# Mouse With Itchy Skin



## Petitepuppet (May 30, 2009)

As long as I have had Raina she has had issues with her skin. Everytime she starts scratching I treat her for mites and shes fine for so long. Well this time she has scratched herself raw. I have treat her for mites so fingers crossed it clears up. I wonder if there is something I can safely put on her to soothe her. Also I am starting to wonder is a change in food would make a difference? She is currently on pets at home stuff with the peanuts and sunflower seeds picked out. Her cage mate Katie is fine and always has been....


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## zany_toon (Jan 30, 2009)

There are a few of us on a mouse forum I'm on (including me  ) with the same problem just now. If you are wanting to try an exclusion diet you can, start with something like plain oats for a fortnight, then add one other food. Add a new food once every fortnight and if it sets her starting again remove the most recently added food. It would mean though that you will need to make your own mix - it could be that if it is an allergy to one of the foods in the mix that even one food being in contact with the allergen could set her off again. What have you tried to treat her with other mite treatments? Have you tried things like tea tree cream or aloe vera? There are also fungal treatments in the form of liquids from the vet on prescription (like surolan) and hormonal treatments - a few of my girls have had issues with this and a hormone tablet called Ovarid (again prescription only) has stopped them scratching although they still haven't grown their fur back. Creams can attract their attention to the area causing them to scratch more so it is a bit of a fine line to tread but you may need to try everything. With my males I have found that athlete's foot powder (was advised to do this by the vet) has done wonders for 2 out of 3 affected by the OCD scratching. I have PMd you a forum address but here is what I posted about my own mice on another forum. Do they look similar to what is happening with Raina? (Note that the meeces below are all boys, all my girls responded to a hormone treatment, none of the boys did but you could try athlete''s foot powder then contact the vet about trying something else if you wanted. It might be worth asking the vet what they think though, especially if Raina has had the problem on and off the whole time you've had her.)

At the start, having used all treatments from the vet and being told to start using athlete's foot powder:


> Pop with his scratched ear (he's bot as bad as the others)
> 
> 
> 
> ...


After one week of treatment on athlete's foot powder:


> Well, here are updated piccies on the boys  Pop has stopped scratching altogether, Percy's scratching is minimal and Lyle is growing some nice healthy new skin around the edge of the affected area  It will be a while before Percy and Lyle are 100% again, but it is a massive improvement, especially in Percy who has been out everynight destroying his egg box  (Excuse the fact that parts of the photos are so bright and out of contrast,it's a bit hard getting the boys to sit still and the camera to focus on said mouse in a barely lit room at 4 in the morning :lol
> First off, Percy. No longer red but rather bald:
> 
> 
> ...


After 2 weeks on athlete's foot powder:


> Percy looks amazing now compared to his other pictures on this thread  Pop wouldn't sit still for a photo and as for Lyle what little improvement there was went out the window when he lost his best friend Poppy  But I'm grateful for my two good news mousies, and thought I'd share how handsome Percy looks again  (Ok, he is still odd looking and very patchy, but he's my baby and he'll always be handsome :lol Hopefully the pictures show the improvement fairly well as he was too busy stuffing his face to want to pose for the camera :lol:


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## LostGirl (Jan 16, 2009)

Lyle looks the same as my oliver, Olivers goes upto his eye on one side and just his ear on the other so much that his ear is only half now 

Hes had so many creams, steroid ones, hes been treated for mites, I use bio oil on it sometimes (a tiny amount) and that helps a little bit 

Vets at a loss, they take scraps but they come back normal  I may give the foot powder a go see if it helps him


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## zany_toon (Jan 30, 2009)

LostGirl said:


> Lyle looks the same as my oliver, Olivers goes upto his eye on one side and just his ear on the other so much that his ear is only half now
> 
> Hes had so many creams, steroid ones, hes been treated for mites, I use bio oil on it sometimes (a tiny amount) and that helps a little bit
> 
> Vets at a loss, they take scraps but they come back normal  I may give the foot powder a go see if it helps him


The skin scrapings might not show anything because most research shows that it seems to be a neurological condition - so like a form of OCD scratching. Some research has shown that certain pain receptors are being turned on permanently for some reason but that isn't possible to test for without a specialist lab and they only check for it in gene therapy trials and with autopsies  The treatment being tested for in those trials is years off from human trials so no chance of getting anything yet that would stop the scratching for sure  I'd definitely try the athlete's foot powder though, it has worked on most of my affected mice (it seems to be a common affliction, especially in males for some reason.) If that doesn't work, ask your vet if you can try ovarid or amitriptyline as they are the only other things I've had that have worked, although in saying that I only found those ones to work on my girls.


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## LostGirl (Jan 16, 2009)

Yeah ive alway thought it was an OCD type thing  Hes had a crappy start to life so i thought it might be conected to that and made him a little odd ball (just like me gotta love OCD not lol!) 

Any brand i should get? 

thanks very much for your help


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## zany_toon (Jan 30, 2009)

No specific brand, I just asked boots for a cheap Athlete's foot powder. They gave me their own cheap version - think it's "super absorbent foot powder" marked on the bottle. I hope it helps


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## Petitepuppet (May 30, 2009)

10/10 for the athletes foot powder!:thumbup: Raina is looking so much better after a couple of days.

Thank you x


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## felicity price (Jan 21, 2011)

Are they in sawdust? We had mice many years ago and even medicated dust extracted sawdust used to cause it. We ended up just using newspaper and changing it frequently


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## Petitepuppet (May 30, 2009)

No sawdust is used in this house


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## zany_toon (Jan 30, 2009)

Petitepuppet said:


> 10/10 for the athletes foot powder!:thumbup: Raina is looking so much better after a couple of days.
> 
> Thank you x


So glad it worked 



felicity price said:


> Are they in sawdust? We had mice many years ago and even medicated dust extracted sawdust used to cause it. We ended up just using newspaper and changing it frequently





Petitepuppet said:


> No sawdust is used in this house


Ditto that - I've never used any wood based bedding near my mice after the research I did before I got them showed that in many cases it sets off respiratory infections. For me it wasn't worth taking a chance  I stick to paper bedding as well


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