Mouse Bite!

Question
Hi,I have to female mice that got in a fight. And the female who did not start the fight got bit on her front paw, and very possibly more then once on her back(not sure, it's wet but not red, i can't tell if it's blood or not). I do not have a vet in my area who will treat mice. So I'm woundering is there any home remedies or medicen I can get to treat my mouse, To prevent infection?? NOTE: My mouse is only 12 week's old, and does'nt trust me fully yet. which will make it hard for me to handle herI can't blame her sence I haven't spent much time taming her the last month do to being busy... But if you know of the slightest anything PLEASE!!! write me back.  Thank you for your time.

Answer
Hi Bree,

At that age it is very unusual for females to fight, but very common for males to, are you positive they really are both females?  Sometimes before a mouse has fully matured it can be tough to tell.  With a little careful attention and nursing, treating her injuries should be doable at home.

The most important thing is to keep the two mice separate.  This will make it easier to take care of the injured one and keep her injuries clean, too.  You can clean her ouchies with betadine - drip a few drops into a cup of warm water until it reaches the color of tea, then dip a cotton swab in it and apply gently to any areas with broken skin.  Try to keep it away from her face, but using a Q-tip might help you reach her foot, since otherwise she isn't likely to let you look at it without hurting it more.  Betadine is a pet-safe disinfectant that can be found at your local pharmacy.  Try to get most of it off with another cotton swab dipped in warm water, but if you can't, don't worry too hard about it.

After disinfecting, you can apply a small amount of triple antibiotic ointment, such as Neosporin.  Use a cotton swab again but remember that a little goes a long way - excess tends to get groomed right off and you don't want to feed it to her!  You can do this whole procedure 2-3 times a day to keep the area clean while it heals.  Make sure the bedding stays fresh and that there is plenty of food and water, and watch for abnormal bumps, lethargy, loss of weight or appetite, or continued bleeding that might mean a bigger problem.  Otherwise - she should heal up just fine!

If the injuries are very deep you may need to protect her system with some antibiotics in her water - here is a link to giving tetracycline in the water bottle, which is available at your local pet or feed store:  http://en.allexperts.com/q/Mice-3824/2010/2/Tetracycline-directions-sneezing-mou  Whether or not you give this depends on your own judgment - any time the skin is broken the body is opened up to infection, but if it doesn't look that severe anymore, I wouldn't necessarily worry about it.

Let me know if you have any more questions!
-Tam