Orphan mouse died after bloat

Question
Hey again it's me. Last night was hard my smaller mouse got bloated and need lots of belly rubbing, it was at 10:30pm when I noticed it. He wanted me to hold him all night and I. All night was him refusing food and no poop to be seen! Then at 7:30 am he popped and his belly softened. The afternoon seemed fine but he was so weak, then I got pedialite which I read helps,shouldn't have waited so long but I thought he seemed fine. Well to little to late and at his two pm feeding my little mouse died. Every thing I read said it is hard losing a baby mouse...wow I bawled like a baby. I learned that their tummy should be felt with the finger at least once a feeding to feel any hardness and that a q tip kept me from feeling it early. Also hydration!! He is buried in my lily bed now :( hard day real hard. My other mouse is doing really good and just as you though he popping his eyes open one at a time at five pm , he has made this easier by just being the hungry super poop he is. As I was all puffy eyed and stuffed up when my surviving mouse proceeded to lick his behind and then he started peeing! Oh my he was so shocked. That kinda helped....ugg
         I will update you about my surviving mouse

Answer
Hi Emma,

It is so hard to replace a mom mouse. First of all, you don't have mouse milk and can't supply what you do have every 30 minutes. Secondly, the pup has been through the intense trauma of losing its mom and its siblings, not to mention any physical trauma. He went a while without eating. None of his surroundings were as they should have been. Fact is, these orphans are not easy to keep. There are many success stories-- and I love to hear them-- but there are many failures as well (which I need to hear too). Often the end is not even foreshadowed.

When they get bloated like that, their waste is being kept inside. They get blood poisoning. So even though he was relieved of the actual symptoms of the bloating he still had the poison in him. Immediate pedialyte would have been good but you don't know it would have saved him.

Very good point about feeling their tummies with your finger. I used to recommend doing the rub with a finger but since everyone else seems to say a Q tip, I fell in line. Where did you come across that point?

Best of luck to the second one.

squeaks,

Natasha