# What causes a Rectal Prolapse?



## whitesugarmouse (Jun 14, 2010)

My favourite Poppet mouse has produced a huge rectal prolapse late tonight and I'm really distressed about having to leave her to cope with it overnight before I can get her to the vet.

She was lively and bright at eight o'clock this evening when I tidied the house, washed the wheels and fed and watered. When I went back to get her out to play a couple of hours later, she was looking a bit unhappy beside the nest and then I noticed the blood and the protrusion. It is more than 2cms long so remedial treatment is not an option.

She lives with her three sisters and after looking up the net I'm worried it is either hereditary or caused by worms (which I never knew could be an issue for mice). One of the others was off colour and out of sorts for 24 hours three days ago but is fine now and eating normally again. They are all normal weight, sleek and active and coming up for seventeen months old. The only other relevant point is that one of them has had slightly wet, sticky droppings for a couple of days but I didn't identify who it was.

In forty years of mouse keeping I have never had anything like the severity of this or the sudden-ness of onset. Can anyone help me with an explanation please?


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

Sounds like an infection or possibily an infestation. I'd give Iver-ON (Pour-On) to any meeces of mine ;except for the one with the prolapse. You say it's protruding 2 CENTIMETERS?! Holey moley...I have little hope of anyone doing anything except pts. Sorry. If you mean 2 mm (millimeters), then it's not so bad....what DO you mean?


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## whitesugarmouse (Jun 14, 2010)

It really is 2 centimetres plus. Bigger than a baked bean certainly. It has dried out and shrunk overnight and she is remarkably perky but we are off to the vet soon to have her PTS. I hate having to do that, so much better that they pass away peacefully at home with friends. My vet injects into the stomach - horrible.
I have an Ivermectin dropper bottle which I use on them occasionally for mites if they are scratching. Usually dose once a week for three weeks. Will that be enough to eradicate any possible worms?


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## whitesugarmouse (Jun 14, 2010)

Stupid, stupid me. Now that I have seen it in the cold light of day, this is actually a UTERINE prolapse, hence the size I suppose. Unfortunately end result is the same and I will have to have her PTS. Good news for the mouse is that my vet now does gas, but bad news is that I can't be with her.
Anyone have any idea why a non breeding fit and healthy mouse would suddenly have a huge prolapsed uterus?


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## CeriLM (Oct 20, 2011)

One of my guys had a prolapsed rectum and was thought to have happened because of an internal tumour so maybe the same cause?


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## whitesugarmouse (Jun 14, 2010)

Thanks for the reply CeriLM. I had been wondering about that, especially as I found a small growth under her lip post mortem. She seemed to be perfectly healthy but mice can be so stoical with tumours.


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