Pregnant mouse hurt! Please read Im running out of time!

Question
Hi! I have a Sheen silver female mouse that I had bred with a male and then I added this other female to the group. and I have my methud of introducing my mice to one another, And I've never have had very many problem's in the past but the female new to the group got in a nasty fight with my 2 week pregnant silver mouse. and I imidietly took the new female out(I'm pretty sure it had something to do with the male being in there).  But Now my female is due to have her baby's in a couple of day'(if she last that long..I don't know how the poor thing can get any bigger). She look's very healthy... But this evening I noticed as she was sitting and holding her food in her hand's, that ONE of her finger's are red and swollen. I read you saying stuff about the tetracycline, but is it safe for her being pregnant and nursing? Will that be dangerous for her AND the baby's? (she's a first time mom) Please help me, and give me your advice!

Answer
Hi Hannah,

I would not give a pregnant mouse tetracycline, but the only person who can give specific advice on what medications ARE safe for pregnant, nursing, or young mice is a practicing veterinarian familiar with pocket pets.  She may have injured her toe, but it's unlikely to have a poor effect on her pregnancy.  If she'll let you, you can keep it clean using a cotton swab dipped in betadine (found at your local pharmacy) - place a few drops of betadine in warm water until it turns the color of tea, then apply it to the injury.  You can then gently remove it (don't worry if you can't get all of it) with a clean swab dipped in plain warm water.

As soon as you know a female is pregnant, it's always best to give her her own cage until she has weaned her pups.  Leaving a male with her can cause serious stress (and possibly lead her to kill her pups), or even back-to-back pregnancies (she goes into heat the day before, of, or immediately after she gives birth, leading to a higher risk of complications, very high stress on the body, and possibly resulting in the death of the second litter if they cannot compete with the last litter for nursing).  Introducing new females can also cause high amounts of stress, leading to complications in the pregnancy, injury to or death of the pups (some female cagemates don't get along with other female's litters), or poor mothering if she fears for the safety of her litter.

The toe should be fine for now with frequent cleaning, but if you become concerned it may develop an abscess or affect her health, the best thing to do would be to take her entire cage, litter and all, to the vet.  Hopefully it won't come to that, but I am not able to give more specific medical advice, since pregnant mice and their litters are very delicate.

Best of luck, and I hope her toe heals up just fine!
-Tam