mouse dying?

Question
I have a female mouse that is just under a year old with her first litter of babies born the day before Easter. When I checked on her this morning, she was VERY thin and looked as if she was starving. She had plenty of food and water in her cage. When I examined her to try to determine the problem, I noticed that her belly was pouched out, almost to the ground. I gently felt the lump to see if it was a tumor, but I don't think it is. Due to the low number of babies she had (only 5), and the fact that she got ill so quickly, I think she may have retained babies and that is what is making her ill. Do you think this might be what happened? Also, can she be saved? And if she dies, do you think another mouse might take care of the orphaned babies? I have another female who had a small litter a couple days before this mouse did. Thank you for your help.

Answer
Hi Carrie,

It does sound like she may have retained pups and has developed a serious infection, but I can't say with certainty, as a lot of things can go wrong during a pregnancy.  It could also be a result of internal damage during birthing, for example.  She needs antibiotics, but will not be able to nurse if she is on them.  If the new mother is easy-going you'll have a better shot at her nursing the new pups, but if you think she is too anxious you may need to consider hand-rearing, as a freaked-out mom may decide to kill all the pups, not just risking new ones.

If you think she is easy-going enough, try and move one of the pups over to the other doe now to see if she'll accept it.  Remove both mothers with clean hands(and any other present adult mice) to out of eyesight of the pups, assuming they are able to be removed without causing high anxiety (which might cause them to cannibalize pups out of fear).  Handle the mother you are moving them to, getting her scent all over your hands.  Rub your hands through her bedding, too, then pick the pup you want to try moving.  Gently scoop it up, not touching the others, and place it in with the group of other pups.  You can also try gently rubbing a little used bedding gently on the pup for scenting purposes, or snuggling it in with its new littermates to sort of rub off their smells.  Then try introducing the mom with a distraction, like a treat (so she doesn't run over immediately and figure out what happened) and observe them from a distance.  If she doesn't seem to notice, and a good while has gone by without any problems, you can repeat the process slowly with the other pups (over the course of a day or two).  If you wind up needing to hand raise anyone, here is an excellent link with how to raise orphan mouse pups:  http://www.rmca.org/Articles/orphans.htm

I would really recommend giving your vet a call in case there is something you can try that might be safe around the pups, but I am not a vet and can only caution you that many drugs are dangerous to pups through mother's milk.  In the meantime, offer extra food, dry cat food, kitten milk replacement (which can be sprinkled over food or given with a small amount of scrambled egg), and fresh water to both mommas, in order to keep the effects of stress or infection to as much of a minimum as possible.

Best of luck!!
-Tam