Sick babies :(

Here’s a little update on my two sick mousies :( you may have seen my other posts about them.

Pigeon (grey) started itching and getting sore bald spots. Treated everyone for mites and deep cleaned to rule that out immediately, but it didn’t change anything. We went back to the vet and he was prescribed antibiotics (enrocare/baytril), anti-inflammatories (arthrocam/meloxicam) and an antiseptic all twice daily. I opted to try this before doing a skin scrape because he’s a year and a half now, and he’d have to be under anaesthetic to get the sample. His course of meds is for 3 weeks but the vet said to bring him in if there’s no improvement after 10 days which will be this Sunday 9th March.

So far he seems to be less itchy and he isn’t bleeding, but the skin on his sores has thickened significantly though I’m not sure if this is scabbing or scarring. He looks so crusty because of the antiseptic, i have to dry off the excess and since I’m applying it twice a day he doesn’t get chance to clean all the old stuff off before I’m putting more on. I thought it might be ulcerative dermatitis when he first started showing signs as I lost another mouse to that a couple of years ago. But it isn’t presenting the same way. Obviously we are hoping it’s bacterial and the antibiotics will clear it up, but the vets differential diagnoses were fungal infection, or potentially something more sinister like cancer :( so fingers crossed the antibiotics work!!

He’s really depressed, scared and shut down atm which is absolutely breaking my heart. He’s such a friendly and social mouse, but he has to be isolated for now. He’s always been all over me too, he’s loving and happy and people-oriented and it’s gutting to see him so scared of me because he’s sore; the antiseptic and handling hurts but unfortunately it’s a necessary evil to try to get him better :( Despite his fear he still tentatively reaches out to me when I put my hand in with him even though he knows what’s coming😞 he’s so special to me and I’m hoping and praying he can get through this and live the rest of his days happy and pain free.

Trinket (black and white) has been having respiratory symptoms. If you recognise her you’ll know she has been my ‘problem child’, what with escaping [read: jumping blindly from my hand 3 feet off the ground] as a baby and ending up traumatised from that experience, fighting with her cage mates after living peacefully for 2 months and taking another 2 months to finally make friends again, biting my hand to shreds, and generally being unhandleable lol. I do love her and she is a sweetheart I promise, she’s just very scared after her experience as a baby and has taken a lot of work even just to let me lay eyes on her. So I’m very proud of how she’s been coping with this and all the handling that’s come with it!

Anyway, she started clicking and squeaking, took her to the vet who listened to her chest and prescribed antibiotics (karidox/doxycycline) and anti-inflammatories (arthrocam/meloxicam) twice a day for 10 days. A week later she hadn’t really improved so I took her back and she was then prescribed a second antibiotic (enrocare/baytril) in combination with the first. She was also booked in for an x-ray a week in advance to investigate her chest just in case she doesn’t improve as we want. Again I opted to try meds before putting her under for the x rays as she improved for a couple of days on the first lot, then got worse again so the vet said she could have a couple things at play that the combination of both antibiotics can target. Her x ray is in two days, I will be reassessing tomorrow to see if she still needs it. The vet said to cancel if she has improved, it was a precautionary booking so I wouldn’t have to wait if she wasn’t getting better. So far she’s much quieter and not rattling constantly! Yay! She is still slightly wheezy when stressed and breathing faster, but overall doing much better :)

Part of why I wanted to make this post is also to make new owners or people considering mice as pets aware of the challenges that can come with aging mice. Pigeon is a year and a half now, trinket just over a year. Depending on where you get them from (pet shop vs good breeder) mice can be prone to a lot of problems, even more so as they age. Pigeon is the baby of a feeder mouse rescue, so I had prepared myself a little more for health challenges with him. Two of my girls are well bred, the other was surrendered to the breeder so I have no idea of her origin but she’s a bit blind, probably a bit deaf, and a bit wonky. Again, I figure she will have issues at some point given her genetics.

Mice hide their illnesses extremely well, they can appear perfectly fine while riddled with disease or tumours. Their vet care is expensive because they are exotic pets, which means they need an exotic vet. Plus depending on how many you get and how close in age they are, you’re likely going to have more than one in need of care in a short length of time. I lost my first 3 girls in the span of 4 months. Cost builds up along with the emotional toll. They are hard to medicate at home, it takes practice to learn what works for your mice. Pigeon has to be wrapped in a towel to take his meds, trinket took hers in malt paste for a week then clocked it so now I’m having to scruff her because she’s also refusing it in fruit and baby food. Treatment options are also limited and risk increases due to their size. It’s hard and expensive, but the joy of owning them personally makes this part worth it. We are responsible for their entire little lives, 1-2 years is such a small part of our existence but it is literally the entirety of theirs. So they deserve the best we can give them :)

I don’t say any of this to put people off getting mice or scare anyone! But it is a hugely important thing to understand before bringing them into your life. Please send good thoughts for my poorly children! I’m grateful for this community, the support and the info we’ve cultivated here😊🫶🏻