Sick mouse & various questions

Question
Hi I have asked numerouse questions to you before and here is another. My albino mouse (Kirah) hasnt been well. She couldnt be bothered to move, her eyes looked sad and her back had a hunch. I can tell that these are symptoms of being ill.


Today I got her out and she was opening and closing her mouth whilst making a clicking noise. I researced this and most of my research led to a chest infection or respirotry desease. She used to breath loud etc. so I guess she has this but I may not be able to get her to a vet.

What should I do? I dont want her to die but one of my parents (step dad lol) is like,'Ooh your talking about a mouse itll be fine!'. I wondered if you would have any information on albino mice and chest infections in mice.



Could you answer these to?:

Do mice hibonate?
Do mice has blue/black tongues? (Kirah does)
Shoule I seperate Kirah from Kiki? (her sister)

Thank you so much x :P

Answer
Hi again, Demi!

There is really no difference in care for an albino mouse and a colored one.  The only difference between the two is that the albino mouse is partially or completely blind.  Thus she will rely on her nose more than the other will.

I'm sorry about little Kirah.  As you surmised, she is definitely quite sick with some sort of a respiratory infection.  She is probably coughing when you say she is opening her mouth.  If you can get her to a vet that would be the best thing.

If you can't get her to a vet then the best you can do is give her a home antibiotic remedy-- which usually works, although she sounds pretty sick.  You can read about this method at this archival post of mine:

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Mice-3824/2008/9/Administering-antibiotic-Tetracyclin...

Mice actually are very delicate creatures.  In nature, each individual mouse is expendable.  Mice survive as a species because they have so many babies, not because each mouse lasts long.  As soon as one thing is wrong with the mouse, it no longer has the energy to keep itself warm, and so it usually dies of the cold.  If you can heal a mouse and keep it warm, it can survive an illness.  In the wild it will not.

I have also found what some scientists may scoff at, but that love is a big factor in  mouse survival.  If a mouse feels loved-- if there is a very close connection between that mouse and its person (or sometimes another mouse)-- it has more will to survive and has a better chance.  Thus if she is a friendly little mouse who loves to be held (not all mice are that human-oriented), give her lots of attention and keep her warm in your hand. Of course if she doesn't like to be handled then you will want to leave her alone.

Next question:  Do mice hibernate?  No, they don't.

Do mice have black/blue tongues?  Well if Kirah has always had a tongue that color, it must be normal.  I have only noticed pink tongues in my mice, but there are so many breeds of mice that it would not shock me to find out some had different color tongues.  Did you know that giraffes have purple tongues?!

Should you separate the two sisters?  I assume you mean because Kirah is sick.  No, at this point Kiki has already been exposed to the illness.  She should be treated just like her sister, as in the above post:  dose her once by hand, then keep the Tetracycline in the water bottle for a week or until both mice are healthy.  Don't expect Kirah to necessarily return to being a young-looking mouse, though.  The illness can take a lot out of a mouse and cause her to age more quickly.  

Any more questions?  : )

squeaks,

Natasha