[Cornishman]

Can anyone tell me why some of my females make a kind of guinea pig grunting noise ?
its really bugging me , i thought it had something to do with thier teeth growing too long , but im not certain of this ..
Any remedies for it ???
any advice gladly received ...
Nigel

 

[SarahC]

if they are doing it all or most of the time it is a respiratory infection.No effective cure I'm afraid.

 

[Cornishman]

if they are doing it all or most of the time it is a respiratory infection.No effective cure I'm afraid.

Thank you for the reply
Yes a couple of the large older females are pretty much always doing it ...
Any idea of the cause of it or is it just something that can happen to any of them at any time ???

 

[SarahC]

various known virus are responsible and well documented.Mice and for that matter rats are prone.Really if you are a breeder any young mice showing signs of respiratory illness should not be bred from and really they should be culled other wise its a bit of a vicious circle.If you are scrupulous in weeding out these individuals you will get less and less crop up.Old mice always seem to suffer as well but I think thats just a side effect of being geriatric.If your mice are pets then they usually live a normal life and I wouldnt worry to much.If you are ever unsure if your mouse has a respiratory infection hold it to your ear and see how normal its breeding sounds.

 

[Cornishman]

I wander if it has anything to do with damp?? they are housed in a large Metal shed which usually has condensation on the inside of the roof , due to the hundred or so bodies in the shed , this happens through the winter months .....

 

[SarahC]

Well some people put it down to damp but I have some mice living in a shed which due to over zealous insulating on our part suffers terribly with condensation and some living in the spare room in comparative luxury.No difference in incidents of respiratory problems at all.When I first got into breeding mice I got antibiotics from the vets .Five years later I accept treatment is futile.Removing all mice that show symptoms is the answer I am afraid to say and even then the odd few crop up.I read an article about lab mice where they delivered the babies by cesarean so that nothing could be passed during birth from mother to baby and even that didnt stamp it out completly.I tend to view the ones that do develop it as being weaker in some way and I wouldnt breed from weaker animals or knowingly pass these individuals on.

 

[Cait]

Damp is a major cause, yes. If you remove the damp environment you will get far fewer incidences IMO. I certainly did when I changed from a damp shed to a nice dry one.

 

[Cornishman]

Ahhh...
Thank you both for the advice above, very helpful indeed, at least its not all my doing thats my main concern . like i said its only a couple that are like it so i think they may be nearing the nd so to speak...
as ive said i breed to feed so nothing gets wasted , or very little .....
but i will definately be more observant now for early signs of it , do we know if it is contageous ???
i havent noticed others doing it as such so i am doubtful it is , still better to know than chance others catching anything ....

 

[Cait]

I would guess it would depend on the cause as to how easily it gets passed on. If it is due to damp it may not be passed from mouse to mouse as it is environmentally caused. If it is caused by a virus or bacteria then once one mouse in a box has it they are all at risk. Obviously as with humans the more vulnerable will probably come down with it first/most seriously, like the old, very young or weak. As Sarah has suggested, it would be best to cull these individuals since you already need the mice for food anyway - this helps make the choice easier.