Band Aid stuck to mouse??

by dawnkittenz Sun 16 Sep 2018, 1:28 am

I had a band aid (new , out of packaging) while i was holding my mouse and now it's stuck to his fur, and very firmly. I can't get it off. What do i do? Don't want to hurt him????

Please help. Is there something I can use to get it off?

by MerciToujoursMaPetiteBoop Sun 16 Sep 2018, 11:59 am

It sort of depends -- on how much bandage is stuck, on where it is stuck, and how uncomfortable/squirmy your mousie is.

First thing to do is to trim off any excess adhesive bandage that is not stuck, to minimize the area left to deal with. Ideally, you should have one person to "restrain" the patient, to keep him from moving around too much while you snip off what bandage isn't attached. (Probably by now, though, the whole thing would be stuck, but without a picture of the patient I have to start at the beginning.)

Without a steady scissors hand, and without a very calm mouse, even with blunt-tipped fine-point scissors, I would not try to snip the bandage free by cutting the hair. The risk of jabbing the patient seems too high, especially the more pressed-in the bandage is.

Now, ironically, yesterday at work I happened to notice I had a clear square of some highly sticky-backed acetate or something stuck to the front of my shirt! No idea what it is or where it came from - just stuck to my shirt and leaving sticky residue all over all of my fingers that came in contact with it. So I had a chance to recall all the different home remedies I've run across for removing sticky residue from fingers and hair. The ones that are probably safest for a little mouse are vegetable oil (olive oil, sunflower oil) and peanut butter.

With peanut butter, you may have a hard time getting the patient to stop trying to eat your solvent and let you work on the problem. The plus side, though, is that you probably wouldn't have to do much mousie clean-up afterword, as self-grooming would take care of that. With vegetable oil, you may have to give mousie a little bath afterward. Maybe go half-way and mix some peanut butter with vegetable oil.

Work on a surface that will be easy to clean grease off, try to gently restrain mousie with one hand (or have a helper), and apply little bits of your oily adhesive solvent with your finger tips or a cotton swab, working it under the bandage just a bit at a time. By "restrain", I mean you may have to swaddle the little one as you might have to do to administer medication, but artfully leaving uncovered access to the part you need to work on. As the bandage adhesive releases from the fur, it shouldn't re-stick anymore. Don't try to rush this process, and be sure not to rub adhesive off the bandage and into the fur.

When you are all done, if mousie needs a de-greasing bath, use some diluted Dawn dishwashing liquid (safe for wildlife, you know), and then make sure he is dry and warm when you're finished.

Alternatively, if he is doing OK with his sticky decoration, you can call your veterinarian and see if there's any advice you can get over the phone. Maybe they have a better solvent, or feel more sure of clipping the offending bandage off.

Best luck. Keep us updated.

Band Aid stuck to mouse??

Band Aid stuck to mouse??

Re: Band Aid stuck to mouse??