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Mouse not responding

188 Views 2 Replies 3 Participants Last post by  moustress
My 2 year old mouse is going still, breathing heavily and not responding similarly to how other mice I’ve had have behaved when they are about to pass away. However she has no visible tumours or symptoms and she’ll periodically “wake up” scratch her back, look around as if she’s fine and eat some food, before freezing again. When she’s acting sick she won’t blink, she lets me stroke her head (which is out of character) and will flop over with gravity in my hand. She was “woken” by a loud noise too so isn’t fully unconscious. Does anyone know what this could be?
To be honest I know that she’s an elderly mouse and while I’m hoping she recovers the way she’s behaving is very similar to how they behave when they are about to pass, it’s just her snapping out of that and acting normally that’s weird. It’s every few minutes that she wakes, acts like herself for 10 seconds to a few minutes before going semi unconscious again. I did notice that the mice had eaten lots of the carrot I left for them last night, and her hands, tail and base of ears are stained orange (I have no idea how she managed the last part) but this seems very extreme for a stomach ache. The other 2 mice seem completely fine, acting normal and looking for her after I took her out but they are much younger and healthier so if it was environmental they might just not be affected as severely. The other thing I thought it could be was absent seizures, but there’s really no way to check that and it’s lasted 2 hours now. If anyone has any ideas I’d really appreciate it, if it lasts longer I will take her to the vets but it’s not possible for at least a few hours unfortunately.

Edit: anyone know if mice can get carotenemia? Because it lines up pretty closely after googling. Her ears feet and tail are lightly orange, she keeps itching and her red eyes are a little yellower than normal etc but that doesn’t explain the going out of consciousness. The only thing I can think is that it’s also associated with diabetes which is fairly common in rodents and maybe it’s hyperglycaemia? I don’t know, maybe I’m making this up. There wasn’t a crazy amount of carrot but if she was the only one eating it then it would definitely be too much, I don’t know why the others wouldn’t eat their share though, they both seems to like it good enough? I don’t know maybe I’m making this up.
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Hey, has your mouse improved at all? I hope it’s doing better now. I have no idea what might be wrong but do you think a vet can help you? I hope your mouse returns to their old self soon ❤
You needed to know that 2 yrs. is a good long life for a mousie. You have done well. If she is still alive, let me know. If she did not make it, condolences.
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