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My Mouse is getting worse, please give me your opinions!

1935 Views 11 Replies 3 Participants Last post by  Summerclara1987
Hello everyone. My mouse Piper was seen by the vet on 1/19/12 I took her in cause she had a decent size lump on her left side. They found out that it was cancerous and gave me meds to help slow down/possibly stop the process. That lump did stop growing and she acts as if it does not effect her...but last night before I went to bed, I gave her the medicine and I noticed two more small lumps; one on her right side by her back foot and one under her chin (on neck). And just looking at her throughout the day they look a little bigger.
She is still acting as if they do not bother her at all. She is still eating and drinking, eating snacks, taking her meds, runnning on her wheel, playing with her toys and letting me have interaction time with her. I'm not sure whether I should take her back to the vet, get her euthanized, or just let her be. I know she has to be in some sort of pain, there's no way she isn't.
Please please give me any advice you can. It will be very much appreciated. I just love my little girl so much and I want to do what is right for her.
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This is a hard one because sometimes it is hard to know how much or little pain your mouse is in, but it is very possible that the tumors are not painful, especially if she is active, eating, playing, running on her wheel and so forth. The signs don't seem to indicate that she is in pain, but of course a vet would be able to determine this better. If she was lethargic, listless and not interested in her activities or food, then that would be a solid sign that she is in pain. One of my gerbil boys, Mick, got a tumor, pretty big one, in his tummy area and it made him look pregnant actually, and when I took him to our local small animal vet, she examined him, did an ultrasound and after I told her he was happy, eating, playing, and doing all of his normal activities, she agreed after seeing the ultrasound and examining him, that although the tumor was big, he was not in pain. Due to Mick's age (he was getting pretty elderly) she said that a surgery would be a huge stress on him, due to his age and that since he was otherwise happy and content, to just let him be and enjoy his remaining time at home, rather than put him through the trauma, and possible complications with anesthesia. So that is what we did, and he had many more months of being happy and playing at home with his brother. (If he had ever shown the slightest sign of not being comfortable or suffering, of course we would have him put to sleep, just so you know. Animals should never ever suffer.) So, you might want to have her examined by your vet to get his/her opinion on this, but I think putting her to sleep when she seems to be a happy and active mouse would be premature. She sounds like a sweetheart by the way and I am sure you love her very much! :)
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Thank you so much for responding Vladina, its very much appreciated. I'm very sorry to hear about Mick, he sounded like such a sweetheart.
The tumor he had sounds similar to what my lovely lady Kayleigh (mouse) had. I took her to the vet on December 21st, she originally went for a bump on her back which we discovered was just from her going into her house or playing under the other "furniture" in her cage, so i was given some antibiotics, that healed fine, while at the vet i noticed that her tummy looked very bloated, the vet thought she might have just been backed up and gave me a yogurt medicine for her. It helped her no longer be backed up, but the bloating never went away. She kept active until the day she passed away, Kayleigh and Piper loved eachother, Kayleigh's last day I moved her to the empty cage so Piper would not keep disturbing her while she was slowly shutting down, Kayleigh passed away on December 31st in the early morning. I sat by her side and let her know her mommy loved her.

For Piper we got a different treatment at the vet and a different doctor, i think I'm going to request her for my mice from now on, she seems to know more about them since she also is a mouse owner. She looked over Piper and ended up taking her into the back and taking a blood sample. At first she really though it was just an abscess, but then she looked at the cells and found it to be cancerous. The medicine she gave Piper did help her for a while, the original tumor stopped growing and her fur started to go back to normal. And now she has two more lumps. But still seems happy, as i said before. She still takes her medicine twice a day, I had to start rubbing it on her treats cause she hates it by itself (it smells horrible!). I know she will eventually have to go, but I want her to be happy for as long as i can provide happiness for her, cause shes my little baby. Once she starts acting as if she is unhappy or in pain, I will know it is time.
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You are very welcome, and I am glad my post helped a bit! I am very sorry about Kayleigh...I know how hard it is to lose a baby (sorry, I call all small animals babies for some reason, even if they are full grown!) and you sound like a very loving mother to your mouse girls. I am sure Kayleigh is looking down at you and thanking you for being so loving to her and giving her such a good home.
I agree about the tumor...I can tell that you keep a very close eye on Piper for any signs that are not good with her comfort level, so you will know when the time comes. Hope to see you posting on the forum in the future, and keep us up to date on how sweet Piper is doing, okay?
I sure will, thank you very much for your time :) I'll Post any updates I can on Piper also.
Super! Send Piper my love and I hope she does okay and stays happy. :)
Vlad gave a great answer, and I agree with her advice. I'm also going through this exact situation with my boy Stanley. He is more than 30 months old now, and he's had a benign tumor for the past 7 months of his life, and it has been gradually growing during that entire time. Even last June, when we first took him in to the vet after noticing the lump (which was small then), the vet advised against surgery because of his age and weight (he has always been on the chubby side). He has seen the vet once since then for a tumor checkup, and we were told to just leave him be until he is no longer happy or active. He is obviously a bit frustrated having to lug it around, but he is still his same old bright-eyed self. We know that we will have to make the decision (perhaps very soon) to have him put to sleep, but at the very least we had a LOT of extra time with him, without having to worry about him being in pain.

:hugg2: Keep us posted.
Thank you very much Breyer08. Stanley sounds very strong and determined. I'm so glad you have gotten so much extra time with him. My vet told us they could not do any surgeries on Piper so I just have to keep a close eye on her and decide when I think the time is right, once she seems uncomfortable.

Today I did notice that she is itching herself a lot, do you think it may be possible she has a flea? I didn't see anything on her, she itches her back the most, and I see little red dots. But I'm not sure if she's just itching to do it...or because something is irritating her skin. She also scratches at her tumors. I do not know much about this stuff and I feel like I should. I have read up on some things. I'm trying to be a good momma to Piper and I feel like I can not help her :(
The red dots on Piper sound like mites. If someone else can help me here on this, to be sure I am not wrong? I just remember reading about being on the lookout for red dots as a sign of mites with small animals. Can anyone verify that this is correct?
Yes, sounds like mites. Try to get her a dose of Revolution. That should clear it up soon. (Don't let the vet do a skin test, because those almost always give false negatives. Better to just get the Revolution right away.)
What causes them to get mites? I have to try to see about getting revolution asap. I have to figure out if I can find it elsewhere other than a vet clinic.
Okay so i finally came across a page that answered my questions :) . I need to go to my vet and get Revolution, I might as well get the three pack and give all three cats a dose, seeing as Figaro is also scratching at himself. Abegale and Chud seem fine, also Panda my ferret seems fine...where poor Mr. Fox (ferret) is itching. I wonder what happened :(. Oh no! I think i know, we had a random Husky come up to our door and we let him in trying to look at his collar for a phone number. oh man! I guess its true...no good deed goes unpunished! Oh my poor babies :( . Guess i need the 6-pack of Revolution. Now I need to find somewhere online how much of the dosage to give Piper, Fox and Panada.
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