mouse eye

Question
My son has a male mouse, we got him (Julius) from friends of friends, I bet
Julius has always been a caged mouse (not wild).  He is alone in a plastic
mouse cage, not one with wires on the sides.  His left eye looked smaller
yesterday, with a little line down the left side of his nose.  It looks like there is
now a ring of skin around that eye.  No gunk coming out of the eye. It seems
little better today.  I'm hoping this will heal by itself.  Currently we change the
bedding once per week.  Should we change it more often, for a cleaner
environment for the eye to heal? Or?  Thanks in advance for your help.

Answer
Dear Nancy,

It is possible that he hurt his eye on something, in which case if there is no infection, it may very well heal by itself.  I would keep a careful watch on it and as long as it doesn't worsen, do nothing.

Julius won't be happy if you clean out his cage more than once a week because he likes to make it his home so he feels comfortable (by spraying).  As a single mouse, his urine shouldn't build up in that time to cause any kind of health problem or unhygienic situation.

If his eye gets worse, you have two options: Take him to the vet right away, or treat him with antibiotics.  A little neosporin is a first line; if you want to try an internal antibiotic without going to the vet, I do use a home remedy, but I must stress, the vet knows best.  

The following archive answer describes how to use Tetracycline to treat a mouse:

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

Please let me know if you have any further questions.

squeaks,

Natasha