Pear shaped gerbil

Question
Hello,
One of my gerbils recently became rapidly, evenly, pear shaped, (abdomen swollen?) and unfortunately before I could get him to the vet he died. When we found him it looked like something near a hind leg had ruptured, there was a round wound about 2.5cm across, and I'd really appreciate knowing what happened to  the poor guy :(
Thanks

Answer
Hi Jay

I'm really sorry to hear about your gerbil. The first thing that comes to mind is that he had a tumor.  Aggressive tumors can grow incredibly fast and if they grow in the abdomen they do tend to make the animal pear shaped.  If they get too big the tumor can rupture.  The skin that covers a gerbils abdomen is extremely glandular and it isn't uncommon to have tumors growing there. I've had several that had this although fortunately the tumors grew externally and slow enough for them to have surgery.

I suspect it was something like this, but it is impossible to know without seeing him.  I'm really sorry for your loss, but even if you had found him earlier you probably wouldn't have been able to do anything other than have him put to sleep.

I hope this helps you.

Regards
Sheila