AboutNatasha Expertise I can answer questions about raising mice and caring for them as pets, with knowledge from my 35 years of having mice as very tame pets, including some breeding. I know about illnesses and problems which have come up in my experience with my mice. I also may be able to use contact with a fancy mouse breeding expert who is a friend (he knows a lot about illnesses too). Right now I have 4 sweet show (fancy) mice named Clara, Brandy, Little Honey and Fluff (who will have the name Clementine when she is big enough for it). My expertise is pretty broad, and I have numerous mouse books to fall back onto.
I want to stress that my advice is about tame mice, which may be very different than advice by someone who breeds rather than lives in the company of mice. This can lead to differences between experts, so be sure you are asking the right person. If I contradict what a breeding expert says, this is why.
Experience I have had mice for 34 years (since I was 5!). I raised them when I was a child but now I keep all females, and never fewer than three so that if one dies the others are not devastated, because they have each other.
Education/Credentials B.A., M.A., M.A. in Linguistics: Yale University and University of Connecticut
Question hi! so my mouse rocky had/has an eye infection, or that's what i believe it to
be. one day i looked at his left eye was all swollen, almost shut. i have him
at school with me and i honestly cannot afford a vet bill (i shopped it out, just
for the check up it's $50 plus whatever tests/medicine/etc they have to do),
so i was trying to take care of this on my own. i was cleaning his cage every
3-4 days, giving him new food and water. he also otherwise seems very
healthy, always exercising, eating, sleeping, etc. i was taking a warm cloth
and gently massaging the eye to clean away any gook there. i was also
pouring a saline solution in there to clear it up. this past saturday i had what
seemed to be a breakthrough and go this huge amount of puss to come out,
but now he has a rather large gash by his eye. his eyes are clear but the left
one is much smaller than the right.
what should/can i do to help it heal or alleviate the pain. i also noticed he's
not as active on his wheel, but he mostly sleeps during the day, but when
evening rolls around he runs around a little, but isn't on the wheel as much.
he has bedding that are wood shavings, could that be affecting him as well?
should i change it?
i'm really worried about him and if i hurt him i'd feel awful and i'm sure i can
try and do something to get money to save him because i'd feel absolutely
horrible for killing him unintentionally.
thanks for all of your help
shannon
Answer Dear Shannon,
Poor little Rocky! If he was fine before, I don't think it has anything to do with the wood chips. It definitely was/is an infection; it was an abscess that had grown by the eye.
The best thing I can think of to do is to treat the infection with an antibiotic. The one that I use is Tetracycline, which you can buy in a pet store in the fish section. It comes in capsules of powder.
Mix one capsule powder with about a drop of water to form a light paste. Pick up the mouse by the scruff of its neck. This is the loose fur behind its head, and it's how its mom used to carry it, so it doesn't hurt at all. However, Rocky won't be thrilled and he will struggle. Do your best to get a little bit of the paste into his mouth and wipe some more around his whiskers (not the nose) and on the wound. Then put a half capsule in a small bottle or a full capsule in a large bottle of water and change that every other day for a week.
This should retard any infection quickly. Hopefully he will return to good health quickly. Let's hope the infection hasn't weakened him. Make sure he doesn't get cold and always has food available.
