2000, Deb Rebel wrote:
>
> >my elderly female gerbil ( 2 yrs, 7 mo) has what appears to be a cyst on
> >her chin. I noticed it several weeks ago. she seems to be eating and
> >drinking okay and is still active. yestrday I noticed it seems to be
> getting
> >darker in color and somewhat larger. is there anything I can do. thanks
>
>
> Take her to the vet. It'll take someone checking it out to figure out
> what it is...
>
> Deb
> Rebel's Rodent Ranch
Definitely. Sounds similar to the melanoma I had removed from Spunky's ear. The
sooner it's looked at, the better the chances are that something can be done.
On a personal note, my darling little Danielle died suddenly Monday. I had no idea
anything was wrong with her until Monday morning, I had just got off the phone making
an appointment for Amelia (she was puffy and breathing hard like Prince was) when I
suddenly noticed Danielle huddled in a corner, uncovered, by herself, with her eyes
having that "glued shut" look. When I touched her, she was not quite as warm as
normal (she had seemed fine the night before). So I called the vet back, told them
that there were two gerbils coming instead of one, and went to work. It was only
about an hour and a half until our appointment, but my husband called me just before
and told me she'd died. He'd been getting them all ready, putting them in their
carriers for the vet trip. When he picked Danielle up he also noticed she was a bit
chilled so he held her for awhile to warm her up. She finally wiggled like she wanted
down, so he put her in the carrier only to watch her convulse and !
die. My poor husband was quite upset. I don't think I've ever seen him get choked up
over one of my gerbils before. Since this was the second death in two weeks, plus a
third one sick, I was suddenly concerned that something contagious was going around.
The vet performed an autopsy on poor Danielle, though, and found a huge tumor on her
spleen. I can't believe she went around with that in her and gave no sign of any
problems until the last minute. Not that we could have done anything anyway, tumors
deep inside like that can't be removed from them ... the vet told me that's one of the
problems with gerbils, they frequently hide their symptoms so well that you don't
realize there's a problem until it's advanced. Something about it being a survival
instinct not to show they are sick. I guess that makes sense as predators usually
pick out weak or sick animals, don't they, because they're easier prey? Poor Cici,
this makes the 2nd cagemate she's lost. Well I have five s!
ingle females that I haven't had any luck pairing up, if Cici seems lonely I guess
I'll be hauling out the wire mesh again and see if any of them will take to her.
As for Amelia, the vet thinks perhaps congestive heart failure like Prince had,
possibly a lung infection as well. I am relieved that it wasn't a contagious illness,
and Amelia is responding to antibiotics and some other sort of medicine, I forget
exactly what it is, but it's supposed to help with her excess fluid buildup. A
diaretic (sp?) I think. I have to hide some of it in cooked oatmeal to get enough
into her, she's quite stubborn about the needless syringe. All of the gerbils I've
had to do that with will get annoyed and open their mouths to bite at the syringe,
which of course lets me get the medicine in their mouths. I don't know if she's
smarter than the rest or just more stubborn. :) Anyhoo her breathing seems a bit
better and she's lost some of the puffiness, so evidently it's working. Guess I got
her there in time, unlike Prince. At least I learn from my mistakes. :)
--Tana and The Little Rascals
http://gerbils.freehosting.net
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