I think he has worms

by Superman Thu 13 Jul 2017, 11:20 am

I have owned my first pet male mouse for two weeks and two days now. He seemed fine at first, actually he still seems fine. But I am quite concerned for him.

This morning I had him in the nook of my arm with the same long sleeve t-shirt I always wear and I discovered he was going to the bathroom on me like he always does but it was different this time. The poor little guy had runny light colored poops, and I had given him some fresh carrot two days prior so I know it wasn't that. That wasn't the worst part even, I was going to clean it up and saw something tiny whitish/clearish moving inside of his excrement.

I don't know what I've done wrong, he's scratching himself a lot. And now this. Do I need to take him to the vet? Is there anything I can do at home for him or purchase online?

I bought him at Petsmart, and I've come home with evacuated animals that I've rescused in poor condition. But this seems a bit off to me, I bought him from a pet store. I don't know what I could have done to give him worms. He has literally just shown signs of it for the first time today, so it must be my fault.

Any help/guidance would be greatly appreciated.

by RandomMouseLover05 Thu 13 Jul 2017, 11:32 am

So I honestly have no experience in this. But I started looking into this, if it is indeed a worm or some sort of parasite, they can easily become very ill and possibly kill the host in which it is staying in. Mice are known not to show signs of illnesses, so that's why your mouse has probably not shown that he is sick. I would think that you should see a vet, but probably someone with more experience will come in and help you. Hope that helped a little bit and keep us updated!

by CallaLily Thu 13 Jul 2017, 11:49 am

Yep, for internal parasites I do believe a vet trip is needed. They can check his poo to determine what, if any parasites are there and treat accordingly. Do make sure to look for an exotic animal vet that has experience with mice.

Don't blame yourself. He's likely had them all along and wasn't anything you did or didn't do. Keep us updated on how he does. There's a little info here too: https://www.petmousefanciers.com/t25-health-packet#8337.

by Superman Thu 13 Jul 2017, 12:02 pm

There is one vet in my city that handles small pets and I can do a walk in this afternoon so I will be taking him. But I'm so worried for him. I hate that he goes to the bathroom on me but this time I'm glad he did because I would not have seen it otherwise. I still have no idea how he contracted it though. I think he's been with me long enough (two weeks) that it must have been something I did. I clean his entire tank and other play tanks/bins once a week.

I was reading myself and it says it can come from cats who have it. I do have a cat, a cat who is always in the same room as him but he never comes into contact with her or anything of hers at all. Also, she was just at the vet along with my dog on Tuesday and they both are perfectly healthy. Ok my little dog needs to lose weight but otherwise they have nothing like that.

I'm so worried about him now, I'm sure he has to be dehydrated as well given how runny his poops are.

I don't want him to die oh gosh Sad

the soonest I can get him in is this afternoon, I hope it's not life threatening Sad

by Peachy Thu 13 Jul 2017, 12:13 pm

Ick! One of my girls from Petco had worms. It sounds like it's not too uncommon for pet shop mice, unfortunately. I only saw a worm once, but the vet did confirm it and we got them treated in 6-7 weeks (if I remember right). The meds were easy peasy, all the cleaning was a hassle! lol

She's just fine now, so try not too worry too much. It's good that you caught it!

When I was reading around, I found that topical ivermectin can be used to treat some internal parasites but not all, so it's good that you'll be visiting a vet to make sure that your mouse is being appropriately treated. The wrong treatment means they won't be taken care of and your mouse could get even sicker. Good luck to you and your boy! Good vibes

by Superman Thu 13 Jul 2017, 1:50 pm

Thank you so much for the words of encouragement and advice.

Hopefully he will be ok. It was a really shocking thing to see and I just immediately panicked.

I was reading on here about Ivermectin and found a link someone left so I am going to purchase that to use in the future as a preventative measure against mites and such. I am going to start freezing his carefresh bedding to try to combat the chance of him getting mites from that. I don't know if I need to freeze his corn cob bedding though.

Thank you again for the advice and keeping me from panicking more (:

by Rodents rock! Thu 13 Jul 2017, 8:22 pm

How was your vet visit? Just wanted to reassure you that it is nothing you did wrong. I'm sure he had the parasites when you got him.

by Superman Thu 13 Jul 2017, 9:53 pm

Finally home with the little one safe and sound.

He has pin worms, according to the vet it's very common in small animals and especially ones from the pet store. He stated they aren't really a concern until they get to the point you can see the worms in their stool. He gave my mouse Ivermectin orally, and I have to bring him back 10 days from now for another Ivermectin treatment, and again 10 days after that. He said he wouldn't send me home with the Ivermectin because it's a slightly higher dosage to treat pin worms rather than just mites. Other than that he's very healthy, and he weighs 38 grams. I don't know if that's good or bad or average lol.

He also stated that I should not hope that he will ever be rid of them 100%, that the goal is to manage it and keep the worms from growing but that eliminating them completely is near impossible.

He also said a lot of things to me that seem to contradict what I've researched online a bit. But I will make a separate thread on that to get orher's opinions.

Thank you for asking how he's doing! I'm very relieved that he's ok and that it's not life threatening. $112 is worth my peace of mind knowing he is getting the care he needs (:

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