Mister Mischief's pink pee problem

by ZuzuPants Thu 20 Dec 2018, 9:20 pm

Hey everyone
I just wanted to share some of my recent experience in case it can help someone else.

Mister Mischief is a grey and white mouse who was being sold for snake food in a pet store, but was destined to come home with me instead. I have had him a few months. He is currently recovering from a severe urinary tract infection or bladder infection, or both. Honestly I am not sure which. Anyway... when he first showed symptoms I couldn't figure out what was wrong at all. The symptoms were vague and I wasn't even sure there was anything wrong. Maybe I was being paranoid, or going nuts. Maybe Mister Mischief was just a moody mouse.

Well, no. MM had a bladder infection developing. So, for future reference, this is what it looked like before it became clear what it was:

-Mister Mischief was very reluctant to move. He didn't want me to hold him or touch him, though, so he would jump and dart around his cage if I tried to. Other than that he stayed in one place, for hours. Once he even stayed overnight up in one corner on the second level of his cage where there was no food, water, or shelter, because I had tried to catch him and he ran up there to get away, then didn't want to move again.

-His fur was ruffled looking, and he squinted a lot, as if the light was too bright.

-When it got worse, I actually found him sort of lying down draped over the edge of his food dish, with his face in the food, his hands holding food to his mouth. He barely moved for the most part, but he did nibble some.

-As he lay in his food dish, he would randomly jerk, in a sort of spasm, like he was falling asleep and was startled awake.

-Shivers ran through him periodically as he sat there, and he chattered his teeth, with his eyes squinting.

-He eventually stopped eating even his favorite treats.

The worst symptoms came on suddenly, over just 2 days it went from "maybe something is wrong" to "omg he is going to have to be euthanized". I thought it was neurological because of the shaking, squinting, and the spasms. I was already planning to take him to the vet as soon as he opened after the weekend when the most helpful symptom appeared: pink pee.

At first I found the pink bedding and I made up all kinds of explanations as to where it came from, none of them were MM's bladder. But I took him out of his cage to force feed him some Pedialyte/Critical Care (since he stopped eating and drinking), and he peed right there in front of me. Bright, bright pink pee. There are only so many things that can cause that.

I got him to the vet the next day, and he gave Mister Mischief two injections: one anti-inflammatory for pain and one fast-acting antibiotic. He is also on the antibiotic Orbax. Most of the symptoms I saw were general symptoms of pain, unfortunately. I wish I had known that before. He suffered for almost a week Sad

Mister Mischief is doing much, much better now. His pee is no longer pink, he is much more active, being curious, and he is eating and drinking normally again! He is on his way to being his old self again. Smile

I hope this is helpful for someone!