Antibiotics for pet mouse and how to administer

by Corny Thu 17 Sep 2020, 1:40 pm

I need some advice please.
Until recently I had 4 pet mice. 1 neutered male and 3 female ( two of which were sisters)
All lived happily together. All shared the same cage / food / exercise wheels etc. One of the sisters was much fatter than all the rest and developed a respiratory infection Despite antibiotics from the vet she died. I had separated her from the others and made sure the cage was clean.
The others showed no signs of any infection, but her sister was constantly looking for her and started pinning and refused to eat or drink.
Despite best efforts from me and the other little female who kept nuzzling her she also unfortunately died.
The male is very laid back and does socialise with other mice but also like his own company.
Worried that the remaining female might get lonely, I waited a week and then went to the pet shop.
They had two females for sale, They advised me that one had been returned by another customer, was traumatised and the two must go together.
I bought both, took them home, left them to settle down the first night.
The second night, I cleaned out my cage so that it would be neutral territory and slowly put all the mice in the newly cleaned cage. After some hesitation all seemed well. Until later when I saw the so called traumatised mouse dig its front paws in to the rear of my female and prove that it was indeed a male.
I separated it and returned it to the pet shop explaining it was a male.
My female is slightly skittish and even more so without the other females. A day or so later I noticed a swelling on her right side near her back leg where Mr mouse’s paws were. As it had developed very quickly, the vet assumed an abcess. She tried to drain it by drawing the fluid but found it was mostly blood. The mouse shows no distress is moving, eating and drinking normally. She has prescribed antibiotics, but says they are not licensed for a mouse and does not know what will happen. The antibiotics are Synulox palatable drops. She also advised she did not kno0w how they would affect things if the little mouse was in fact pregnant. I’d previously thought I would deal with this if it happened.

I’m unsure what to do. If I give the antibiotics, I don’t want to cause any problems. If I don’t and she has an infection. I just don’t want to loose another little mouse. luckily the second one from the pet shop was to small / young to be the object of Mr mouse’s affections. Any advice would be appreciated.
Also advice on he best and easiest way to administer the antibiotics as she is having none of it.

by MeanMurine Sun 20 Sep 2020, 5:43 am

What a disaster! I think the usual method of administering antibiotics is liquid drops in their drinking water, but you have to know the correct concentration and make sure the mouse is drinking it. I suggest you also pick up some probiotics to avoid diarrhea from the meds, benebac is good. Diarrhea kills mice very quickly.
I've always just powdered antibiotics in pill form and mixed it up with baby cereal for my mice.
Mouse safe antibiotics include doxycycline and baytril among others, synulox is amoxicillin, I believe? I'm not sure if it's mouse safe.
I also don't know if any of these medications are okay for pregnant/nursing mice.
Do you have access to any vets that know more about mice?

by Robin~ Sun 20 Sep 2020, 6:31 am

I would try and see a vet who’s experienced with exotics—most vets who don’t know how to treat mice end up giving medicines they prescribe to dogs/cats, which may be toxic to mice.

Medication is typically given orally via syringe—adding medication to the water is never a good idea since a) it could discourage the mouse from drinking it and b) if your mouse lives with other mice, the healthy mice may drink from it. What I did with my sick mice was sort of pin them to the table and held their head in place with my fingers. I know that sounds aggressive but it’s what worked for me and it got my mice through it, especially when one of them hated the taste of the meds with a passion even when flavored.

by AmyLynn Mon 21 Sep 2020, 11:49 am

I know it had been a few days but wanted to respond in case the information is helpful. I am sorry you had such an awful experience with the vet. The items I am going to suggest are topical antibiotics and can be purchased without a perception. However with more severe cases my vet usually use a topical treatment and will sometimes prescribe a liquid as well to stop internal infection.

Let me start with what you can do now. The two topical options are Terramycin it is a safe antibiotic ointment. This ointment is often used in the eye but is safe on any part of the body and is not going to hurt them if they them room it and it gets in the mouth. It should be used 2 to 3 times a day. There is also Baytril OTIC. These are usually sold in 15ml bottles. They are more commonly used for ear infection in other animals. My vet uses it to treat wounds by applying twice a day. This is more liquid like and absorbs into the skin quickly but doesn't leave a protective coating like the ointment. You should only use one or the other.

I am not a vet so if possible you should attempt to find a vet that can prescribe a safe dose of antibiotics in the proper dilution. They should be given one of two ways. Either from a tinny syringe with the needle removed. You can also place the dose on a well liked treat. Usual a dose only consists of a drop or two and fits nicely on a toddler or baby puff. I pick ones that are more fruit flavored for this purpose. The stronger the flavor the better. You would need to check back with in two hours or so and insure they ate it. If not you will have to admintor via a tinny syringe.

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Antibiotics for pet mouse and how to administer

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