worried and confused please help!!!!

Question
I brought home 2 female fancy mice in May of 2012, A month later one of those girls (Blondie we named her) had a litter of 10 (3 girls and 7 boys) fathered it seems by a house mouse who had been seen visiting their cage. It is one of her boys (Spot) that is causing concern at the moment. Some background info to tell you before I fill you in on him, we need to start with his mom and what happened to her. Blondie developed waltzing symptoms about four months ago at that time it seemed that she had also had a stroke. At the end of Nov of this year after living well with her sister and all of her girls Blondie passed away. Just a note her sister died 8 days later. Now Spot lives on his own and has a challenging history for at about 6 months old he escaped and when he returned my house mice caused him to loose his left eye. I could not afford a vet visit so I sat with him and kept it as clean as I could, he healed and was normal again well ofcourse he lacks depth perception. The trouble started this morning when I found him twitching to his right side, seemingly uncontrolable. He seems to be confused and is wondering in circles. He is also running in circles like a dog chasing his tail. My question is, is it possible to determine whether waltzing is responcible for this behavior or could he possibly have a tumur in his head? Perhaps you know of other things it could possibly be, all I want is to help him and Iam lost! Thanx for your time.

Answer
Dear Katyryn,

It certainly sounds like a pituitary (brain ) tumor or possibly a stroke.  True waltzers are not confused, disoriented, or twitchy. You can sometimes diagnose a pituitary tumor by seeing if he holds his food in both hands when he eats.

Strokes can get better. But considering his mom's demise, I don't have a lot of hope. :( . Pituitary tumors can be somewhat shrunk and symptoms kept somewhat in check,  but with the amount of time saved for a little mouse plus the expense of the drugs and the trauma of vet visits, that likely isn't worth it. The best thing for Spot is probably to be put to sleep.

I am sorry :(

If you have the heart or time, I would like to know a little more about Spot's family. I am keeping informal tabs on cases of wild house mice slipping into fancy mouse cages.

Are you sure that the litter wasn't born three weeks later rather than a month, meaning she was pregnant when you got her?
What did they look like?
What were their personalities like?
How much did you handle them as pups?
What happened to the rest?

Thanks for helping me out, if you can. Again I am so sorry about Spot.

Squeaks,

Natasha