Fancy Mice

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Real Life Case: Pneumonia
Sufferer: Akwete, 9 weeks, buck.

Akwete lived in the same tank with his dad and brothers until he was six weeks (when they went to new homes) and then lived with just his dad in the same large tank. There was plenty of food and water for both bucks and they got on well, with dad being the dominant one. One day when Akwete was nine weeks old, I noticed that he was suddenly looking thin. I picked him up and he was lethargic and a bit listless. The next day he was definitely very ill: he had dull eyes, didn’t move much and was skin and bone (especially at the back end) and was content just to sit perfectly still in my hand and do nothing.

I booked into the vet’s as soon as I could and she diagnosed pneumonia. I had not thought of this possibility; none of my other mice had ever had pneumonia. I thought pneumonia was related to cold temperatures, but on doing some reading up I discovered it was either viral or bacterial and very serious. As we know, pneumonia can be fatal to humans – so what is it going to do to a mouse?!

Akwete was prescribed Baytril (antibiotics) to help him fight off the pneumonia and recover. I gave him extra fatty food to help him put weight back on and he struggled through very well. He began to perk up once the medicine kicked in and slowly put his weight back on. At such a young age, this could easily have been fatal and early action was the key. Akwete recovered completely and is still doing great.