# What's wrong with Tinky? Please help!



## 0becomingX (Jan 19, 2012)

here are the photos, tink is the oldest mouse i have she's only a year old, she was doing great, but one of her first cage mates died early (zippy) who was very healthy and suddlenly started loosing weight and then one day she didn't wake up. I did buy zippy when she was older so i think she just ran the course of time, after that i got some new playmates pepper, now here and pepper got along just fine some squeaking but not much. After i had them for awhile i added mittens who i got from a different pet store, i hadn't had mittens for about 2 weeks before she blew up in size and found out she was pregant, the pet store where i had gotten her had not separated them. So i brought her back and she had the children at the pet store, when she was ready i picked her back up and she returned home with me and here babies were to be sold at the pet store. (since i couldn't handle all the babies and birthing)

Shortly after that i got sandy from the same pet store where mittens had her children, after the four of them arrived, there was large fights over wheels and tink would always be the one who would get attacked and bitten. I got worried and would take her out and put her in a different cage for awhile then reintroduce her but every time i reintroduced her it got worse and the fighting got bloodier so finally i removed her from that cage all together and let her live in her own. but she hasn't healed at all and it's been over a month. She scartches herself all the time, but i'm worried it may be mites or ringworm! after doing much reading and looking at pictures but i'm not sure. Please help me what do you guys think? The other mice don't seem to be affected anything? sometimes they quarrel but none of them get bad injuries. i dont know what to do? Any advice would be greatly appericated cause i want tinky to get better! she is so smart and the calmest mouse ever!


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## MoonfallTheFox (Nov 12, 2011)

What is she eating?

It looks to me like parasites, but could also be an allergy. I would treat for parasites right away, on all of your mice.

One of my girls got mites and developed OCD scratching from it, and she had similar wounds on the side of her face. Now she has almost removed her entire left ear.

For now, put neosporin PLUS on the wounds. The pain reliever should help her quit scratching. It helps Sophie, and is the only thing that has.


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## Stina (Sep 24, 2010)

I would suspect ocd...it sounds like she is used to living with other mice, and you now have her separated out alone? Mice are EXTREMELY social animals, especially females...and keeping her alone could easily have stressed her enough to become ocd with the original injury. It would have been a better option to remove the newest mouse or separate them into 2 smaller groups....at least pairs. Try to put one of the others you know has gotten along with her in the past in with her and see if it helps. I would also put antibiotic powder (NOT an ointment) on the wounds. If she doesn't start to recover soon I would suggest euthanasia as that is surely painful.


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## 0becomingX (Jan 19, 2012)

They eat Kaytee Fiesta Max so it does a mixture of things i'm almost done with this bag i think i'm going to go pick up some pelt food next time around. After closer inspection of all of them i did see like some funny little red dots on their skin in different places obvioiusly tink is the worset case, the others only have a few spots here and there, so i decided to treat them for mites, i did get some 1 and 8 bird mite spray, and i washed them in that then rinsed them off. i got mixed reviews i hope what i did was best i was careful not to spary it in their eyes but get their skin wet, wait and rinse them off. I cleaned their cages, made sure i sanitised everything. I use a wooden chip bedding, but it stays out in my garage and i live in minnesota it's winter right now so i doubt theres any mites living out there ( i read some people like to freeze the bedding before they use it) I also paired them up so tink is no longer alone, and i'm gonig to watch the progress and treat again in another week to make sure if it mites, that the eggs don't get them again.

I really want them to be happy and healthy! i couldn't resit when i was at the pet store today getting them a really cute 2 story house! but i dont want to give it to them until they are healthy ! ( I'm afaird if i give it to them now they will contaminate the new house) we shall see i was reading about tree oil thats sounds a good remedy if it's ringworm? Will it help heal tinks neck injury? What kind of anditote powder should i get??????? Anyone know anything about powders? i'll try to read up on it more but I apperciate your guys comments and replies thank you!!! Thank you soo much!!! my micey thank you too!!! hopefully everything turns out and i can post pictures of healthy mice!


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## MoonfallTheFox (Nov 12, 2011)

That's not mites, it's lice, from the sound of it. Lice can and will kill.

8-in-1 is no good at all, I'm afraid. I tried it and it seemed to be working, but then all of a sudden Sophie took off half of her face (SO thankful she missed her eye.). I'd suggest that you either use topical ivermectin, or revolution and treat all of your mice. Other members will know the doseages, or I can dig up the ivermectin dosing info.

As for food, I would suggest feeding a lab block, such as harlan teklad 2014. Sunflower seeds and peanuts are very common causes of allergies, as is wood bedding. Put her on plain paper towels, they're sanitary and safe, no parasites. Pick out the sunflower seeds and peanuts.

Kaytee is awful food, and you should get something different ASAP.

As for the wounds I still suggest the neopsorin with pain reliever, because of the pain reliever- it will help slow scratching.


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## Cait (Oct 3, 2008)

If you think it's an allergy, picking out the foods won't eliminate it. You'd need to feed something that had never come into contact with the allergen. Trust me, an allergy to nuts has sent me to A&E (the ER for our US friends) before - I didn't eat them, but I touched them and that was more than enough.

You mentioned tea tree. That is a natural antiseptic, which is why it helps healing. I don't believe that your mouse has ringworm btw - I've seen a few cases and they have never broken the skin, just had balding patches.


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