Yesterday I noticed my lilac Rascal, who has had two laser
surgeries to remove a lump from his ear, is scratching his
ear again. Closer inspection confirmed my fears - the lump
is back again. I don't see the point in putting him
through surgery a third time. The vet told me frankly that
if the second time did not do it, there isn't anything more
he can do. I guess it is malignant or something as it keeps
coming back. I am so sad. All I can do is put medicine on
it to make it feel a little better, and do everything I can
to make him happy. At some point his quality of life will
deteriorate and I'll have to have him put to sleep. It
tears me up every time I look at him. :( He is fussing
with his cagemate Pookie more than usual, I assume because
he isn't feeling well.
On top of that I've had several failed introductions lately,
two of which resulted in injuries as I couldn't get them
separated fast enough. I have never had this much trouble.
I haven't been doing anything different, I guess it's just
coincidence. I have 2 males that I've decided simply want
to be alone, as I've tried three times to introduce each one
to another male. I figure after three tries it's pretty
obvious they don't want a companion. One of them had a
cagemate that died so I guess it's understandable he doesn't
want anyone else. I also have two females alone, but I only
tried once with them. Technically I guess I should try
again with each of them, but I just can't. Right now one of
them is not using her right hind foot at all, I think it's
broken. I just don't have the nerve to attempt any more
introductions after these disasters. My plan is to find
them each a new home and give their new owners advice on
introducing them to a cagemate. (Providing Lillian's leg
heals -- if it doesn't I'll probably keep her. She is a
little trooper though, she manages to jump with just one
working leg!!) I'll have to make sure they are willing to
have more than they expected should the introduction fail.
On the bright side, we just got a new computer as a gift,
and it has one of those little web cameras (I think that's
what they're called?) This weekend I'm going to experiment
with taking gerbil pictures for my site and for
advertisements. Maybe I can get some really cute pictures
that will interest people. I just can't take care of 16
tanks of gerbils. My health won't allow it. Sigh.
--
Tana and The Little Rascals
http://thesanctuary.tripod.com
http://gerbils.freehosting.net
http://www.geocities.com/tinypaws68/
