Not necessarily dog related

lil96 · Super Senior Member Joined: 06 Apr 2004 Posts: 1260

I just want to know how far would you go? Because my teacher told me last week, she had to take her mouse to get operated on because it had cancer. I asked her how she knew he had cancer and she said she had another one die of cancer a while back. It cost her 85euro(mazbe $100).
I remeber I once had a mouse and it cut its foot and I wanted to take it to the vet but my friends talked me out of it (I helped him get better and he lived for a few more years). But how do you decide how important your animal is. And which animals are important enoough to take to the vet and who gets the polite burial outside?

horse_child · Member Joined: 18 Jun 2004 Posts: 433

I love my pets, but i don't think i would pay 100$ on a mouse. but then i've never had a mouse. for my pets it would all depend on their age and the quality of their life. if they are old and htey've had a good life, the back yard burial is the best thing for them unless it was easily treated, like without surgery. if they were oyung and still fighting then i would go further. but then we spent 500$ to keep our cat going at age 10 so who am i to talk?

gwen13 · Posted: Sun Nov 14, 2004 8:18 am Post subject:

If I could I would spend any amount of money on my dogs! Absolutely, whatever they needed, they would get. But unfortunately as a student, that is not realistic for me Crying or Very sad

But I would do everything or anything I could, be it getting a loan or borrowing money or asking family or sacrificing everything except exactly whats needed for bills, I'd do it. They're like family members to me so I think my dogs are just as important. I don't know if I could say the same for a mouse because I've never had one, but definetly for my dogs.

Jamiya · Moderator Joined: 19 Mar 2004 Posts: 5593

I have taken a couple different mice to the vet before. It usually costs about $50 just to walk in the door. One of them I ended up having to give her medicine for the rest of her life - two kinds of oral medicine and eye drops, twice a day. I did this for about 10 months until she got old and stopped eating, and then I took her to the vet to be euthanized because she was obviously on her way out but it would have taken at least a week for her to go on her own and I didn't want her to suffer. I cried when I took her in.

She was my daughter's mouse, and I couldn't just do nothing for her when she got sick. She was obviously suffering but she had a strong will to live because any other mouse would have died by the time we realized she needed a vet. In fact, her cagemate DID die, which is what made us realize there was something wrong. The only other option in my mind besides giving her the medicine was euthanizing her, since without the meds she was miserable. But with the meds she was a happy mouse, so I just couldn't see ending her life.

The meds weren't terribly expensive - maybe $10-20/month or so. And catching her and giving them to her wasn't awful either.

The other mouse I took in had a huge lump on her side, the size of a golf ball. I thought it was an infected wound or something, but antibiotics didn't help. The vet said it was a tumor. Surgery would not have helped her, so we did nothing. She ended up dying on her own. Other mice from her litter got the same thing, and two of them we helped along to the bridge with the help of the vet, because they just weren't going on their own. Mice can be very stubborn little creatures.

Oh yeah, we also brought my son's little rescue mouse to the vet to be neutered. Unfortunately, the little guy didn't make it through the surgery. It was quite traumatic.

lil96 · Super Senior Member Joined: 06 Apr 2004 Posts: 1260

Wow jamiya thaat is alot to do. You sure love your kids both fur and nonfur! Here is a question for you, my teacher said that her mouse has to wear the E-cone for 2 weeks, did your mice also need one?

Jamiya · Moderator Joined: 19 Mar 2004 Posts: 5593

I didn't know they had tiny cones for mice! No, none of mine ever had a surgery so they didn't need one. Although the ones with tumors did mess with the tumors a lot. I can't even imagine a mouse with an E-cone on...

Mice and rats make great pets, but unfortunately they have a lot of problems with mycoplasma (causes respiratory problems) and tumors, because of all the years of laboratories breeding them to use for cancer testing.

Samsintentions · Moderator Joined: 19 Mar 2004 Posts: 4265 Location: Texas

We had a gerbil one time. Then another, and about 3 weeks later we had 5! Lol. So we took Jack and Jill into the vets to have one or the other de sexed. We didn't know which would be easier so we took both. Turned Jack was easier to neuter. SO the vet (while laughing) charged us a whole $10 for everything. Said he needed a good laugh and it was worth the clinic cost and surgery, but we had to buy the antibiotics to give him afterwards....LOL

He lived another 3 years and then Jill died of old age. I guess he died of a broken heart....

As far as my other animals. i think just about everyone knows how far I'll go....and its as far as anyone can go on a limited budget. WHen the vets wouldn't medicate Ralph for parvo because he was "too far gone" I did....up until his last little breath. But if need be I'll euthanize. I'd rather helpsomething that is able to be helped, and help somthing that cant be helped with their passing.... its only humane.

I know I'd want my family to do what ever they could for me. But if it came down to "theres nothing else we can do but pray" then please, let me go. I wouldn't want to suffer like a vegitable.....i don't think any animals would either.

Jamiya · Moderator Joined: 19 Mar 2004 Posts: 5593

Here are photos of the mouse I medicated for 10 months:

Before meds:

After meds:

So you see, I just couldn't stop giving them to her.

lil96 · Super Senior Member Joined: 06 Apr 2004 Posts: 1260

wow I have never seen one that color

Samsintentions · Moderator Joined: 19 Mar 2004 Posts: 4265 Location: Texas

that loks like Jill!! But her tail was much shorter and very hairy!

Aww... never though a mouse could be cute!

Jamiya · Moderator Joined: 19 Mar 2004 Posts: 5593

You want to see cute mice? Go here and look at our litter: http://home.everestkc.net/tnewman/mice.htm

Samsintentions · Moderator Joined: 19 Mar 2004 Posts: 4265 Location: Texas

We used to give them empty toilet paper rolls after we finished a roll. They LOVED that. They would run through it and then chew it all to pieces... It was cool. They also LOVED baby carrotts, and fritos.

Samsintentions · Moderator Joined: 19 Mar 2004 Posts: 4265 Location: Texas

Definately the cutest mice I've ever seen. The only one's Ive seen are dead in the mouse traps or the white ones in the petstore for "feeder" mice!