The same problem has happen again

Question
Hello, Hope everyone is doing good.

I had a gerbil which had a Tumor  of the scent gland,and his vet just recommaned to not have sugery because usually gerbils would not wake from the sugery. Ok, we decided to bring him home and let him pass away on his timing. Right now, that was a mistake, because of seeing how he got in time. He go really skinny, and the growth got big and slept all of the time. If we had to go over again, we would have took him back to the vet, and let them put him to sleep.

Well, we have another gerbil now, it is happening again. We are really sad,too,because he is good gerbil,to have.

I got a question, is there away a owner just can put their real sick pets asleep on their own, if so what can they use with out hurting their sick pet.

Someone advised us to give him a overdose of Benadryl and it would be painless, because it would make him to go to sleep.

Really, in my thinking, it would be much better to take your sick pets to the vet, and let them put them to sleep.  

Answer
Hi

I was sorry to read your email about your gerbil.

Tumors in this area (I'm assuming this is on the gerbil's belly??) are quite common.  If the gerbil is young, then surgery is definitely an option.  I had three brother gerbils some years ago and all of them developed tumors in this area.  This part of a gerbil is very glandular and prone to tumors.  For the first one the lump was removed, however within about a month another lump had appeared.  He was operated on again and this time the vet removed all the skin that covered his belly.  My gerbil did look particularly slim after his 'tummy tuck'.  It was a bit worrying as it was important that he did not remove his stitches, however, it healed nicely.  His other two brothers also developed tumors in this area and for both of them the vet removed the entire section of skin covering their belly.  Both were fine.

With tumors and surgery the key things are, firstly, how old is the gerbil - if they are reasonably  young - i.e. under 2, and they are generally in good health apart from this then surgery is definitely an option.  There is always a risk with anaesthesia with any animal.  Secondly, is the tumor superficial or deeply impacted.  If it is superficial as my gerbils' tumors were - none were attached to an organ, then the vet was able to cut them away.

Depending on how old your gerbil is and what his general health is like I would recommend finding a vet who will operate.  I know that some vets have a lot more experience than others when it comes to small animals and it might be a case of phoning round to find one that can help.  If they are happy to give it a try, then there is always the risk that your gerbil won't survive or recover from the surgery or anaesthetic, but at least you would have given him a chance.  Vet fees can be very high, especially when surgery is involved, therefore I strongly advise that you negotiate and agree on this beforehand so that you don't have any nasty surprises afterwards - especially if your gerbil doesn't survive or you end up having him put to sleep a few days later because he hasn't rallied after the anaesthetic.  There is nothing worse than being presented with a huge vet bill when the animal hasn't survived - it is much easier to accept if the animal is well and goes onto live a full life.

With regard to putting an animal to sleep - I would strongly advise against this.  Without having the necessary knowledge you might find that if you decide to overdose an animal that you don't actually kill them, but instead make them suffer more.  Benadryl is an antihistamine and I honestly don't know if this is used in euthanasia. You are not qualified to know what the correct dose would be of any drug to bring on the death and not cause suffering.
If you can find a vet who has good knowledge of small animals it would be worth consulting them - they may come up with an alternative treatment. I often take hamsters/gerbils to the vet as I foster so many and there have been times when I have almost given up hope that the animal will survive and am expecting them to be put to sleep.  However, my vet has been able to suggest a treatment that would save them and they have gone onto live for some time afterwards.  In the event that a vet does recommend euthanasia it is much kinder for the vet to give them a quick sniff of gas which makes them sleepy before injecting with a drug.  

I hope this helps you and that you can find a vet who will be able to help your gerbil.  Good luck with this.

Regard