anyone know anything about mice? worried about mine.

Crumble Froo

hi all.

just wondering, i noticed a couple of days ago that my white mouse seems a lot dirtier than usual. just around his bum/balls area, seems a lot smellier than usual, and and kinda wet (i think, i can't quite make my mind up about that bit), but stained/coloured a pale brownish colour too.

seems as though he's had diarrhea and not been able to clean it, but i can't see any other evidence of that. or possibly not been cleaning the cage out enough? or maybe his sleeping quarters? (ok, he's only one mouse, but you could comfortably fit more than 5 in the space i have for him, so i tend to clean out his smaller sleeping area about once a week, and his larger cage every fortnight).

other than that, he seems about the same as always, eyes are just as bright, his sleep/eating patterns are about the same. doesnt seem any more or less active than before.

i have just remembered that about 2 weeks ago, i started feeding him a new brand of food, mixed in with his normal stuff, but i can't imagine it having that effect...

anyone? any help/advice/opinions?

Lexie_Karas

I have absolutely no experince with mice at all but I do know with my ferrets if I change thier food at all it can upset their tummies for a few weeks so it wouldn't surprise me if it was that. But as you said there's no sign anywhere of diarrhea and I'd have thought you see a change in his poo if he was having the runs.

Again I don't know about mice but when male ferrets come into season they can produce more oils and thier coat can take on a kind of yellowy tinge to it and they'd be much smellier, like I said though I've no idea if that's to be expected with mice.

I'd suggest giving your vet a call and see what they say... they should know if its the warning signs of something bad or if its normal enough and nothing to worry about.

cos!!

I dont know much!but it sounds like "wet tail" which can be fatal!i know hamsters can get it so presuming mice could too?try google it!

Crumble Froo

thanks guys.

he's gotten worse, the brown area's spread and his hair's falling out a bit.
straight to the vet first thing in the morning, cross ye're fingers for us.

Sigma Force

A change of diet can effect little critters tums although since you mixed it with the other food it probably shouldn't had that reaction although it depends because sometimes smallies will pick and choose what bits they will eat. Or he could of just picked up a bug.
If feeding any fruit or veg don't for the next week or two and stick to dry food and also plenty of water so make sure the mouse is drinking.

Things to ask the vet would be would a Dioralyte type solution be safe for mice (I'm not familiar with mice just going on the types of things done for guineas).

If the vet does give antibiotics make sure you give the mouse a pro biotic as well. Even if no antibiotic is given a pro biotic or some pro biotic yogurt (if safe for mice) could be given anyway to help replace the gut flora.

Although I said avoid fruit banana might help bind the poop.

These are just suggestions you'd need to run them by the vet or experieced mousey owners.

Fingers crossed for him.

Interceptor

It takes quite a lot for a change of food to upset a mouse - unless you started feeding him all pork products or something daft, just changing brands of dry food shouldn't do it.

Diarrhea in mice is quickly fatal and they can pick up bugs from all sorts of stuff - not keeping the run clean might cause a fungus to grow and this will do the trick. Saying this, mice can be quite fragile so don't blame yourself either. They just get sick and most vets will struggle to provide adequate treatment. I tend to dose with Baytril antibiotic (my vet sells it in small quantities to me and I put it in water bottles for rats, hamsters and mice) and apart from natural yogurt I don't give a probiotic.
You don't say how old he is - this could have a strong bearing on his illness as mice are susceptible to cancers - the hair loss may be indicative but I'm slow to diagnose without seeing him.

Good luck with the vet, hopefully its something simple and he recovers quickly.

I have been keeping mice for twenty years and most times they get bad runs it is not good news - don't prolong his discomfort if he is old or deteriorating slowly.

'cptr

Crumble Froo

Guineapigrescue wrote: »

A change of diet can effect little critters tums although since you mixed it with the other food it probably shouldn't had that reaction although it depends because sometimes smallies will pick and choose what bits they will eat.

i don't think it's the change in food, it is just from one brand to another, the stuff inside the packets looks the exact same to me. i was just racking my brains to think of any changes that could attribute to it.

Or he could of just picked up a bug.

found a spider in his cage yesterday alright... ha, i couldn't take the dude out for over an hour cos im terrified of the bloody things. it just doesn't quite seem like diarrhea, because his poos all look normal. my partner thinks it looks like he's been peeing on himself, but again, it's centred around the tail, and it doesn't look like the natural way for the urine to travel/settle.

If feeding any fruit or veg don't for the next week or two and stick to dry food and also plenty of water so make sure the mouse is drinking.

will do. though he doesnt get a lot of fresh fruit and veg, he's just never eaten the stuff. have even tried taking his food away for 4-5hrs, and leaving him with no ohter option but fresh fruit/veg, and it's rare he'll take more than a couple of nibbles of it. i know he didnt get any with his old owners, and i have no idea how old he is, so maybe it's too much to hope for him to get on that stuff

Things to ask the vet would be would a Dioralyte type solution be safe for mice (I'm not familiar with mice just going on the types of things done for guineas).

and what's dioralyte? an anti-diarrhea type thing?

