# Maybe constipation with green slimy poop



## stephisme

Hey guys,

I think I have wrote in here once about barbering and overweight mouse but I can be wrong. A little back story, I have 2 female mice who for whatever reason really smell but it has gotten better after I made some changes. I was always particularly concerned with one mouse because she is very big and pooped a lot, several times when we take her out.

Yesterday we took her out and she didn't poop at all which was very odd for her. We were worried it might be constipation and gave her a raison which I do not think she ate but she is eating in general. She has been under active but she tends to be that way in general but will run on the wheel sometimes or get a bit hyper which she still is.

I went down this morning to take her out to see if she would poop and for the first minute she didn't (again this is very rare) but then after a minute she pooped once but it was green and slimy next to it. Her poop tends to be grean regularly though... but the slime is what is worrying me and that she only pooped once. I didn't keep her out after that because I could tell they were tired (it's during the day after all).

I was wondering if anyone could know what this is and what I can do. I called some local vets and the ones that do see mice do not seem very interested... they actually seem rather snotty when I mention I want to bring a mouse in. Then I was told it would be $200 just to walk through the door and then more for any kind of tests, treatment, and diagnosis. I do not know if that is there way of saying they don't want to see her but they made it seem as though I would be paying close to $400. I really cannot afford that especially after the Hurricane we just had. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance


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## bonsai

Hello.
First of all I would reduce the fresh food if you haven't done this already.
Which food did your mice get normaly?
You can buy Bird Bene Bac gel,to regulate the enteric flora.Do you know this? 
I am really afraid about the vet.Unbelievable.
I'm sure this can't be the normal price for a small animal Check up.I'd try to find another vet.
Good luck.


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## stephisme

Thank's for your response!
My boyfriend is picking this up right now: http://www.petco.com/product/14786/PetA ... teria.aspx

Is that okay?

I feed them this: http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.j ... lInUS%2FNo
Do you recommend something different? Thank's so much!


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## pro-petz

Sounds to me as if the poor thing has a recurring gastric infection, green poop is usually an indication of an infection, the slime is the animals normal lubrication to remove poop, this will obviously be more noticable if the animal is straining to pass its poop.

That said is based on the colour of the poop in an animal that is fed a standard proprietory diet, adding extra greenstuffs to its diet will also cause the green colouration in its poop.

If it is an infection then it will need to be treated for a period of 7 days with an antibiotic, for the constipation cod liver oil soaked food should help the problem.


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## stephisme

Thank's for the response. Someone told me that wet tail drops are really antibiotics and can be used to treat infection too. Is that true?

Here is the link to them: 
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.j ... lInUS%2FNo



pro-petz said:


> Sounds to me as if the poor thing has a recurring gastric infection, green poop is usually an indication of an infection, the slime is the animals normal lubrication to remove poop, this will obviously be more noticable if the animal is straining to pass its poop.
> 
> That said is based on the colour of the poop in an animal that is fed a standard proprietory diet, adding extra greenstuffs to its diet will also cause the green colouration in its poop.
> 
> If it is an infection then it will need to be treated for a period of 7 days with an antibiotic, for the constipation cod liver oil soaked food should help the problem.


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## bonsai

Perfect.That bene bac is excactly what I meant.
Most mice eat it without problems.
I think its better to feed less fat food at the moment.Yours contains lots of nuts and sunflower seed.I just use it as a topic about once a week.
Probably you can change the diet slowly.
I agree with pro petz that there should be any infection which has to be treatend with antibiotics by a vet.


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## pro-petz

stephisme said:


> Thank's for the response. Someone told me that wet tail drops are really antibiotics and can be used to treat infection too. Is that true?
> 
> Here is the link to them:
> http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.j ... lInUS%2FNo


I do not think the treatment for wet tail will carry any antibiotic as to to sell such things would mean petsmart would have to purchase a licence to sell it, as it is well documented by many sources petsmart do not have a good reputation in regards to animal welfare. Antibiotics are a prescribed drug and as such require a fully qualified person to prescribe it and the dosage.

The bene bac is very similar to probiotics that is available to humans and helps the build up of usefull beneficial bacteria in the gut to aid digestion.

Something to bear in mind also when giving antibiotics is that they do destroy vitamins within the body so always a good thing to give added vitamins after and treatment with antibiotics which we all do probably anyway as part of getting our animal back to 100 per cent health again.

A diet higher in fibre would help prevent constipation in the future.


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## stephisme

Thank's for the reply's guys.

We purchased the Bene-Bac but she won't eat it... I tried mixing it with vanilla ice cream and everything (A few years ago we had to treat a mouse using vanilla ice cream and she loved it) I also tried putting some on her whiskers but she just shook it off.

She did poop 3 times though during the process and the third poop was more solid. It's still a lot less than she normally does but I am glad she did a bit.

I called up another vet that said they don't normally see little animals but she would try... don't know if that's a good idea though. I don't understand why these vet's don't see mice. One of the sites even had a picture of one!


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## pro-petz

Vets not seeing mice is probably due to the lack of training they have with them during their qualification. Mice are deemed as vermin or pests so treatment of such is not something that would be covered in any great depth during their training.

Finding a vet that will treat mice and rats or any other type of animal that authorities class as pests or vermin is well worth keeping their details prominantly placed in the mousery or phone book


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## ThatCertainGlow

Any vet that is willing to try, is gold. Especially at reasonable costs. They are taking a risk seeing an animal they have little experience with, and they know it.

Even if the vet can't help this time, if he/she is willing to try, and willing to learn, they might become the best small animal vet you even wanted. Practice makes perfect. The more mice they see, the better chance they have of being the one with the answer you didn't find/couldn't think of. I had one like that, a bit more than a decade ago. Wish he was still practicing.

Is there anything she normally does like that you can add a really tiny smear to, and eventually get part of a dose in her? Even something she goes for that is in the food you already feed her? Definitely think she will benefit from a basic food change, though.

-Zanne


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## stephisme

Thank's again,

Can anyone recommend a good seed mix for them? I like in the US, I know a lot of you are in the UK. The pet stores seem to have a variety but it's hard to find one with little fat. Thanks!


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## pro-petz

you could try hamster food and wild bird seed mixed 50/50, or even rabbit food and wild bird food again mixed 50/50 as a starting point. adding dog kibble for extra protein.

Reading previous posts on the subject it seems we all use different mixes, I personally have about 6 different mixes I use depending on health of the mice and if I am going to breed them or not.

My mixes are made up for high protein, high fibre, high fat, but all consist of a varied mix of seeds and grains with fruit and veg being used as a supplement diet and not as a staple food.

During my quarantine period which lasts 4 weeks all mice are given the full works and notes made on each animals record card as to if they will take the likes of vitamin supplements added to the water, new born baby milk, goats milk, (always kept in the freezer), natural yoghurt, pro-biotic mixed with either sweetner and something bitter tasting like lemon juice, this is done solely so that I can look at the animal card and know instantly what the individual will take with something bitter or sweet added, also includes any allergies if any are found or known about at time of purchase.


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## stephisme

Hey Guys,

She is pooping more tonight... when i took her out she went a couple of times and they aren't green nor slimy anymore. I just went down to check on her though and noticed they are a bit loose now. Would the benne-bac do that and if so would it be so quick?

Thanks again for all of the help!


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## pro-petz

Any sudden change in diet will upset the digestive system slightly, usually shows itself as slightly loose poop. bene bac would give results within a 12 hour period I would think.


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