# FAT mouse?



## Rebeccaann (Mar 30, 2014)

Hey guys, 
i have two female mice named penny and daisy. usually daisy is very shy but active, and penny is hyper and a complete escape artist! However, recently penny has become very lethargic, she hardly uses the wheel and if she does its very slow and seems like a struggle.
Penny is around 9 months old.
on further inspection of Penny i noticed her belly is massive! if you feel just infront of her legs it is very pronounced, giving her this overall look of a pear, very large down the back end.
at first i thought she may be constipated, however when i pick her up and play with her she poos just fine! and shes urinating, i have witnessed her eating and drinking too, so im not sure whats wrong?!? 
She just stays inside her little house all day and all night, and she has taken to nipping a little bit which is also very odd for penny, she has never done this before, not to mention staying in the house all the time is very odd for her usually shes so full of energy! 
she hasn't been sneezing or anything like that, her skin may be a little more red (on the tail) but that could just be me looking for things that might be indicators, i might have just not noticed before.
does anyone have any idea of what it might be? 
she lives in a large cage with another female mouse. The cage is wire and i feed them an assortment of grains, seeds, vegetables and sometimes fruit as a treat.
My mother suggested to me that she may be pregnant, however i don't see how she could be? if she cant get out surly no mouse can get inside? the wire is placed quite close together, and daisy is not showing any of these symptoms and they have been in the same cage for around 6 months so there is no chance that daisy is actually a boy because surly i would know about it by now haha.
does anyone know what it might be?


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## WoodWitch (Oct 18, 2009)

I'm thinking that Daisy is very likely a boy!

How long has the mouse been fat for? What colour is she? (some colour genes can make a mouse fat), Can you post a picture of her and a picture of the back end of 'Daisy'? Without more info it's hard to know. In the meantime I'd put some extra tissue/hay in so your potential mother can make a nice nest.


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## Rebeccaann (Mar 30, 2014)

hopefully you can see these! i had a bit of trouble with resizing the image.
i never realised how hard it was to get a photo of a mouses genitals.


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## Rebeccaann (Mar 30, 2014)

penny (the fat one) is quite large however at the pet store today, i was looking at pregnant mice and they are very large and ferm in the belly, penny isnt like that, however they were very very pregnant mice! my poor girl!


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## Rebeccaann (Mar 30, 2014)

oh sorry i forgot to say: Daisy doesnt have any sort of lumps that would indicate testicals which is the confusing bit. (its hard to see in the picture above because she kept wriggling)


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## WoodWitch (Oct 18, 2009)

Yes it's hard to see from the picture but Daisy does look more like a doe than a buck, and I think I see nipples, leaving the other mouse unlikely to be pregnant and in poor condition for another reason. Worms can cause bloating, as can other more serious conditions. My first course of action would be to try an ivermectin spot on treatment, which is effective in killing off many internal parasites (including worms). Other to that, if you're really worried about her I would, of course, suggest she is taken to see a vet


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## Rebeccaann (Mar 30, 2014)

My poor girl passed away last night. Atleast she isn't uncomfortable anymore  
I was just wondering should I be worried about daisy who was in the cage? She has no symptoms of penny's ailments however I cleaned the cage last night before penny kicked it should I give it anthe clean so that nothing can be transmitted to daisy? 
Thank you so much for you response, you helped me a lot even though my poor girl didn't make it.


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## WoodWitch (Oct 18, 2009)

Yes, give everything a good clean and be vigilant, but I doubt that Daisy will succumb to the same problem. I suspect an internal blockage may have been responsible for your other mouses condition as she deteriorated so quickly. I'm sorry to hear she didn't make it


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