Real Life Case: Worms (Internal Parasites)
Sufferer: Foxy, doe, 6 months.

After a couple of days the lump had gotten a little bigger and I was wondering what it was: it did not look like a tumour and yet there was definitely a soft lump there which did not irritate Foxy when I touched it. The vet had said to me previously that she thought it could be a prolapse and I was getting worried at the increase in size. However, the sneezing was still there – quite badly – and I knew that the vet would not want to operate.

Foxy before she had worms

After a few more days the lump had not increased in size but Foxy’s third antibiotic course was doing no good for her cold. I took her out of the tank and checked her over before playing with her for a while. She seemed to have a little bit of diarrhoea that had only started that day (well, soft faeces really) so I was keeping an eye on her. Then she went to the toilet again and not only did she pass faeces, but a white stringy looking thing, one or two millimetres thick and about a centimetre long. I went to pick it up with a tissue and put it in the bin – only to my horror, the white thing moved! Realising that she must have worms, I rang the vet’s as soon as they were open the next morning and asked them what was the best worming treatment to buy (since there are rarely treatments specifically for rodents). They told me not to buy anything from a pet shop, but to come to the surgery and they would give me a sachet of Granofen that would treat all the does (10) in the tank, since worms can be caught.

I went to the vet’s and picked up the granules to worm the mice – and they only cost 54p. Unfortunately they are not water soluble which would have been the easiest way to administer them. I was advised to give about three or four granules per mouse(!) and to mix it into porridge to give to them. Now, my lot are not keen on wet food, which I tried to give them before, so I resorted to bribery – peanut butter. And it seemed to go down well: I watched them all try it when I put it in and when I woke up the next morning there wasn’t much left. All I could do was hope that Foxy had eaten enough to treat her worms and that it wasn’t just a couple of mice who were partial to the sweet taste that had eaten it all.

I later discovered, when Foxy was well enough to have an operation, that the soft lump was in fact nothing to do with the worms and was not a prolapse either. It turned out to be a benign fatty lump (too near to vital organs to be removed) which would do Foxy no harm - and indeed she is still completely well despite its prescence. A later treatment of the does to prevent worms (not to treat a case of) led me to discover that stewed eating apple not only is easier to mix the worming powder with, but is also eaten more quickly and with more enjoyment than peanut butter - I highly recommend it to anyone who has to worm their mice.