May 8
Nya's small tumor has turned into 3 larger ones, she also has another mammary tumor and a small lump just started behind her neck. They are cancers..she has been ok, and has been seen by a vet who said to keep her comfortable till it was time.
April 10
Since the last update Spaz passed away, she is very sadly missed. Nya has an upper respertory infection and is on medication, she also has a small tumor on her hind leg. Poor girl! Nya turned out not to be white but is a "fox" she has an ivory/cream top and white belly.
Unfortunitaly the color doesn't show well in a photo so here are some shots I took to try and show her color off.
FOXES - Fox mice may have the top color in any recognized color, with a near
white contrasting belly. There is a clear and distinct line between the top and
bottom color, running in a straight line along sides, chest, and jaws. here is an image of a
Beige Fox the closest color I could find to Nya, she is lighter then this.
Here they are grooming in there little cleaning tank, this is where they stay when I am cleaning thier home out. I put white paper towels down to try and get a good shot of Nya's coloring!
[left] Nya grooming her friend Meeka. [right] Nya takes a bath herself
Just too cute a shot to miss, you can tell Nya is a light off white color when she is sleeping next to her white "sister" Meeka.
[left] both girls [right] Meeka eating a treat and wondering when the tank will be clean and she can have more fun!
Just too Cute to miss the girls taking a little nap together!! Aren't mice the cutest?
Sadly Nya has a tumor, which you can clearly see in the following photos, she and Meeka are about 1-1.2yrs old now. She also is sneezing but is on medication. More about Upper resperatory illness in mice. Tumours start as a small lump and grow into larger lumps, some lumpy and some smooth. Generally the tumours that feel like smooth balls of fat under the surface, and which are not tightly attached to the underlying tissue, are the least serious and are easiest to remove.
True tumours will not go away on their own, and there is at present no real 'cure' except surgery, although you can do other things toimprove the quality of life - see steroid treatment below.
Your vet may be able to operate to remove a tumour, but bear in mind that a secondary tumour often grows within a few months of surgery. If you decide not to operate, mice can live very happily even with large tumours for some months. If the tumour starts to ulcerate it will become sore and raw on its surface; at this stage, either removal or euthanization is necessary. Steroid treatment can
make the mouse's last few months more comfortable
For more information about Tumors in mice visit Horns.
March 16
My 3 mousey girls right after having thier cage changed, I always add something new for them to play with and explore, this keeps them active and happy!
Nya always have to make sure the wheel is still working before she explores!
Meeka always has to check out all the tubes and any new tubes in the cage, while
Spaz almost always checks out that in the food dish!! You can also see her looking down the paper to see if anything interesting is under it!!
Meeka and Nya sometimes play in the wheel together, but Meeka is a slow runner, she seems to have poor vision compared to the others, maybe because she is an albino? Anyways She only learned to run in a wheel after I got Spaz and Nya and although I never seen her run with Spaz she does with Nya who normaly ends up runing to fast and climbing the sides!!
[right] Meeka on top of the cube house! checking things out and generaly being "queen of the castle"
Last time I added a few dried flowers for my girls, Nya thought this was great fun, she plucked the petals, eat the seeds and striped the steams to make nests... 3 days later not one of the flowers can be found anywhere!! They all loved those
[right] Here is my Nya busy renovating on moments after being put back in her clean cage.. she has to shead paper everyday!! And LOVES to dig, dig, dig!!
Spaz and the food bowl again.. she is always looking for something, little devil she is!! I will have to work on her weight I guess. Spaz is very active, [right] as you can see her runing into her cube house (see the flowers??)
After all that munching Spaz has a good run in the wheel. She was a very nervous mouse when I first got her and used to wag her tail at me, but now she is much better, she doesn't like to be handled much but thats ok, she is a very sweet girl just the way she is!
This is there tank se-up for March 13th 2002.. just so you can see what toys they have!
Dec 2001 - Jan 2002
Nay is the youngest she is a BEW (black eyed white), Spaz, her sister is also a BEW but has 2 black patches on her rump and longer fur (not long enough to be called longhaired but longer then a normal mouse) She is the oldest. Meeka is a PEW (Pink eyed white). Now I never would have picked white mice, I like color!, but I have grown to be very fond of my little white girls! In fact.. they are so cute how could you not fall for white mice?
Here is the girls home, a 33 gallon tank with a very heavy wire top, sometimes you can catch Doni or one of the other cats sleeping on top of the cage (tsk tsk!) Normaly they will sit and look in at the mice, who could care less about the cats as they know they are very safe from them! I think our felines believe that the mice are purely for thier entertanment!
If you look carefuly you can see Nya in the tunnel making a nest, and of course Spaz is busy running of a few extra pounds. She is a little on the big side.. always first to come and get food and treats.. sigh! Anyways she is still active and healthy just a little larger then she should be for a mouse of her size!!
[right] Nya is a very avide nest builder, here she is starting out on her freashly cleaned cage.. by the next day there will be a mound of shedded paper and food dished, tubes etc, will all be reoranged!! She doesn't like my set-up much!!
In order to keep my girls happy and entertained we are always finding them new things to play with and try out. Here Nya has a bit of string that she has since shredded and chew off.. it became part of her nest till I cleaned cage!!
[right] Spaz loves to store food in her little cube home, she and Nya don't like to build a nest the same way but it seems Nya always wins in the end.. by the next day all the bedding you see on top which Spaz put there was inside!!
Spaz and Meeka in the nest, here you can see an apple stick hanging from a string, it took the girls many weeks to finnaly get that stick down, they are the ones the brought it into the nest as seen in the photo. Very busy and active girls. They are so smart and clever and seem to be able to slove all kinds of mouse problems.. removating thier cage, move tubes to make longer tunnles, building huge nests.. you name it!
[right] Meeka takes a name in her favorite tubes, she offten sets up a little nest in the middle and sometimes sleeps in there, although at times all 3 will be in the tunnle together or in thier cube house. Meeka will also sleep in the top tube! The first time I found her asleep hanging there I was worried she was seriously ill, she was not too pleased when I woke her up!! I will try and get a photo of this!
Tiffany, one of my foster cats I had during the Christmas and New Year holidays, she loved to sit quietly and what the girls for hours!! Tiffy has now been adopted into her own home.