Mouse losing weight

Question
Hi,

I originally started with what I was told were 2 male mice, this quickly turned into a family of 10 mice. :)

I kept the parents and two daughters and had the father desexed.

8 happy months passed and then one of the daughters got a skin condition that had her scratching herself raw! We changed to hypoallergenic bedding and a new diet but that didn't seem to help much. The Vet put her on antibiotics and this pretty much cured her but soon after she started to lose weight and died shortly after.

Now the mother is starting to lose weight. She doesn't seem to have any skin irritation but I don't know what to do.

I can only think of tapeworms? But given that our last mouse died shortly after being treated with antibiotics I'm a little nervous to jump to this straight away.

It could be some type of chest infection (hard to tell if she is breathing heavier or not) but she is always kept warm and dry.

With all your years of caring for mice have you got any ideas of what could be causing this weight loss. She would be about a year old now.

Any help appreciated!

Aaron

Answer
Dear Aaron,

There's an incompetent pet store. Not only can't they tell males from females, but they also sell two males to live together. In most cases male mice fight, and they will fight to the death. So maybe you were lucky they weren't both male. In any case, they were certainly lucky!

I'm wondering if the vet ruled out mites for the first girl. Mites are a very common cause of skin problems, and a bad case of mites can kill a mouse as well. But it's hard to believe a vet wouldn't think of that, so they may have had a reason to rule it out. I'm sorry you lost her.

I don't have the medical experience to have any way to diagnose for tapeworms. However, you may be able to address a possible mites issue at the same time as a possible internal parasite. Why am I still talking about mites? Because mice always have a few mites, and so if her problem had anything to do with mites, the others are infected although they have not shown signs. In any case, if your vet agrees this is a good option, the anti-parasitic formula Revolution, which is applied simply as a drop on the back of the neck, kills anything that drinks their blood or feeds on their bodies, including internal parasites. That should be the vet's decision, since first, they may have completely ruled out mites, and second, it may be obvious that there is no parasite problem.

Barring that, I can only tell you that a mouse becoming skinnier and skinnier, other than old age (which is possible prematurely but would also cause hunching over), is not completely unusual. It has happened to one of my mice a number of times, and I have asked my breeder, and he says the same thing, He thinks it is a genetic defect. In my experience feeding extra makes no difference. This doesn't mean your vet doesn't know the cause. If they do, I would really, really appreciate it if you let me know what they say and what happens. I'd appreciate it in any case, because I'm interested to know their opinion about an internal parasite. On the positive side, the wasting away that I have experienced is in no way contagious.

I wish I could help more than this. I wish her the best of luck. Do let me know.

Squeaks,

Natasha