red swollen eye

Question
Hi Panya--

This is about Ultra again, but a different problem.  When she was younger,
she often had a redder, somewhat teary eye, but it cleared up after a while.  
Now she has it again, and with her no hair (sniff) I can see it very well.  It is
prominent, bulging, and it almost looks like she has like the white of our
eyes-- that I am not just seeing the pupil. She has pink-reddish eyes.  This
eye is more open, though it does close; the other one looks normal but might
be more closed than normal.  Like I said, this is not the first time this has
happened.

I am afraid it could be an allergy to the wooden bedding, which she has again
after I changed from the paper bedding, but which (wooden chips) she grew
up with.  We still don't know if the paper bedding was a problem-- although
she did continue to lose her fur after the change, I hate to remember the pain
she was in that last night before the switch.  

What do you think?

peace

Answer
Eye problems are common in mice. The good news is mice have very poor eyesight to begin with so the loss of sight in one eye is not as trivial to them.

Does there appear to be a film of white over the eye? It doesn't sound like an allergy as if it were it would probably be in both eyes. I have tried a few different creams for eye problems in mice but they don't work. A gentle lukewarm salt water bath usually helps, use a cue-tip in a solution of approximately 1 teaspoon of salt in 1 cup of water (it doesn't have to be exact). A lot of my mice enjoy this, they rub their eye against the cue-tip and sometimes their hind leg starts twitching! I do this about 3 or 4 times a day (it depends how bad it is) and it starts improving around 3 days.

Use your instinct, try to find a connection between her eye and a change you have made (could be her bedding, soap you clean the cage with, season, position of cage etc). If you have used hay or straw this can end up poking a mouse in the eye.

She may be experiencing a lot of health problems due to her breeding. The breeder may have bred for looks and temperament rather than health (long-hairs are quite rare).

I hope Ultra recovers as she has before, the salt bath should help. Please feel free to ask any more questions.