Anyone have experience with seizures in mice?

by Opalesce Tue 28 Feb 2017, 8:20 pm

I took out little Opal for a bit today and let her run around on my duvet, and I was taking brief videos of her with the flash on. The lights were not quick or strobing, by any means, but I'm fairly sure she had a seizure afterwards, while the lights weren't on. She got this vacant expression on her face and started moving her little hands oddly and very slowly. Who knows if the light triggered her seizure, but I feel awful about it and now know she's prone to them Sad

I put her back afterward and she is fine, walking and being her normal quiet self. Ever since I got her she's always been quiet and a bit more to herself and not as active as her sister- but otherwise seemingly healthy. She is much more tame than Camellia. Does anyone else have mice that are prone to seizures? Is this a common thing? I know petstore mice can be so inbred, thus with a myriad of health problems... and I won't expose her to camera lights anymore, but I'm a bit concerned. It was disturbing to watch. Sad

Edit- I just checked on her and she is sleeping curled up with the top of her head in her bedding. I'm not sure if she does this usually but it's quite different compared to how Edgar and Camellia sleep...

by scaredymouse Wed 01 Mar 2017, 1:26 am

Mice can and do have seizures. I've only ever seen the grand mal type, but I'm sure they can have smaller seizures like the one you described. I have a cat with seizure disorder, like the one your mouse had. She takes medication because they were very frequent. So I learned quite a lot about seizures in the recent past. If the mouse doesn't appear to have very many of them, they won't really hurt her. The main thing is to keep her safe and away from harm during them. Other than that there isn't much you can do, other than obviously avoiding bright/flashing lights and other triggers that you can think of.

by Opalesce Wed 01 Mar 2017, 2:06 pm

So odd, you wouldn't expect mice to be prone to seizures! I suppose we were lucky in that she had a little one- I saw a video of a poor little one having a grand mal and it was pretty unnerving. Sad

I definitely will protect her from bright lights and possibly handle her for a bit less time when I take her out. Thank you for your reply, scaredymouse Smile

by AnonymousMouseOwner Wed 01 Mar 2017, 3:54 pm

I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but I recently saw a scientific experiment they did with mice, and basically the flash of a laser caused the mice to go into "attack mode" and try to hunt anything they saw. They couldn't control themselves, the laser was basically mind controlling them like a seizure would. So I think it is very possible the light could trigger a seizure, just like the laser light did in the experiment. By the way, don't look that up if you don't want to see it, it is very sad for the mice. Sorry you have to deal with that Sad