one mouse sneezing of four mice

Question
QUESTION: I have four mice, two of which we got about three weeks ago, and after a few territorial spats they all get along great. I've noticed that one of the new mice, Bessie, often emits a small sneeze / squeak sound which I've read here might be a possible respiratory infection. I also read that after taking antibiotics their voice might be permanently lowered, so you can always hear them "talking", so to speak. She had diarrhea for the first day or two after we brought her home which is said to be a side-effect of antibiotics. My question is could the pet store ( Petco ) possibly have given Bessie antibiotics and is she now healthy but has a permanently lowered voice or is she really sick? I haven't seen her degenerate at all in the past three weeks that we've had her ( she looks and acts pretty healthy besides the sounds ) and the other three mice seem totally normal, and I'd rather not take the time to go to a vet unless it's a serious problem, so should I?

ANSWER: Hi,

I doubt very much that the pet store gave her antibiotics.  Unfortunately, they don't usually care a lot about individual mice.  Unless they had an epidemic of an illness where they dosed the whole cage; you could call and ask.  

If Bessie is sick, the others may get sick too.  You may want to bring them all to the vet.  Mice die pretty easily, and you don't want to lose the whole cage.

Another option is to put an antibiotic in their water for a week.  The pet store sells Tetracycline for fish, which works for mice.  You would put a half capsule (1/8 flat teaspoon) in a 6 oz or 1 capsule (1/4 flat teaspoon) in a 12 oz bottle.  Change it twice.  This would be preventative.

best of luck,

squeaks,
Natasha

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

QUESTION: Thanks for the advice Natasha!

We've decided to go get some Tetracycline for the mice in the hopes that it'll fix Bessie's problem as well as preventing it from happening to the other three and I was just wondering if you could give me the correct measurements for a 4 oz water bottle?


Answer
Dear Nikki,

Just use slightly less (2/3) of the amount of the 6 oz bottle for the 4 oz bottle.  An exact measure would be 1/3 capsule or 1/12 of a teaspoon, but it does not have to be exact; better a little more powder than a little less.

Good luck to the mice.

squeaks,

Natasha