gerbil with hump on back

[rebekah]

my daugther's gerbil we noticed today has a hump on it's back, is that normal? Or is it sick ? Please reply!

[geikou]

It's hard to tell without seeing your gerbil. Maybe a picture? How old is your gerbil?

One possibility could be a tumor, but I cannot be sure.

[Ritzie/Admin]

It can also be a abscess, a inflammation. And a sick gerbil get lethargic and are not lively. Their coat is dull and they will have a high back, even during walking, which may resemble a hump!

How does it feel? Soft, hard? Is it growing, or stays it the same? Does it hurt? Or is it a curved vertabre of the back? A picture would indeed help.

I would recomment you to visit a vet if you think it is a tumour of an abscess! They can see what it is and if necessarily remove (or drain) the abscess or external tumour!

Here the text on tumours, swellings on my website:

Tumours

Symptoms: Visible or tangible lumps and swellings. Weight loss. A picture of a gerbil with a scent gland tumour can be seen at the Dutch version of this page or the Ailments page of the National Gerbil Society website.

Causes: External tumours will most often occur in the scent gland at the belly of older animals. Tumours will occur more in a breeding line with a lot of inbreeding. Very seldom tumours will appear in the milk glands in the nipples of females. Another form of swellings can be caused by a sub dermal infection. This is called an abscess. A small wound that healed at the surface, while there still remains a sub dermal inflammation causes this.

Treatment: Go always to a vet when your gerbil has a lump or swelling. It can get more worse when you wait too long, as while with a tumour as with an abscess. A vet can successfully remove external tumours, but with other tumours the best solution it to carry out euthanasia, to spare him more painful suffering. An abscess van by a vet easily be opened and cleaned.

Prevention: Prevent inbreeding with your gerbils and be sure that the gerbils won't get wounded.

If it is an inflammation, or just a high back, an bacterial infection, than a antibiotic may help! So again I would recommend to contact your vet!

Best wishes, Peter.