Dark growth on gerbil's belly

[Mygerbiliscute]

My older gerbil, RainDrop, seems to have a rather large, dark growth on his belly that seems to be infected. Does anyone know what it might be?
He seems to be acting pretty normally. He has gotten a bit slower lately, but I assumed that was due to old age (I bought him from a pet shop just over two years ago).

[TJ's Rodent Ranch]

Hi there,

I'm sorry to hear that.
Have you seen an exotic vet about this? It sounds a lot like an SGT (scent gland tumor). Some of them are very slow growing and can start when a gerbil is young and they can live a full life. Others, grow very quickly and can kill a gerbil in a week or less. I would definitely get this seen by a vet if you are able.
Given that it's become more and more noticeable more quickly, I would guess it's faster growing.
The options with an SGT, are to find a vet that can remove the tumor. This is a major surgery, however, so I will say that some don't make it through. It's certainly not bad odds though, so if you do he may very well survive, too. However, if you don't want to do that, I recommend euthanasia, so he doesn't suffer. Without the tumor removed, it could be a matter of days, weeks, or maybe a month, but if it's gotten to the point of going to a vet with a visible bleeding/infected growth, it won't be very long.
It could very well be something else, there are a multitude of things out there other than SGT, but since this particular thing is very common in older males, and the symptoms match up it is likely.

Best of luck to you and your little guy, and don't lose hope!

[betty]

Gerbils always act normally - unless they are really seriously ill - they don't have an inbetween.

So, as said above, if anything on the skin of an animal looks infected it is most likely very uncomfortable at the least, and most likely to get worse due to the heat and itchiness from the infection itself - especially if it IS a scent gland tumour. (I had one myself where an infected pocket came up on the SG, and looked like a blackened penny on the top. Underneath this dark penny was the infection).

If you do opt for SGT surgery then do make sure the vets performing the op remove the ENTIRE scent gland - not just the tumour - so it can't grow back. I have had 100% success with SGT removals myself over the years, but I have heard of others who had different complications/scenarios also.

If you don't opt for surgery as many don't (or euthanasia), then pain relief and a change in substrate/enclosure would be you main stay for the next few days/weeks to see how he goes along with any additional advice or treatments from your vet. Gerbils do readily eat the meloxidyl/metacam anti-inflammatories (on a raison or nut, etc) but some aren't too keen on the plain sulfatrim-like antibiotic - it is often mixed with a fruit flavouring first (ask you vet how to do this if antibiotics are given).

Best wishes to the little chap whatever is causing this...

[tanzanyte]

I've just been through similar with both of my boys and both acted normally for a few weeks, however Max did start messing ab9out with it and making it bleed so it was bothering him.
I phoned round to find which vets carried out the SGT removal procedure and how often they'd done it and to get a price as it can be quite costly. Most vets gave me an all in price including consult meds and follow up, so it's good if you can do that rather than going to normal vets, paying a consultation and then finding they don't do those sort of operations and have to refer on as it just increases it all if cost is an issue.

I hope Raindrop is doing ok and you manage to get something sorted.

[Mygerbiliscute]

Sorry for being slow to update; busy with real life!
I was able to get an appointment at a veterinarian yesterday and she confirmed that it was, indeed, a tumor. She suggested trying pain medication and seeing how he does with it, but I couldn't see myself going that route. I asked if euthanasia was a possibility, and she agreed that it wasn't a bad decision. She administered a sedative (it was amazing to see him get so relaxed right away) and then took him off to be euthanized.
I'll surely miss RainDrop, he was a really sweet gerbil with an endearing personality. However, I enjoyed him for over two years, which is good for a pet-shop gerbil, so I have no regrets.
I'm going to be out of town for a few days next week, but when I return I'll get to work looking for a new gerbil companion for my remaining gerbil, Regent.
If I can figure out the mysteries of imgur, I'll try to post a photo in the gerbil memorial section.

[TJ's Rodent Ranch]

I'm so sorry to hear about the loss of RainDrop. He sounds like he was a very sweet gerbil, and he was lucky to have you.
It's always very hard to let go of them, especially when it's through something like euthanasia, it can be even more difficult.
I usually use ImgBB. I find it very useful, and tends to be more straightforward.

The link is here: imgbb.com/

Click the 'start uploading' button, choose the image you would like from your device files, then click upload, after this you should see a little drop down called 'embed links'. If you want it to be a link to the image, so someone clicks it and goes to a different tab, than leave it as it is, copy the link in the box below and paste it in your document. However, if you want it to be an image straight in the post, without a link then click on the drop down. Ignore the HTML codes, it's just the BBCode you want.
There's BBCode full, BBCode full linked, BBCode medium linked, and BBCode thumbnail linked. BBCode full and BBCode full linked are pretty much the same.  
These are all obviously different sizes, starting from the largest and ending in the smallest. I generally use Medium linked, it seems to be the most central and yet too large to focus the whole screen, but I also often use BBCode full linked, if I'm looking for a bit of a bigger image, which is what I more commonly use for memorials, and find in memorials.
I'll show them all below as my results of the image. 


BBCode full



BBCode full linked



 BBCode Medium linked



 BBCode Thumbnail linked 





I hope that this has helped, and you are doing okay.

[betty]

Sorry to hear it was a SG tumour - they really aren't fair those things.

Bless him - and you. It is always a sad day...