special food for sick mice

Question
QUESTION: Hi Natasha!
I have been reading your answer on here for awhile because I've had a couple of sick mice recently.
One sadly passed away but another recently got sick (the last few days).  We had started her first on Tetracycline (per your instructions) but did not notice any improvement.  We took her to the vet today and she was given a shot of Doxycycline and we took home Metacam and Enrofloxacin to administer daily (which we've given once today as well).  They had taken x-rays but did not find anything conclusive but decided to treat for a respiratory infection (instead of heart failure which was the other possibility that my vet saw).  My concern is that she looks worse from the time that we went to the vet (where they deemed her not dying).  I was wondering if this was perhaps due to her reaction to the antibiotics and whether I shouldn't expect to see improvement until later or whether this is a bad sign that the antibiotics didn't take.  We are planning on calling in tomorrow to let the vet know how she's doing but I mainly asked you hoping that you had some experience with administering different antibiotics and their progression.
Thank you kindly for your time.

Iris and Teemo

ANSWER: Dear Iris and Teemo,

The thing about mice is that since they are prey animals, they don't show real signs of illness until they are quite sick; and then the sickness can progress very quickly-- even within 24 hours. It may certainly take a few days for a sick  mouse to seem much better, but of course it's not good that she actually seems worse. However, perhaps she was about to get even worse than that, and she is better than she would have been sans antibiotics.

I don't know what kinds of reactions mice have to medications, though I would imagine it runs the same gamut that it does for people. That is, sometimes an allergy can kill-- quite rarely. However, since Doxycycline is known for stomach upset, perhaps that is all it is-- she just has a bad stomach ache from such a large dose. That will affect her behavior but not endanger her.

So until you can call the vet, keep her warm and unstressed. If she loves to be held, hold her quietly. Very sweet mice do take great comfort in this. If she is more independent she may prefer to stay in her nest.

Best of luck. Write again and tell me what the vet said. I don't know anything about reactions to meds, so I'd like to hear what someone who does, has to say. And I always appreciate being kept up to date on my little faraway charges.

<:3  )--~
Natasha




---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hello Natasha!
My mouse seems better today! Yesterday, we were trying to force feed her some food that we got from the vet but I think it was really stressing her out (or as you said an upset stomach reaction from the Doxycycline might have turned her away from eating).  We decided to give her a rest and haven't bothered her with force feedings through the night and this morning.  She has actually started eating a little bit on her own (which is a huge relief).  We have been putting a little bit of the food we got from the vet on her favorite treats and she seems to like that much better than the force feeding.  She is still breathing heavily though.  We haven't called the vet yet because we're going to see how it progresses today.  But I do want to keep you updated on how the medications affects her.  So I will be writing again soon. :)

Iris and Teemo

ANSWER: Dear Iris,

Thank you for the update! I appreciate that.

Is she gasping? If she is actually having trouble breathing you can give her a steam bath. Fill the shower with steam and bring her in for 5 minutes. She will hate it but it will help. But that's only if she is having trouble getting air. If she is just breathing heavy-- maybe sides heaving a little-- she doesn't need that.

I'm interested in the food the vet wants her to eat? I have never heard of that. Is it a vitamin gel? Or extra calories? Brown and sticky and almost liquid? Or something with medication?

Squeaks,

Natasha

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------


Teemo   QUESTION: Hello Natasha!

Thank you for responding again! I find it a huge relief to be able to talk about what our mouse is going through with someone.

She doesn't seem to be gasping just breathing heavily (very shallow breaths).  As for the food that the vet gave us...
It's called Oxbow Critical Care Fine Grind.  Its described as "premium recovery food that can be fed to herbivores unwilling or unable to eat due to illness, surgery, or poor nutritional status."  It's a fine power that we have to mix with a little bit of water and then syringe into the mouse's mouth.  It smells really good (sorta like apples)! But it doesn't have any medication in it just tons of nutrients like vitamins, protein, fat, fiber, etc.
Here's the website http://www.oxbowanimalhealth.com/
(our vet had a lot of their products stocked at the office)
But we didn't find that much information on it(pertaining to feeding) when we just googled it.

Will keep in touch!

Iris and Teemo

PS included a picture of Teemo for you :)

Answer
Dear Iris,

I hope Teemo is better-- I expect she is.

Thanks so much or the info. I'll have to look this stuff up.

Teemo is beautiful!

squeaks,

Natasha

>update<

PS I have decided it would be cool to be Facebook friends with some of my questioners. If you would like to friend me, I am the only Natasha Millikan on Facebook. And you will get to see my mice... and more so, my rats, including mouse-sized rats! Be sure to attach a message or I might not accept. But if you have questions do continue to use this site, so that other people can benefit from the answers.

Preview:

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150091824234803