# Runt with a Facial Deformity



## selyhoon

Hello! About 3 1/2 weeks ago, one of my does gave birth to a litter of 9 including a stillborn, about a week ago I found one boy that has a facial deformity and as the days went by, his growth started to slow down as compared to his siblings. He has always been slower but now, his biggest sliblings is about a little bit lesser than 2 times his size and the smallest is about a head bigger. It seems like he is still drinking from his mother and also taking in solid food at the same time. I tried to feed him puppy goat's milk ((Toplife)) to supplement him and hopefully help him to grow but he refused to drink ): I was wondering if there's anything I could do for him? I've grown attached to him and I hope that there's something I could do for him


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## Cheshire Gleam

Could you post some pictures of him and his siblings? It's hard to suggest anything without seeing what the deformity looks like.


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## selyhoon

He is the one sleeping on top of his siblings, the second photo shows a clearer view of his facial deformity. Here's the link! 


http://imgur.com/1FB8s


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## selyhoon

I also noticed his beady tail which I've read somewhere is common in runts due to their slower development etc I was wondering if supplementing him with KMR after he has weaned would help him?


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## whiggy

Welcome! Sorry, I don't have any advice, but would be interested to hear how things work out with him!


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## Cheshire Gleam

Thanks for the pictures, they're all very cute.  I can't say with certainty what his deformity is but are you sure he's eating properly because to me it looks like his mouth/jaw is twisted which could mean he isn't eating as much as the others are, hence the size difference. Down the road, this could impact him even further if his teeth don't grow correctly or start cutting into the soft tissues of his mouth. Supplementing him doesn't sound like a bad idea. What I've done for smaller or sickly mice in the past is soak high protein dog food and a bit of peanut butter in warmed and diluted KMR formula then mash it all together with success. His beady tail is a sign of malnutrition most likely.

The main thing I can suggest is, since you don't want to cull him and hopefully won't have to, start supplementing him and keep a very close eye on him in case he begins to worsen. Make absolutely certain he's eating (your best bet as he ages is to hand feed him), watch how his mouth and teeth develop and see if any other issues crop up. If he starts wasting away or anything, you'll probably have to put him down unfortunately so he doesn't suffer.

Hope this helps, best of luck to you and your mice, keep us posted!


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## selyhoon

I see! When should I stop the KMR in his diet? I was hoping that I could eventually move him on to fresh and cooked food so it would be easier for him


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## selyhoon

btw my babies say thanks  and thank you so much for your time and help :lol: I was also wondering if it's okay for an adult mouse to eat the food soaked with KMR bc I was planning on keeping him with the nanny mice that cared for him and his littermates until he is strong enough to be on his own


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## Cheshire Gleam

I think it would be okay to stop the KMR when he's separated from mom, 28 days. He'll be weaned from his mother's milk by this point, but it should be fine to offer him some for a little while longer. The other babies can drink it too if they want. I've given food soaked with KMR to adults only a handful of times when they were ill. I'm not sure if it would be harmful to feed them this often, so I'd air on the side of caution just in case, but since it's a bit of KMR mixed with something else, to me it seems alright in moderation. Keeping him in with does past the weaning date could be risky as he could impregnate the females in with him. Fresh and cooked food sounds like a great idea, I wouldn't have even thought of that!  Makes me wanna go cook for mine now. :lol:


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## selyhoon

Phantom is about 26 days Old now, and yet is just a little bit bigger than a baby that just opened it's eyes, which is why i'm thinking of leaving him w a caring doe bc I doubt he will be able to try and mate with them seeing that he is the size of a 2 week old even nearing the 4 week mark :lol: weirdly his brothers have yet to start to develop their testicles which worries me slightly as well  my previous batches developed them at 3 weeks of age and by week 4 they were reasonably big with visible testicles. Could this be due to the larger litter, the previous one had 7 and this has 9 and hence their smaller size etc? Just curious 

one more question, is it true that visibly smaller mice/runts sexually mature at a later age?

And you should definitely try the cooked food! They seem to enjoy cooked pasta a lot in particular as well as carrots :lol:


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## Cheshire Gleam

Okay, that makes since if he can't mount them. The larger litter could be smaller in size due to more babies yes, but I don't think that would prevent/stunt the growth of their testicles. Males can retract their testicles for a few reasons, if they really don't have them though, they could be females. Otherwise, I'm not sure what the cause could be or if runts sexually mature slower than their counterparts. :?

I've tried pasta with my mice and they dragged the spaghetti noodles all around! Such a mess. Mine also like plain chicken, turkey, scrambled eggs, cooked brown rice, stuff like that, bad on fruits and vegetables just like kids. :roll: Mealworms and other small feeder insects also tickle their fancy.

Hope Phantom gets better, love his name by the way.


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## selyhoon

ah I better double check their genders then! thank you so much for your help and Phantom says thanks


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## selyhoon

I just realized Phantom has really long lower incisors that I doubt the vet could deal with due to his small size and for the fact that no vet specializes in any animal smaller than a Syrian hamster where I live  it's reaching his nose and I saw that he can't bite solid food also due to how "thin" his teeth are  at this point I'm wondering if letting him go is the best option as it seems like nothing much can be done for him since the way his teeth are grown will most probably cause him to waste away due to malnutrition  just one last try at getting any possible advices from anyone that could suggest something that might help him )':


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## Cheshire Gleam

That's not good. I think you can help him by putting him down now before his condition starts wasting away. His teeth will just continue to grow and it wouldn't be practical to get his teeth worn/cut down by a vet, even if they provided that service. I'm really sorry but this is the best option to prevent him from suffering. I can't think of any option that would allow you to keep him alive and happy at the same time, hopefully someone can tip in on this and have better advice than me. Really wishing the best for you and Phantom.


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## selyhoon

It's been nearly two months since my last post and surprisingly Phantom is doing really well! He went through a phase where he lost his fur on his belly and about from being in wet food when he eats so I improvised and now he has all his fur back! He is still as small as when I first posted about him but he grew fatter and bigger  I took into consideration the option of putting him down and I just didn't want to let a boy like him that's fighting for his life go without giving him another shot at it, so I decided to take on the responsibly of clipping his teeth (without hurting him of course), giving him soft food that has an appropriate amount of veggies, fruits and protein and also checking on him everyday. Just an update so that everyone could take a look at him! My little runt made it (-:



http://imgur.com/X6sANzE




http://imgur.com/aayX7Tr


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## Cheshire Gleam

Glad to hear it! How do you clip his teeth?


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