# Pick me up foods



## Kage Davies (Dec 21, 2008)

So I came home yesterday to a bit of a nightmare. The PEWs I left in my Grandmother's care had no water, apparently no food and I could only see two faces peering at me to see what the noise was. I had to get my OH to check the rest of the cage for me T_T.

They're all fine, and they're all still active, but they look miserable. Turns out my Grandmother had been feeding them from the wrong bowl, because she couldn't reach their normal food bowl (I can reach it, and I'm less flexible that she is T_T) - this other one is hard for them to get at. Its supposed to be hard, it normally has treats in it o.o. But they all look like they've lost a little weight. Not worryingly skinny, but with a bit of loose skin at the sides.

And the fur puller is back. I thought it might be stress related the first time it happened - Remi had a patch of fur missing when I got her from the petstore. Its just pulled, or even nibbled short, no wounds or sores, the skin isn't broken. But, on returning home, three out of four have patches missing. My money is on the one with the intact coat.

So anyway, I got them out of their cage (which remained uncleaned, and needs disinfecting o.o.) cleaned up their furniature as best I could and they've gone in the Rotastak temporarily. Its bigger anyway, and with all of their furniature and all of Russet's furniature there's tonnes more space and toys. I've not seen them as active before last night ever, I don't think.

I chucked them in two huge bowls of food, in easy to reach places, and two bottles of water, and I boiled up an egg and put that in there (completely vanished by this morning.) They seem fine, but is there any sort of around the house food I could put in there, apart from egg, to perk them up a bit?

And is there anything else I should potentially be worried about?

:shock:


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## Cait (Oct 3, 2008)

The baggy sides are dehydration, they are probably ok by now with overnight access to water, but if not you can make up dioralyte for children and put that in their bottle instead (it's a rehydration solution with all the electrolytes and salt etc that is lost as well as fluid). Now that you've given them lots of normal food and the egg, they should be fine. You can always give them leftover scraps of unseasoned meat, dog biscuits, porridge made with lactol if you want to though, it won't hurt.

As for the patches of fur, it may of course be barbering from the stress but it might be ringworm. Does your grandma have dogs or cats? I'd spray them with tea tree myself just in case!


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## Kage Davies (Dec 21, 2008)

Gah, ringworm. Yes, we have two large dogs, both of whom have been in and out of the room (when me or my grandmother is in it.). What kind of tea tree should I use to spray?

Porridge, I have some oats here somewhere. Would it be okay if I made it up with water? I can try and get some lactol or something dairy free tommorrow...


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## dangermouse (Oct 4, 2008)

dont know much about ring worm in mice but on dogs can be a problem and take a while to treat. also plople can get ring worm im sure you know this though. not meant to scare you.sorry


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## dangermouse (Oct 4, 2008)

my dad caught it once.


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## Kage Davies (Dec 21, 2008)

I'm pretty sure my brother had it once, too :?. I'll have to be more careful about handling them, if that is the case. I don't think the dogs have it though, TBH. I don't know whether they could bring stuff in from outside without getting it themselves.


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## dangermouse (Oct 4, 2008)

someone correct me if im wrong but being fungal isnt it possiably air born(not sure) but i know it can be carried on soil etc.


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## Cait (Oct 3, 2008)

Porridge with water is fine. They will be fine with that, the Lactol is just for an extra boost.

As for the tea tree, it's one of the few things that gets rid of ringworm. I only used about 8 drops in a couple of hundred ml of water in a squirty bottle, spray each mouse 1-2 times (in one go) every couple of days. You can also get cream from the vet but I think it's expensive - sarahc will know about that as she's used it before.


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## dangermouse (Oct 4, 2008)

tea tree is brillaint on my dogs and we use it too ....


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## SarahC (Oct 3, 2008)

Ringworm is just a contagious fungal infection same as athletes foot.It responds very rapidly to powders used for athletes foot,buy from any chemist/supermarket.Get one of the ones that comes in a talc type container and sprinkle the mouse liberally.Alternatively buy canistan cream also from the supermarket or chemist and rub in,instantly effective.Then disinfect the cage.Me the dogs and mice have caught it several times


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## Cait (Oct 3, 2008)

Kage Davies said:


> I don't think the dogs have it though, TBH. I don't know whether they could bring stuff in from outside without getting it themselves.


Ringworm is a bizarre fungus in that although it seems gone it's very hard to kill and can come back from apparently nowhere. The dogs or even you could give it to the mice without showing it. They could be in a cage where it has been and get it from there (though unlikely with your mice I think). They could have brought it from the pet shop since their cages hold many animals. Thinking about it you did say one had a patch of short fur when you got her. Maybe because their bodies were stressed due to lack of food/water it made them all more susceptible to catch it? Anyway, you can buy the tea tree oil from Boots fairly cheaply


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## Kage Davies (Dec 21, 2008)

Aaah, I think I know what you mean. Just the undiluted small bottles of oil, that are normally... brown, I think. I used that (embarassingly enough) to get rid of head lice. It was the only thing that worked.

I'll get some and a squirty bottle when we go shopping tomorrow, then. And then reclean everything with boiling water, or it will just accumulate in the bedding and toys...


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## Cait (Oct 3, 2008)

Not sure about toys - if they're made of wood I'd be dubious. The stuff I bought from Boots had a white and green cardboard box and I think the bottle inside was brown glass, yes.


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## Kage Davies (Dec 21, 2008)

If I completely nuke them with boiling water, they should be fine. I'll probably microwave them too o.o (_after_ boiling them). That's how they kill off the outside fungusy bacteria stuff from driftwood and things which I buy for the geckos, so... I've never replaced their wood, in nearly three - four years now. It doesn't smell, hasn't rotted... And its a magnet for dead crickets.


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## demon_x_slash (Oct 3, 2008)

You can also get tea tree oil from health food shops like Holland and Barretts. As I understand it the glass is brown because pure essential oils can react to sunlight and 'go off'.


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## SarahY (Nov 6, 2008)

Ringworm can survive on wood for quite some time, so I would just throw all the wooden stuff in your cages away and replace it when they're not infected. Our horses had ringworm a long time ago, and they kept scratching on the fence posts - so we couldn't get rid of it. They were stall bound until it cleared up, then we had to replace all of the fence posts, burn them, and put in new ones. I caught ringworm from the horses and cleared it up with tea tree oil baths and tea tree cream, so that should work just fine for your mice.

Sarah xxx


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## Kage Davies (Dec 21, 2008)

Well, why see zebra when its more likely horses... I treated everyone with Beaphar for mites. The littlest was scratching all of her fur behind one ear away, but no one else has patchy fur now, its all grown/growing back in. They have had un frozen/micro'd hay, and carefresh apparently has been known to carry mites too o.o.

I can't throw out all the wood, almost everything I have is wooden o.o. Its been sterilised, disinfected, sterlised again and then microwaved, so I doubt its harbouring anything now. Having a nightmare because all of their cage furniature was cleaned and then packed into the boxes with all the new cage furniature for the new boxes BEFORE I suspected any external parasites... which is... a lot of stuff to clean. All of the open bedding is filling up my freezer now :lol:.


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