Gerbil shaking with the heartbeat

Question
I have a pair of gerbils about 2 years old. One has a cancer tumour on his leg which is being checked on by the vet who thinks it's still localised in the leg. He looks very well apart from this. The other gerbil, Peach, has started losing energy, and with every heartbeat his body makes quite a large movement. His heartbeat also appears a bit irregular. I don't know how they could both become ill when I do my best to feed them an excellent diet. Do you have any idea what could be wrong with Peach?

Answer
Netty,
if you got your gerbils from pet stores a lot of times things could be wrong with them from birth but it doesn't show up until their old age. Gerbils only live 2-4 years and it seems like it's something going on with genetics for these two darlings. It's nothing that you could do to prevent it or stop it. Peach may have either a enlarged heart or a heart murmer. I don't think there's anything that can be done for that since the animal is too small to perform such a big operation on. The best thing you can do is to give them the love and attention that you have been doing for two years now.