Eating her own tail!

Question
My poor poor girl hurt her tail last week. It was all contorted but eventually straightened out again. Then large red spots appeared at the point of injury. Then she started to chew on it! I remember when my cat hurt his tail, the vet gave him a cone so he wouldn't chew on it, but I can't give my mouse a cone...And now she's essentially chewing her tail off! I don't know what to do for her, or how to make her stop. The vet has always been out of reach for us, and I can't think of anything else that might help her.

I'm at a complete loss. There's a very good chance that this girl is pregnant as well. I'm afraid that she'll go too far and get infected or bleed out or something. I'm just so worried about her and her future babies.

Do you know of anything, anything at all, that I could do for her? To either make her stop or to to prevent infection?

I feel so awful. And she was just starting to become more social with me...I feel like I've let her down.

Answer
Dear Korinne,

You did nothing to cause this.  Please don't feel like you let her down.

This situation is a serious one and really calls for a vet.  However, I understand that mice are often low budget pets, so let's see if we can address this without one.

The most likely treatable and non psychological cause of the mouse eating the tail is that the tail became infected and she is afraid (instinctively) that the infection will reach her body and make her sick.  I point you to the following post because it not only explains how to dose a mouse with antibiotics at home, it also deals with the issue of mites.  Although self-inflicted wounds are often cause by the mouse itching from mites, I've never heard of a mouse being so drastic about it.  However, this situation calls for any helpful intervention possible, so I would also look in that direction.  

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Mice-3824/2008/11/Mice-illness.htm

If these two simultaneous treatments don't help I'm afraid the problem sounds psychological.  The mouse might continue to eat the tail.  Horrible though this is, it is unlikely that she would attack any other part of her body, and tails are expendable, though a mouse can become wobbly without it.  

I certainly wish her the best of luck, and my six little show mice will pray little mouse prayers for her too.
squeaks,

Natasha