new mom mouse might be really sick! help!!

Question
Hi, I have a mouse who just had her first  litter today. But there's a problem. she has been exsposed to my other female mouse,who is being used as the nanny. The nanny's skin is starting to look lose.They been to geather almost two week's and I noticed just a few day's ago.And I been trying to figure out what it was, I noticed the group of mice the nanny came from they where all getting sick 9sneezing and coughing) too. It was too late .The pregnant mouse had been exsposed to what I just found out is possibly URIs. I was told to treat them with Tetracycline. But now I am worried about my mouse who just had her baby's. I think she has been exsposed. and I was told not to give her tetracycline since she is nursing. So is there any thing I can buy her, or do without having to take her to the vet. Cuz unfortanatly there are no vet' near where I live. And the only one I know of In my state is waaay to exspencive. Can you help me??? Should i take the sick nanny out? I'm afraid that will be to much stress on my poor new mom mouse? please help!

Answer
Dear Hannah,

Definitely take the sick mouse out. It is still possible that the mom isn't sick yet.

It is true that it isn't good to treat a nursing mother with Tetracycline. It would be better to get her on Baytril, which is probably what a vet would give you. It is hard to find Baytril because it is prescription only. I know of one pigeon supply store that you can get it from but you have to call them because it is no longer legal for poultry. I'm not sure if they are supposed to sell it at all. That is Jedd's pigeon supply. Their number is 1-800-659-5928. I might decide to erase this info later so don't be surprised if you get an email saying I revised the answer.

The Baytril is in liquid form and you will want to give her one drop twice a day. You will probably have to force feed it. You take her gently but firmly by the scruff of the neck (the back of the neck where she has some extra skin) and she should open her mouth. She is going to struggle like the dickens and it won't be fun for either of you.

I recommend not treating her until she shows signs of illness, especially because new mothers are easy to spook and you don't want to put her through the stress of the force feeding unless you have to, in case she gets upset and neglects the babies or worse. However, I recommend getting the Baytril right away because it will take a few days for it to get to you. And it is really useful to have on hand because it is quite a bit better than Tetracycline. If the Baytril is prohibitively expensive then I would again recommend waiting until she shows symptoms and if she does, give her the Tetracycline. It is not good for the babies but it's far better than a sick or dead mother.  

I hope everything goes well. Best of luck to mom and all the babies.

Squeaks,

Natasha.