My Sick Mouse

Question

The Eye   Murphy, my fancy mouse, has had this weird pink ring around his left eye and what looks like a tear coming from the same eye for a long time. When I say a long time, I mean A LONG TIME. I've never thought of it as a real problem. Just, you know, a part of Murphy.
But then he started having sneezing fits. He would also make these odd clucking sounds. These two symptoms have died down quite a bit. I haven't heard him sneezing as much, and, in all honesty, I have only heard him "cluck" just once during an awful sneezing fit that was a bit back.

So to sum it up, Murphy has had pink and a tear around his eye for a long time. There was a very short period a while back when he would sneeze and cluck, but that has gone away. The pink and tear still remain. (I should also mention that he tends to wipe his paw over this eye more than the other.) What does he have, and what should I do to help my poor little guy?

Answer
Dear Madison,

Murphy needs to go to the vet. His eye very likely needs an antibiotic ointment (remember I am not a vet, so this isn't a guarantee). It is not getting better without it. It must hurt. In the meantime, clean it with saline a few times a day, perhaps with a Q tip.

Worse, it is very possible that he has pneumonia. I have actually twice in recent years had an animal (one mouse, one rat) who had been making noises, stopped, and died suddenly a few days later, unable to breathe. The first time, I thought the mouse was well; suddenly I found her half dead and she died a half hour later. The second time, the rat had been sick when we had a pet sitter and she had not told us. By the time we got home, my little boy was quiet again, but was suffocating. When he began to move too quickly, panicking, I found out what had happened and tried steam baths, but it was too late.

You can see how important it is that he go to the vet. The vet will be able to listen to his lungs to find out if they are full of liquid. If he is sick, the vet will give you some strong antibiotics.

Please take cute little Murphy to an experienced vet. Call around to find one who specializes in "exotics" or "pocket pets."

Best of luck and good health to him.

squeaks,

Natasha