gerbil scent gland tumour operation

Question
My Gerbil is due to have a small lump removed tomorrow.Scent gland tumour he has to have removed or it can start to grow internally.I am very worried about him and this operation.I have read that its a very simple straight forward, succesfull procedure,but im still worried .He is not 2yrs old till febuary 2010..Thanks..

Answer
Hi Tracey

This is quite a common procedure.  I had three gerbil brothers who all required the surgery.  When the first one had the operation the vet just removed the tumor but it re-appeared pretty soon after so he decided to remove the whole of the glandular skin on the gerbils' tummy.  After that whenever any gerbil developed a tumor there he removed the whole lot in one go.  I don't know if your vet is planning on just removing the tumor or the whole area - it might be worth checking with him on this.  My gerbils all made a full recovery from the surgery (and had a very trim waistline for a while!).

There is always a danger with surgery and sadly not all animals survive the anaesthetic, but if your gerbil doesn't have this surgery then the tumor could become very serious.  He has his age in his favour.  The biggest worry is that gerbils love chewing and the danger is that they chew their stitches - hopefully your vet will insert some dissolvable stitches that your gerbil can't get to.

I hope everything goes well and he makes a full recovery.  

Regards