Please Keep Sebastian In Your Thoughts
It’s been a rough weekend here at Twin Squeaks. On Friday night, Sebastian was diagnosed by a local vet with oral cancer. Our usual vet gave the same diagnosis yesterday morning. Tuesday morning, Sebastian will have laser surgery to remove the growth from his lower lip. At that time, it will be biopsied to confirm the diagnosis. Dr. Brad will also check during the surgery to see if there are visible signs that the cancer has spread or if it’s still contained to the mass on his lip.
Sebastian is taking Baytril to treat any secondary infections he might have before he has surgery on Tuesday. He’s also on Metacam, a painkiller that is effective for gerbils when used in the right dosage. It’s made quite a bit of difference for Sebastian in the past couple days. He is much more active than he was Friday before his trip to the vet.
I’m baffled about Sebastian’s illness, because I’ve never heard of another gerbil with oral cancer, and he’s less than two years old. I guess you never can predict these things, though.
I’d really appreciate it if you would all keep Sebastian in your thoughts. Everything hinges on whether the cancer has spread. If it’s still contained, Dr. Brad felt that he should come through the surgery and have a full recovery. If it’s spread, though, there won’t be much more that we can do.
Sebastian is taking Baytril to treat any secondary infections he might have before he has surgery on Tuesday. He’s also on Metacam, a painkiller that is effective for gerbils when used in the right dosage. It’s made quite a bit of difference for Sebastian in the past couple days. He is much more active than he was Friday before his trip to the vet.
I’m baffled about Sebastian’s illness, because I’ve never heard of another gerbil with oral cancer, and he’s less than two years old. I guess you never can predict these things, though.
I’d really appreciate it if you would all keep Sebastian in your thoughts. Everything hinges on whether the cancer has spread. If it’s still contained, Dr. Brad felt that he should come through the surgery and have a full recovery. If it’s spread, though, there won’t be much more that we can do.
posted by Twin Squeaks Gerbils | 5:27 PM
10 Comments:
I'll be praying for the little guy!
My thoughts and prayers are w/you. Keep us updated when you can
Thank you, Sharon and Linette! It means a lot!
Thoughts and prayers are with you.
sorry to hear of your situation. actually i believe that my dear little black gerbil was lost to oral cancer. it came out of nowhere. she developed a sudden swollen jaw, a hard lump and several small lumps on her lips. she lost an incredible amount of weight in a matter of days and by the time i could scedule an appointment she was too weak to even eat . i tried giving her softened food and treats just to keep her interest up but it was too late, she was 2+ y.o. i was shocked at the speed of this thing. if its any consolation consider yourself lucky you have a vet that can even do laser surgery on gerbils. mines a nice guy but i think he couldve only offered me the make her as comfortable as possible speech. best of luck hope things work out for you.
Diane, thanks for the thoughts and prayers.
Anonymous, thank you for writing, and I'm so sorry to hear about your little gerbil who passed away from something similar. :(
We are not entirely sure what we're dealing with with Sebastian. I took him in this morning for his laser surgery, but when my vet examined him, the growth had diminished "significantly." He is no longer convinced that we're dealing with a tumor, even though it looked more like a tumor than an abscess or other growth on Saturday.
Sebastian did not have surgery today. Instead, my vet wants me to continue with the antibiotics and pain meds and bring Sebastian back next week. He's hoping for continued improvement, at which point, if there's still a growth there, we'll biopsy.
I'm happy not only that the growth has gotten smaller but also that we've bought some time for Sebastian to start feeling a bit better before we have to put him under anesthesia.
Sebastian's odds seem much better than they did on Saturday. The growth may not be a tumor, and if it is, it is not as bad as we thought. The last thing in the world I expected to hear today was that this growth that looked highly cancerous had actually gotten smaller. It was a good day. :)
Amen!
Im glad your news sounds is favorable. I was very anxious to hear the results.
just read your update. wonderful and surprising news!wonder what that thing is. i have an old 3+ y.o. gerbil with a swollen lumpy type of thing that appeared overnight. been watching it for a couple of days.on a person it would be like the wrist and all but the tips of the fingers are swollen and all the fur is missing from this area.since there are no real small animal vets in my area im waiting to see if maybe this wont resolve on its own. maybe its from a wheel injury . cant think of what else would cause this .hes not in any apparent discomfort. have you ever heaard of tumors on their paws?even if this were the case i dont see how they could remove it given the size.anyway again glad to hear you had some good news.lori in mass.
poor thing I hope he'll get better soon
Hi Lori,
Have you been able to get your gerbil in to see a vet since you left your comment earlier in the week?
I don't know what's causing the swelling in his paw. I imagine there could be many things that cause it... Could be as simple as an infection, or it could be a symptom of an underlying condition.
I'm glad to hear that he's not in any discomfort.
If it *is* a tumor, you would be surprised what the right vet can do. I had a gerbil named Samantha who had tons of warts in her ear... And my vet was able to remove them by laser. After the surgery, you couldn't even tell, and she didn't seem to even be aware that she'd had surgery.
And if you'd seen the size of the growth on Sebastian's lip (which my vet said he could remove with laser surgery), it's really pretty amazing what's possible!
Hopefully Sebastian won't need the surgery. He goes in for a follow-up appointment this next week. I'm really hoping we'll learn that it wasn't a tumor after all. It was looking that way this week! And the growth *has* shrunk a *lot.*
I hope that your gerbil is doing better and that his paw isn't so swollen anymore! If you find out what it was, please let me know!
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