Introduction after scent gland surgery

[ps25]

Hi  I posted recently about my 2 year old boys who suddenly declanned.  I am now looking at introducing them both to other adult males, probably in about 4-6 weeks time.

Since they declanned, I noticed that one of them has a small scent gland tumor.  The vet recommends surgery and will probably remove the whole gland.  So I am wondering what is the best timing for the surgery and the introduction.   Should I introduce them and then have the operation (the vet says its not urgent and can easily wait a month or two), or should I do the surgery and then introduce them after he has fully recovered?  Will not having a scent gland create problems for him during an introduction?  Does anyone have experience of introductions with a gerbil without a scent gland?

Thanks

[betty]

What a great question and to be honest I wouldn't want to call it either way? I can't wait to hear from anyone who has experienced this before.

With the scent gland off first (and please make sure they remove the entire gland even if the tumour is only small as they can grow back on the gland) - if he becomes dominant in the new pairing - will the other one not challenge him afterwards? I would consider suggesting another older male who is less likely to want to challenge someone, but sometimes we just get what we get.

Without the scent gland he would have to manage somehow without - or would he 'know' that he can't produce any scent and so naturally choose the non-dominant role? I would assume here that a middle-aged male would be best here as the new friend as then he has more chance of adopting that dominant role early on - settling them faster.

Hmm. How very interesting a problem...

[ps25]

Update - I expect to get his new companion in about 4 weeks time (probably a similarly aged male) and his surgery is scheduled for July 20th. So that gives me about a 4 week window to potentially do an introduction. Urgh - what a dilemma. On the one hand, I worry that if his tumor is bothering him, he'll not be in a good mood for an intro, especially if he will be using his scent gland a lot during the split cage/introduction. On the other hand, I have no idea how well an intro will go if he does not have a scent gland....

[betty]

It will certainly be an odd one.

Looks like noone else had any experience on this either - noone chipped in with any past knowledge. You must be a pioneer!

We would love a step by step account of everything you and they do throughout if you have time - just so there is something on the forum for someone to search for if this ever happens again. Don't worry if you don't have time for a journal - any details would be great.

Cool - and good luck.

[xflower16x]

Hi there. Just wondering how you got on with this?

I am planning to introduce my adult male Elmo to a pair of Male pups and although I've done introductions of this kind before I have never done this where the older male has no scent gland. (Elmo's was removed earlier this year). Like you I am not sure how it affects introductions

Thanks so much for any help! Xx

[Markpd]

Would be interesting and useful to know!