Mouse lost an eye!

by MiniMice Thu 27 Dec 2018, 8:13 am

I recently added a 3 month old mouse to my colony. I did everything the same way as when I introduced the previous five females to each other. This baby was a rescue and was kept alone, after quarantine that lasted 3 weeks, I introduced her to my 5 adult females. Everything was great for the first two weeks but today I went in to check on my mice and the baby was all bitten up and her eye was missing! The bites do not seem severe, although the one on her paw was bleeding and the eye is not swallen or seem to hurt, it's just closed up. I was shocked as just last night all 6 of the females were sleeping together cuddling.

I cannot get to the vet until next week, after new years, all the vets are either closed until then or booked up. I don't know what to do! Is there anything I can do to treat the wounds until I can get to the vet with her? Please help!

by MerciToujoursMaPetiteBoop Thu 27 Dec 2018, 12:25 pm

Any bite wound is a possible source of infection, and can also have caused damage to deeper tissues. Four things you might want to have on hand for first aid cases like this:

Sterile saline solution -- which you can make by boiling water, then adding 1 level teaspoon of regular kitchen salt to 16 ounces of water. Keep covered as the water cools, so nothing falls into it to re-contaminate. Use at room temperature to flush-clean wounds.

Dawn dishwashing liquid -- safe for wildlife! Diluted in warm water, this is good for soap-and-water wound cleaning, and general bathing in the case of many wounds all over. Be sure to rinse well afterward, so mousie does not lick up soap residue during grooming. (I use the standard Dawn formulation, not the triple-concentrated or the anti-bacterial. Menards carries the apple scent.)

Betadine or a less expensive generic equivalent brand povidone iodine solution. Dilute to one part betadine to at least five parts of water. Can be applied to wounds with a cotton swab, left on for a minute or so, and then rinsed off completely (again, to avoid ingestion during grooming).

Neosporin, to apply to the wounds after they have been flushed, cleaned, rinsed, and dried.

For the injured eye, rinse with sterile saline. Are you sure the eye is gone, or is there a chance it is still in place but either damaged or obscured by swelling? Either way, rinse across the injured eye area.

Keep count of the wounds, so you make sure to check them all each time. You will probably have to scruff mousie to do a thorough body check. Watch for signs of infection (redness, swelling, the smell of infection). Monitor for body temperature increase or decrease (you'll have to be careful that you hold mousie under the same basic conditions -- don't pick her up with chilled hands and mistake her relative warmness for a fever, for example). And make sure the patient is eating and drinking and pooping acceptable amounts. If mousie isn't eating/drinking/pooping right, check back and see if we have any other ideas for you.

Remember that mousies are very tiny, and it doesn't take long at all for what is for us a very small infection to take over their entire body. So even if the wounds heal up before you can get in to a veterinarian, go anyway. Prescription antibiotics can take care of bad stuff that got in through a bite and became trapped by the healing process.

Above all: DON'T BE SCARED -- JUST BE PREPARED!

Mouse lost an eye!

Mouse lost an eye!

Re: Mouse lost an eye!