Introduction to Home Staging

My baby is sick!!! I have had him since the beginning of the summer I believe. He is a pet fancy mouse like the kind you get from Pet Smart he is a male, he is breathing heavier then usual and looks like he is losing hair on his face. He doesn’t look any thinner, he looks average size for him if not a little bit bigger. He sometimes shakes and is breathing heavy like he just ran a race. Any ideas what could be wrong? In the past month I have moved him downstairs it is a little bit colder down there and since weather has gotten colder I have been worried for him but thought with all his bedding and little home and fluff he could keep warm, he has a wheel and has always seemed healthy except for diarhea. What could be the matter with him? What can I do to help? I have brought him back upstairs and am babying him even more!!

Hello.

Just out of curiosity..what kind of food are you feeding to him? Also, are you feeding him any sorts of "treats"? A lot of times, mice and even rats much like people are born diabetic, or can become diabetic…especially if they are fed a lot of sweet treats.

Also, believe it or not, they too can also have alergies. They could be allergic to the bedding that you are using. What kind of bedding is it? If you are using a cedar bedding, I would recommend taking it out immediately, as it is not a good general bedding for mice or rats. It will usually cause breathing problems, as the cedar scent is too much for their little bodies to handle. Not to mencion that cedar is an oily wood, and the oil can actually leak into their skin, causing serious health issues.

Another thing to consider is the fact that your mouse may have mites, or lice. This is not something that is uncommon, and believe it or not, can even be found in some of the bedding that you directly buy from stores.

You should also check to see if your mouse tries getting through the bars of the cage. I am assuming that you do infact have him in an open cage, correct?! Keeping a mouse or a rat in something like an aquarium is not good for them, as they urinate quite often, and the smells from their urine, even if the tank is cleaned every other day, can still cause them to lose hair and have breathing problems.

I hope that this has been very helpful to you.