orphan mouse has diarrhea

Question
Hi Natasha,

My daughter found a baby mouse in the dirt by my barn on Sunday.  I ran to the pet store to get it KMR.  It did well initially but diarrhea is really bad now and it looks so bad I don't think she's going to make it.  I just made the formula you suggested with what I had.  I was unable to find goat milk so I got whole fat goats milk yogurt.  I used that instead and mixed it with oat milk and sterilized water, egg yolk, some probiotics, 1/2 tsp karo.  I also have baby rice cereal but didn't add that yet due to the dehydration.

I suspected it was 3 days old when we found it, making it around 8 years old now.  Eyes are still closed.  Watery diarrhea made her bum SO sore.

I gave it a drop pf pepto and am applying desitin.  It's been fed every 1 -2 hours round the clock and half it's carrier is on a heat pad.  She has microfiber cloths inside.

The biggest problem is that she won't eat unless it's KMR but that is killing her.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
denise

Answer
Dear Denise,

If she is still with us (very sorry for the delay as I was ill :( ) and still on KMR I would keep her on it. The diarrhea is from the change and so it will continue/recur if you swap her back.

One very effective treatment for diarrhea is (pure) canned pumpkin. I would mix it half with an electrolyte solution, which is necessary right now due to the diarrhea. Pedialyte is an example. You can also make your own:

http://www.babysavers.com/how-to-make-homemade-pedialyte-recipes-and-instruction


I run a small Facebook group for rat/mouse orphans (and oops litters). If you friend me and pm me I can add you and assign you an orphan helper.

https://www.facebook.com/natasha.millikan


Also check out these links:

The Rat Fan Club: Raising orphaned rats or mice
http://ratfanclub.org/orphans.html

American Fancy Rat and Mouse Association: Caring for Rat & Mouse Orphans
http://www.afrma.org/rminfo8.htm

Allexperts.com: Guide to orphan mouse pups
http://en.allexperts.com/q/Mice-3824/2013/4/guide-orphan-mouse-pups.htm

Raising Orphan Mouse Pups: ten videos about raising orphans from day one (1/10 through 10/10) by Aud Fischer, member of RAA
http://m.youtube.com/user/CreekValleyCritters/videos?query=raising&desktop_uri=%

The Fun Mouse: Caring for Orphaned mice
http://www.thefunmouse.com/info/orphanedmice.cfm


I hope she makes it.... so sorry for the delay...

squeaks,

Natasha