Rescue Mouse with a serious problem

Question
My Mom's friend found a tiny little albino mouse with half a tail, and she gave it to us, knowing we would take it in. we did, and named him Cookie.

Now Cookie seemed very friendly and lively, certainly not a wild mouse, so we assumed he was rather lost or some idiot decided to "set him free." We took all the precautions and he was doing great, until the third night we had him, and he managed to escape his cage. some how, he ran all the way across the room and onto my rat's cage, where my rat managed to bite Cookie's front paw before I got to him. We cleaned him up,and he seemed to be perfectly fine, except scared out of his mind and bleeding a bit. We moved him to a new cage, but the problem started a few nights after,when Cookie started to eat a few of his toes off the foot my rat injured. we cleaned him up, assuming that maybe that was Cookie's way of adapting, until he started moving onto his back foot, which to my knowledge was uninjured. Cookie is now extremely lethargic and I'm scared that his wounds will get infected,or he might simply just bite all of his toes off and bleed to death.

We unfortunately cannot take him to the vet, as we are a bit tight on money (on our last visit to the vet we had to put my baby rat down for pneumonia. RIP Benny.)but if there is anything you can tell us to help Cookie, please let us know.

Answer
Hi Reiss,

I am so sorry about Benny :( . If there is just one boy left, he should get a friend as soon as possible. It is solitary confinement for a rat to live alone.

Poor Cookie. Mice are very, very delicate psychologically. This guy managed to survive his previous ordeal as far as we can see, but this may have been too much. He may have started chewing because the foot felt funny- maybe nerve damage- and then developed a kind of OCD habit.

First, the lethargy is a very bad sign. You don't have time to order meds online but you can go to the fish section of your pet store or to an aquarium shop, and pick up some tetracycline meant for fish. It may be called Fish Cycline. Get it in packets or capsules if possible.

You want to try to get a kickstart full dose in him as well as a continuing dose. Start by opening one capsule/packet and using about a drop or two of water to form a paste like mustard. If he is sick enough not to struggle much, or too sick to be keeping himself washed, you will need to get a dose into his mouth, by scruffing him (holding him by the loose fur/skin on the back of his neck). Otherwise you can wipe some onto the side of his face. He doesn't need more than 1/2 a split pea size (1/4 a pea).

Then take another capsule/packet and put the contents into a large water bottle, or half of it into a small one. Put tin foil over it to keep it from light. Change every 2-3 days.

As for the OCD, he needs as many toys in his cage as possible. Right now is a problem because he is too lethargic to want to do much of anything besides chew. But hopefully the antibiotic will kick in fast enough to give him a little energy. Give him a ton of treats- avocado, butter, liquified peanut butter, popcorn, bacon, even chocolate. Don't worry about too many treats. He needs as much distraction as possible. If you can interact with him at all that helps.

I hope the little guy is ok! Such a sad life so far :(.

Best of luck and health to him.

Squeaks,

Natasha