Pet mouse wont stop scratching

Question
Hi Tamarah. I've had my pet mouse Whitey for about 9 months now. A month ago or so we noticed she had scratched her ear a bit raw. We separated her from the other female mice and took her to the vet. The vet treated her for mites, giving her an injection of some kind, and drops that he said we must put on her once, and then repeat in 10 days. She appeared to get a bit better but then it got a lot worse. She scratched until she would bleed and made a second hole below the opening of her ear. When we tried to take her back to the vet they could not assist us as they were busy. When we did get an appointment the vet had to put her under anesthetic to stitch her ear up because she had apparently scratched down to the muscle and had exposed it. It's been a week and it looks like there is only one stitch left because she has scratched the rest out and is still scratching. I have now bought some F10 Germicidal Barrier Ointment just to prevent re-infection (before she got the stitches her head had swelled up with yellow goo). She is such a precious mousy and will even lye down still in my hands. I really am heart broken 'cos I fear she is going to scratch herself to death. Any suggestions to helping her stop scratching will be appreciated. Thanks, Megan.

Answer
Hi Megan,

It sounds like your mouse has already received top notch care!  I can only think of a few suggestions:

First, the itching could be mites, or it could also be the result of an allergy causing irritation.  Mites is the first most likely, and if you use a spray again be sure to shake it very well, keep it out of the wound, and clean the ENTIRE cage and all toys with a 10% bleach solution (keep all bleach and fumes away from the mouse and make sure to rinse off all chemicals completely and dry before replacing bedding and new toys).  Clean the entire cage every time you treat, and you can minimize incoming mites by freezing bedding for at least 24 hours before thawing it for use.  It's possible that if the problem is mites they may just be coming back, so continue treating with the spray every ten days until the scratching subsides.

Second, the itching could be caused by irritation from an allergy - has she had any new food, bedding, treats, or toys lately?  Some allergies can be obtained, too, so changing each aspect of her environment one at a time and looking for improvement can help you figure out if anything is particularly irritating her skin.  Start with the bedding, then try slowly switching her food.  It might be hard to spot since you'll also be treating for mites, but it's important to stop the scratching before it becomes reinfected.

Continue to use the ointment to keep the area clean, but only use enough to barely coat the area.  You can also disinfect it by adding enough betadine (a safe iodine solution) to warm water to turn it the color of tea, then dipping a clean cotton swab in it and dabbing it AROUND the wounded area.  This will kill any bacteria on the surrounding skin and can be repeated 1-3 times a day.  Leave the betadine there for a few seconds, then gently remove as much as you can with a fresh, clean swab (it's okay if you can't remove all of it - just get what you can).  As far as the stitches - I have never heard of using stitches to close up such an area, so I'm not sure what to tell you, except that you can call the vet and ask what kind of stitching thread they used.  Some stitches dissolve on their own, in which case it may be perfectly normal for them to be disappearing.

My last suggestion is to include something rough in the cage where she frequently steps - like a finely textured stone under her water bottle, near her food bowl, or just outside of her hide.  This will cause her to frequently step on the rock or other textured object, slowly and safely filing down her nails so she does a little less damage when she scratches.  It's not a solution - but it might help.  This is what we did to help out a hairless rat when she was scratching her skin too hard, so it might help your little girl out, too.

Let me know if you have any more questions, and best of luck!!
-Tam