# problem with a mouse's eye.



## K-TRAIN (Jul 9, 2010)

hey my friend has two mice, one is ok. the other has this scab looking thing over its eye, and it scratches it until it bleeds. 

my friend cleaned the mouse of three times today but it keeps opening the wound over its eye. 

does anyone here have any idea how to stop it from reopening its wound?

im not actually sure what the problem is with its eye and its owner doesnt either


EDIT: its the eye itself.


----------



## whitewolf (Jul 9, 2010)

I'd say a vet check to make sure it isn't serious but also a similar thing did happen to me when I bought my son a dumbo rat. I got awhile back and they told me up front he would dig at his eye until it bled then it would heal and he would do it again. I kept watching it but it wasn't cloudy or anything, just tore skin around the eye like something was just irritating the skin.

A few months went by and I built a rat rack for him and the feeder mice. While checking every ones food and water I saw a big red mite on his belly. Looked closer and saw a mixture of light reddish pink mites and black ones. Oh course I freaked out. Looked closer and found all the mice had mites too but nothing on the reptiles or inverts. Talked to a friend and he said I could bathe them if I wanted but to take all the bedding out and replace it with new treated bedding. I did bathe him but couldn't bathe the mice due to new babies. Told me to spray the new aspen in a trash bag with mite spray semi heavy and let it air out. (I let it dry out first because of the inverts being right next to my rat rack). Then put it in the cages and wait it out. Worked like a charm after a couple weeks I haven't seen any mites at all and I have been checking. Thankfully his eye is totally healed.


----------



## RoachGirlRen (Jul 9, 2010)

This is a pretty common problem in mice. Could be one of the following issues:
- Mites & lice can cause itching resulting around the face and ears, particularly mange mites, which tend to attack the face.
- Scabies is fairly common in mice and causes similar issues.
- Viral eye infections such as herpesvirus can cause eye irritation
- Eye injuries and infections can cause sufficient irritation to warrant scratching
- Behavioral roots to excessive scratching have also been observed

Personally, I think your friend should take the mouse to the vet to find out what is actually going on, though checking it over thoroughly for lice and mites would be a good idea; personally, I like to put a heating pad under a paper towel then put the mouse on it. If it's warmer than the mouse, they tend to jump ship in favor of better "prey." 

In the mean time, flushing it with saline and applying terramycin if the eye itself is damaged may help stave off infection.


----------



## whitewolf (Jul 9, 2010)

Owch poor guy. Yeah his wasn't that bad. I'd have that looked at.


----------



## Jaymz Bedell (Jul 9, 2010)

My very first instinct would be to get it to a vet asap. the pictures posted are extremely blurry, but it looks as though the eye is clouded over, but, i freely admit that could be an artifact of photography. roachgirlren gave a good list of what it could possibly be, im sure there are more, but its a good place to start. this will require a vet visit unless your friend is well stocked for such things and has had experience treating them under the care of a vet. keep us posted.


----------



## K-TRAIN (Jul 14, 2010)

well the problem seems to have fixed itself. we think that the other mouse, which tends to crawl all over the other one, may have scratched her, and it got infected. 



the eye seems back to normal though


----------

