# Tumor on Penis - ADVICE NEEDED



## juliethecat (May 30, 2014)

Hello,
Brief history - I have had Martin for about three to four months now and I am unfortunately his third home, so he does have some social issues. Good news is that I will not give him up. His previous owner had taken him into the vet for an enlarged penis and the vet was able to drain the penis and Martin seemed to be okay.

Well, Martin's penis again was enlarged now in my custody. He did not react in pain when it was touched, nor has he been acting differently. He eats, drinks, runs around, etc just fine.

I took him into the vet today and the vet once again drained his penis and said it was a weird tan tissue like substance that came out and that this was the second time that he did this, so it is most likely that this will keep coming back bigger and bigger every time. He seems to think that it is a tumor. I have the option of biopsying it and sending it to a lab to see what it is for sure or my other option is to amputate the penis and have the vet reconstruct his tubes down there so that he can pee out of just a hole. 

I do not know what I want to do. If I biopsy it and it turns out to be something that can be cured without surgery, it may turn into chemotherapy or something, which is just as difficult. But, it also seems very rash to just amputate his whole penis.

Martin is only 1 1/2 years old so he is at the beginning of his life and has a good chance of recovering from anesthesia and surgery.

I am looking for advice. Have any of you put your hedgies through surgical procedures or have they had tumors and can you please share your experience with me. 

The surgery itself would be $390 and the biopsy is like $120 if I decide to include that.

I want to help Martin and euthanasia is not an option because Martin deserves a fighting chance as he is otherwise 100% healthy and the vet said that the tumor does not seem like it has spread in any way.

Thank you all so much!


----------



## Draenog (Feb 27, 2012)

I have no experience with this but I hope they can help him. I know of penis amputations (or a part of it) in other animals that have worked out well but I'm not sure if anyone has done it for a hedgehog.


----------

