Sick Mouse!! -- advice needed?

Question

I noticed that my mouse (who lives alone) has a small red sore on the back of her neck -- it now appears that she has more than one around her face. Earlier today she was huddled up in the bedding outside of her house in the middle of the day (which is unusual for her). She was just sitting there breathing hard and I thought she looked very sick. Now she seems to be fine, running on her wheel, eating and drinking, but she still looks kind of funny and the small sores are still there -- any ideas on what is wrong with her?

Answer 1

i'm sorry that your pet is sick. i've owned mice, and were very sad when they died, but mice only live about 2 years. how old is she? call a vet, but i would draw the line at spending a lot of money for a mouse (vet bills). it all depends on how much you love her. i have never heard of those symptoms before.

Answer 2

From my experience (I've cared for 5 pet mice) that could be a mite (or other parasite) infestation on her skin, an allergy to some kind of food or bedding or some kind of auto-immune skin condition.
The first problem (parasites) would be the easiest to treat - a vet should know what kind and how much medicine to apply to clear up the problem. Our vet prescribed the same medicine as they use for dogs and cats, only at a much smaller dose of course. One of my mice had a skin parasite and after two topical applications of the medicine (one application per week directly on the skin on the affected spot) she stopped scratching and the little red bumps (like pimples) on her skin went away.

To find out if it's an allergy see whether you've changed something in her environment (food, bedding, etc.) around the time when you first noticed the symptoms. Allergies are very hard to figure out, and you'll probably need the help of a vet.

Lastly, an auto-immune condition is unfortunately untreatable and, from my experience, the kindest thing to do for your little friend would be to put her to sleep, if that's what she has, before she starts to suffer. I'm speaking out of personal experience - I had a little white mouse who suddenly developed a red sore on the back of her neck, and she started scratching. Despite regular contacts with our vet and faithful application of medicine, the sores kept spreading. In the end we had her put to sleep, and looking back I would have done it much sooner if I had known that her problem was incurable.
Is she a white mouse? Unfortunately alot of white mice are prone to getting these auto-immune skin problems, because of selective breeding in lab mice to do research and testing on skin problems and treatments. Many times you'll find these poor lab mice are somewhere in the bloodlines of pet white mice and the pets have the same problems.

Anyway, the main thing is to take her to the vet as soon as possible - keep her warm and comfortable during the trip. I really hope your little mouse gets better!

Answer 3

I know your problem, we've had 2 mice that have had those spots on them... I don't know what your mouse does but our would start scratching like mad and then we read that some mice have allergies to corn.... so we experimented.... we stopped putting the corn into the cages of those 2 mice... Their scratching seemed to stop.....however, in the case of one female mouse she scratched so much she scratched off an ear and now you can see spots. We don't know what causes it but I would try backing off the corn (yes, we pick it out of the food for her) and see if that helps. If you're really concerned, I'd say ask a pet store or vet (be careful, not all deal with small animals). From our experience though... when a mouse starts breathing hard and looking sick or acting unusual, it's generally not a good sign.
It could be mites/lice, could be an allergy as I mentioned above, or it could be something else...

If you want to check out our mice head over to our website: http://4einc.info and click on the "our pets" button.

Answer 4

A mousie cant tell you wats wrong and the internet is usually only half right. Take Ms. Mouse to a vet. Any vet, and they will give ur mouse a physical and determine for sure the problem. Mabey give you pills or might have to even give her a shot of a booster drig to get the problem to go away. Mouses live faster than us so dont waste time. one day for us is a week and a half for them

Answer 5

I have many mice. Every once in a while they get mites. The sores are as you have described, too. You can pic up a spray bottle of mite treatment at most pet stores. It is labeled for rats and guines... just make sure you don't use too much. It could damage their respiratory systems. Good luck :)

Answer 6

it sounds like a skin problem call your vet and what you can do now is look at your mouse to see it you see any mites or little black and red dots on them ... sleeping outside could mean she is hot to though...

Answer 7

change to a paper bedding and call your vet