Post-op gerbil care!

[AmyJo1903]

Hello all,

My 12 month old Male gerbil (Wallace) has had a scent gland tumor removed (earlier on today). He is now at home in his carry case and the vets has replaced his bedding with newspaper... It doesn't appear that Wallace can get comfy on this and he just keeps on doing circuits of the case (I know that this might have something to do with the anesthetic he had) but I am wondering if there is any different types of bedding which you would recommend which might be more comfy for him to settle down in?

Also, he has a brother (Gromit) and I am not sure about when I should introduce them back together? Wallace has a post op appointment with the vet on Monday and the vet recommended I leave them apart for that period of time but I am not sure...

Any advice would be fantastic!

Thanks!

[asher]

I definitely wouldn't keep them in newspaper because of the ink! If your looking for soft material I would use toliet paper for his recovery, or possibly a paper based bedding. You may need to clean it a bit more but it would be comfortable for him recovering.

Im not sure how long to wait before putting them together. I normally would say keep them together, but in this case it might not be the best option. Maybe someone else has had the same experience with this?

[AmyJo1903]

Thank you Asher, yeah I was thinking maybe ripping it up into strips to make it more comfortable. His back legs aren't quite working properly yet and so he cant get comfy on the newspaper as his feet keep sliding around I am thinking about maybe leaving him in his carry case but introducing his brother into it for a little bit later on... then at least I can keep an eye on them (with his scent gland being removed, it might take some time for Gromit to realize that it is his brother)

[betty]

I left mine on the newspaper as it was in long strips and so it couldn't stick to the wound - well that is what my vet recommended and that all worked out fine for me. However, the ink did all come off, and he was blue in the morning and I thought he was a bout to die! So perhaps it you are worried about the ink on newspaper - use ordinary paper - but I think it was the size of the sheets that was the reason for using it - not for comfort.

Not that I am disagreeing with asher here because I haven't tried it myself - but I think that generally tissue paper dissolves a bit when wet so not sure that would be best for his wound? You know when you put tissue paper on a shaving cut it gets all stuck in place... Kitchen roll isn't supposed to melt in the same way - as it is designed to hold together when wet (whereas toilet paper is designed to dissolve in water of course).

Anyway, not sure what to recommend on the pairing up front as I took both mine into the vets for the surgery together even though only one was having the op. So they were both in the same tank with the same smells the whole time, and they came home together in the newspaper tank, and stayed there together for a week on newspaper, then a week on normal bedding, then back into their big tank once everything was back to normal for them.

Because yours have been apart AND one has has surgery, this might not be the best thing - but it seems a bit sad to leave him on his own to recover - I wonder if your vet has had a few bad experiences and so that is why they recommended that to you. Perhaps someone with more experience with re-pairing after short breaks could advise - but maybe you will have to try a split procedure in good time, but their relationship may have changed by then.

How long have they been apart, as if only a short time and you are about for a few hours, then perhaps you could try to introduce the other one to the smells of the temporary tank, and see what things look like.