Post-surgery care

[DefunctHunk]

Hi all,

Our lil man, Dipper, is about 2 years 4 months old. He's always given us quite a few health scares (bad ankle after a fall, lost fur repeatedly) but he's the sassiest, most intelligent lil guy and we love him so much.

Around last Thursday, my partner noticed a lump on Dipper's upper chest/lower neck area. It was a fairly substantially sized lump that wasn't there the day before. She took him to the vets on Friday, who confirmed that it was a tumour but was unable to say whether it would be cancerous or benign. He said that surgery was an option and that he would not recommend it if he didn't think there was a good chance of Dipper surviving the surgery. We agreed to undergo the surgery, which happened today.

While Dipper survived the surgery, it's now clear that the tumour was cancerous. Though Dipper does not have any more lumps (that we can see), we understand that this means our time left with him is limited. Because of this, we feel extremely guilty making him go through the surgery - though it may have bought him more time, it was clearly traumatic for him. He's normally very cheeky and sassy, but since the surgery this afternoon he refuses to be anywhere near us, has felt very cold and is very slow and sluggish. We understand that these are normal results of the surgery and hope that he will recover within the next 24 hours.

Is there anything we can do to help him in this time? We've been given antibiotics, which I believe we are going to start administering tomorrow morning (we're letting him rest for now). What can we do to help him feel better and recover?

Thanks in advance! Fingers crossed for the lil man please!

[RolyRocks]

I'm so sorry to hear your news, Dipper sounds like a very much loved member of your family. I have only had my male Syrian for about 3 months but am so attached to the little guy, for such small animals they certainly have bucket loads of character!
Sadly, I don't feel I can offer you much advice, other than to keep him warm and quiet. If you feel he is cold, you could maybe place a hot water bottle wrapped in a towel on the outside of his cage, near to where he sleeps. Maybe offer him some cucumber for the moisture content.
Hopefully after the first 24/48 hours he will start to feel more like his normal self. He has been through a lot bless him and just needs some time to recuperate.
Wishing you a speedy recovery Dipper!

[LunaTheHamster1]

Sorry to hear that you are going thru this right now. If you aren't doing this already I would suggest making him a hospital cage up to recover in - by this i mean either remove all platforms and wheels etc in his normal cage or remove his bed and food and water and put it and him in another secure cage/box - with his own bedding/substrate. Just till he can recover a bit more. This could stop him hurting himself if he is a bit groggy etc. I know he will probably be bored like this, but it is only for 1 night. Just keep him nice and quiet and warm for now. Hope he recovers soon.