# Mentally ill mouse?



## madmouse (May 19, 2012)

Can a mouse develop a mental illness? I have a brindle doe who is four months old. She lives with her mom and three sisters in a 20gal aquarium. Within in the last few days she seems to have suddenly developed some sort of OCD-like condition. None of her immediate family members on either side of her family are barbers and she has never been barbered by another mouse, but all of a sudden this week she has begun severely and aggressively barbering her cagemates. She has always been a friendly and outgoing mouse, but now when I handle her she constantly does this weird grooming thing to my skin which is almost painful. She is grooming herself to the point of her coat looking ragged. She has also become really hyperactive, running about the cage in repetitive patterns. I separated her from her family since she was barbering them so aggressively and put her in a wire-topped lab bin. She chews on the wires to an unusual degree. She is not alarmingly thin, but she has visibly lost weight even though she is brindle. Otherwise she physically seems healthy and I see no sign of parasites or skin conditions on her or her family. I checked her teeth as well and they appear fine. There has not been any sort of unusual sounds, smells, movement etc in my mousery that would trigger this behavior. Sounds silly, but it seems to me as though she's lost her mind a bit. Any chance she will get better? If she continues on this way I may very well cull her since she isn't fit to breed in this state and I don't feel like it would be fair to the other mice to allow her to live with them. Any suggestions? I hate to remove her from my breeding program as she previously was very docile and friendly and had a great angora coat


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## pro-petz (Nov 14, 2012)

Very interesting problem you have, Yes mice can develop mental illness just like any other animal.

Solving your problem is not going to be a quick solution as need to figure out what brought about the condition. Firstly I would add additional vitamins and trace minerals into the diet and also alternate days feed with food soaked in cod liver oil at the rate of 5ml per gallon of food. A salt lick that can be obtained from most good pet stores would also be useful and can be attached to the wire cage easily.

Additing additional mental stimulation in the cage may also help as it may be just out of boredom that she has started to barber her cagemates. Try alternating these every few days if at all possible.

I would do the above for 14 days and if no improvement then certainly would remove her from any future breeding.


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## madmouse (May 19, 2012)

Thanks for the advice! I don't think she suffers from a lack of stimulation. My big doe tanks always have at least one stationary climbing toy (like a popscicle stick ladder), a swinging toy (like a straightened coat hanger threaded with tp rolls), a hidey toy, and an exercise saucer, plus a homemade toy (like a tp roll stuffed with shredded paper) or an old paperback book just for them to have something to destroy. I have already started supplementing her diet with scrambled eggs and KMR, added to my regular mix which contains (among other things) lab block and fortified bran flakes. Sadly tho, it has been several days since I originally posted this and she has continued to lose weight. Both her spine and the vertebrae in her tail are plainly visible tho she is eating well and continues to be unusually active. I will try a bit longer but I am losing hope for her.


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## pro-petz (Nov 14, 2012)

change the KMR to baby milk that we feed our babies I have noticed it puts weight on faster than KMR within my stock. mix as per instructions for new born min weight and supply in drinking bottle.

While the doe is still active always hope


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