# Disease going through my male mice



## Aquila5 (Apr 12, 2012)

Dammit, I just wrote a whole topic and it got deleted  So here is attempt number 2.

I have a disease going through my male mouse tanks atm, so far I have lost close to 7 males, most under 6 months of age, but some a little older. I had 2 of my stud long hairs get it last week, I immediately isolated them, put them under a heat lamp and offered them warm mushed up food. I had them in isolation for 12 hours, they deteriorated in this time and I had them euthed the next day.

The disease starts off with with them simply looking a little fluffed up, looking a bit cold and acting a little lethargic. The disease has a fast progression, they quickly deteriorate, becoming more lethargic, they start to have hindlimb wasting and hamorrage and necrosis in the hindlimbs. Become increasingly depressed and eventually go into a coma like state and die. Most I have found dead in the cage, and they have appeared to be perfectly healthy the day before. There is no respiratory signs and no diarrohea.

I took 3 of my males into the vets today, 1 sick one (had been perfectly healthy the day before, but was already well into the progression of the diease when I found him the next day) and 2 healthy ones. We decided to sacrific the sick one to do an autopsy on. The results should be back in the next couple of days.

All the affected animals have been males. Male tanks are next to the female tanks, but so far I have had no illness in my females. My 2 stud males were in my mouse tower set up (where my breeding boys are kept) but the rest have been in my pet boy tank (7ft fish tank). All cages have lids to keep unwanted visitors out.

All mice have access to fresh water, fresh food everyday, lots of places to hide and lots of shredded paper etc to make nests with in this colder weather.

My vet is stumped and so am I, I have owned mice for years and never had anything like this happen. Its very upsetting to find mice that were perfectly healthy the day before dead in the cage.

Can anyone shed light on what may be happening? I am doing a clean tomorrow, bleaching the floors, and cleaning the cages with F10 etc.


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## candycorn (Oct 31, 2011)

Well the boys all in one tank could be fighting and hurting each other. You can't always see the bites or injuries. I would never keep bucks together because of this. And even when they have been getting along for ages, they can suddenly battle it out to the dealth. 
I also would be wary of adding a heat lamp. Mice can stand cold much better than heat. Taking a stressed mouse and exposing them to higher than normal temps would probably not help. 
Otherwise I am afriad I am at a loss. 
Good Luck!


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## Aquila5 (Apr 12, 2012)

I keep a close eye on the boys, any fighting and the weaker one/one thats getting picked on is removed from that tank. All the males that have died have had no external injuries, no bite wounds, no lumps or bumps etc. And the 2 stud boys have been together for ages with no problems and were in a cage on their own, no injuries on those either. I do tumour/health checks every couple of days, also check for signs of fighting. They have plenty of room to get away from each other and have never had a problem with these boys living together (all are from 3 litters and were introduced to each other when they were young) no new males have been added.

I usually dont use the heat lamp, but they were puffed up and were huddling together. I gave them the option to sit under the heat lamp or move to the other end of the cage away from it (other end was room temperature). They both sat huddled under the lamp and even when moved away went back under their on their own free will.


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## Frizzle (Oct 6, 2011)

"hamorrage and necrosis in the hindlimbs"

Male mice often start biting at the others' genitals (back legs region). If they are going from perfectly fine to having chunks of flesh missing, I'd agree with candycorn that it sounds like it might be your males doing this. With them being next to the females tanks I'm sure it doesn't help, and being that they are "older" mice for how long they have co-habitated, I really do think that it sounds like it might be time to separate... Post a picture? It's easier to go off of pictures than it is descriptions.


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## Aquila5 (Apr 12, 2012)

I'll talk to the vet about the possibility of them fighting, but it seems weird that this has only occured in the last 2 weeks when they have been together peacefully for 4-5 months now :S It seems too sudden and is killing them off one by one, and all seem to follow the same symptom path. And my 2 stud males were very quiet and mellow, only 2 of them in a large cage, lots of room to get away from each other, and my old man was so gentle he could stay in with the mums and new born babies (left them with a friend while I went away and she got them mixed up, so I came back to my cage with a dad, mum and 7 bouncy babies) Vet seems to think it may be some sort or bacterial or viral disease that is systemic, we just aren't sure where it is coming from or what it is :S


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## Aquila5 (Apr 12, 2012)

haemorrage and necrosis were in the back feet in the foot pads, no wounds on the back area or genital area, vet went over them with a fine tooth comb. No wounds in the foot pads, just swollen and hot, bilateral, though left side was a little worse. Back legs had wasting, muscle lost and loss of co-ordination. I just remembered as well that the vet noted that they had abdominal pain on palpation. She checked all over him, no sign of injury, no scratches or scabs. Coat was unkept and scruffy, but not exceptionally so. Chest sounds were normal. We were there for half an hour and she checked over them thoroughly.

I will seperate tomorrow, and do a full cage scrub out and flea and tick wash them etc and see if that stops the problem :S Otherwise the autopsy and histo results will be back in the next couple of days. thanks for the suggestions everyone.


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## Stina (Sep 24, 2010)

The symptoms you are describing don't sound like any sort of fighting I've ever heard of.

Do you know if the affected males were able to urinate/defecate normally prior to symptoms appearing? Are they bloating up at all? Are the affected boys all related?


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## Wight Isle Stud (May 19, 2010)

Immediately remove healthy females from that Environment. Immediately remove healthy Males from that environment, and place in somewhere different to the males, all in boxes# cages, etc that have never been in that infected area.


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## Frizzle (Oct 6, 2011)

Besides the bins, don't forget about the water's and hides and any other tank items. Maybe scrap them if you can't figure out what's been causing it and if the stuff won't cost you too much to replace.


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## Kallan (Aug 16, 2009)

Anything on the faces, ears or tails?

What bedding have you them on, any shelves?


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## blacksambo (Aug 31, 2012)

Hi, 
I would be really interested to know what type of feed you were using? Pellets from Mazuri, LabDiet or Purina by any chance?


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## blacksambo (Aug 31, 2012)

How did the autopsy and histo reports come back? anything conclusive?


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