Mouse Losing Fur

by Echoe77 Sun 07 Jun 2020, 11:44 pm

My mouse Penny has been losing fur off and on since I got her. She's been to the vet numerous times, but still no conclusion. She is a "fuzzy" mouse (curly short hair). I have two other female mice, Polly and Piper.

-The first 2 weeks I had them, their fourth member Pipin passed away (Penny's fur had a little patch missing that grew off and on)
-Treated for mites (fur got better for 2 weeks then stopped)
-Separated from friends (fur got better for 1 week)
-Moved to low protein food (stopped losing fur, but didn't grow back)
-Reunited with 1 friend (fur got better for 3 weeks, then stopped growing)
-Reunited with 2nd friend (fur got better for 1 week, then stopped)

She will chase be chased by her friends. Piper will sometimes jump on her, but Penny never squeaks. I separated Piper for a few weeks, but there wasn't much change. Since I put her back in, her and Penny snuggle, chase, and run together. Penny does drink a lot of water. She may be pulling out her own fur, although I've never seen her (or anyone do it). The vet was thinking stress, hormone issue, or metabolic. To run bloodwork would require putting her under anesthesia and if it's due to stress I'm not sure if she could handle it. Penny is 7mths old, she eats and plays normally. I'm wondering if it's similar to the mice that obsessively scratch, except with hair pulling. She's never had any scratch marks and there's never been any blood drawn between the three mice.