If the vet does give antibiotics make sure you give the mouse a pro biotic as well. Even if no antibiotic is given a pro biotic or some pro biotic yogurt (if safe for mice) could be given anyway to help replace the gut flora.

i'd assume that would have to be made specifically for mice/rodents? to the best of my knowledge, mice aren't allowed dairy, right? ill mention it to the vet.

Although I said avoid fruit banana might help bind the poop.

ive done better getting him to eat banana than any other fruit, so i guess that's worth trying. though in the last 2 days, his appetite seems to be waning a little

These are just suggestions you'd need to run them by the vet or experieced mousey owners.

Fingers crossed for him.

thanks dude, i appreciate it

Interceptor wrote: »

It takes quite a lot for a change of food to upset a mouse - unless you started feeding him all pork products or something daft, just changing brands of dry food shouldn't do it.

that's waht i thought alright, was just racking my brains to think of something that could have attributed to it.

Diarrhea in mice is quickly fatal and they can pick up bugs from all sorts of stuff - not keeping the run clean might cause a fungus to grow and this will do the trick.

first noticed the brown patch about a week ago, so hopefully maybe it's not going to be fatal if he's still going... *hope*

Saying this, mice can be quite fragile so don't blame yourself either. They just get sick and most vets will struggle to provide adequate treatment. I tend to dose with Baytril antibiotic (my vet sells it in small quantities to me and I put it in water bottles for rats, hamsters and mice) and apart from natural yogurt I don't give a probiotic.

do you give them the antibiotics as a regular treatment, without seeing evidence of sickness first? and is natural yogurt ok to give him? like the really good greek stuff or something?

You don't say how old he is - this could have a strong bearing on his illness as mice are susceptible to cancers - the hair loss may be indicative but I'm slow to diagnose without seeing him.

i don't know how old he is. i got him about a year ago when a preschool i was working at for a day had decided they didnt want him anymore and were going to 'release him into the wild' :eek: . i showed an interest when i saw the cage, and next thing i know, im on the bus home with a mousecage, mouse and supplies. i couldnt get a straight answer out of anyone, so for all i know he could have been a month old when i got him, or a year.

Good luck with the vet, hopefully its something simple and he recovers quickly.

I have been keeping mice for twenty years and most times they get bad runs it is not good news - don't prolong his discomfort if he is old or deteriorating slowly.

'cptr

thanks im up early to ring the nearest vet and see what time they're open at and what their cost is... as a matter of curiosity, what would ye pay to see a vet, normally? (granted we're in different countries and all, but still...)

Crumble Froo

he's been spraying urine (reason unknown, but could be bladder infection, old age, or him being weird), which then gave him a skin infection on his bum. hehe, he's been put on antibiotics... 0.01ml twice a day. he should be ok though

Interceptor

Sounds like you are on top of it and hopefully the infection clears quickly.

To answer your question, no I don't dose indiscriminately with antibiotic (unlike the farmer who supplies your food;)) but I have it handy for when I see infections start to develop (rats are very susceptibe to chest and lung infections)

I've attached a pic of Sybil my rat eating yogurt off a spoon. She died over Christmas - she had cancer and liked to be out and about but got tired quickly.

'cptr

Crumble Froo

Interceptor wrote: »

Sounds like you are on top of it and hopefully the infection clears quickly.

To answer your question, no I don't dose indiscriminately with antibiotic (unlike the farmer who supplies your food;)) but I have it handy for when I see infections start to develop (rats are very susceptibe to chest and lung infections)

im a veggie

I've attached a pic of Sybil my rat eating yogurt off a spoon. She died over Christmas - she had cancer and liked to be out and about but got tired quickly.

'cptr

awww, what a cutie! sorry to hear she's gone, but i guess that's the thing with such a short life expectancy. tundy seems to be doing ok, still spraying himself, but im cleaning him every day, and cleaning out the cage twice a week now, instead of just the once, as well as his antibiotics. though he does look a lot older than he did a few months ago. hopefully he'll make it through another while.

Our man in Havana

How old is the mouse? Mice have a very short life span - I hope the vet can help.

Crumble Froo

he's at least a year. i dont know if he was a year or a month before i got him, so that doesnt help much, but apparently if he's still alive this time next year, we can call him wondermouse.

Crumble Froo

we'll he's dead. should have a coupla pics of him to post up tomorrow, don't have the heart for it now.

antibiotics didnt do anything,a nd he's been less and less active lately.

RIP Tundra, you brought a lot of happiness for something so small, gonna miss you