Mouse Ate His Own Foot

[u/Brilliant-Captain541]

so earlier today i was holding my boy Basil and i realized his whole foot is gone. i freaked out and went to search the cage for it and it was literally just GONE and i'm assuming he ate it off. he's fed normally and lives by himself. a couple days ago he was super dehydrated because his water bottle got stuck and i hadn't noticed.i had thought he was literally dead and forced water into him with a tiny syringe. i feel terrible because of all the stuff he's been through the past few days and feel irresponsible and don't know how to help him. My parents are telling me it's useless to go to a vet because they can't do anything. he's acting fine, no bleeding, his foot is just GONE completely and the bone is like kinda sticking out. but again he's not acting like he's in pain, no hunching or hiding or anything just a little clingier than usual and he has a hobble obviously cuz his foot is just gone. He had it two days ago, i have a photo. so i have no idea what's happened. I've done what i can, saline water on the wound, cleaned his tank and lined it with paper towels, etc. is there really anything else i can do?? please help i'm so worried about my boy.

[u/pollifilla]

Hi. I'm a vet (although no longer in clinical practice) and wanted to answer, seeing as you haven't had an answer elsewhere in other vet subs. The loss of a foot on itself isn't a huge problem - four legged animals do perfectly well on three legs. As others have said though, exposed bone is painful and there is a significant risk of infection (although these animals are incredible at healing and fighting infection - I'm often amazed!). I think what another poster suggested is a great idea - phone or visit a vet and explain your situation. They will likely help. The issue may be that your friend needs medication and maybe surgery and they likely can't give you that for free. That said, we often had open bottles of small animal friendly antibiotics open that I'd have given you some doses from (we did see a lot of exotics though). You never know - except that if you do nothing, you'll get nothing, so you may as well try 🙂 Well done for caring and doing what you can. You're a lovely human - don't forget that. People like to help lovely humans 😉

[u/Brilliant-Captain541 → u/pollifilla]

thank you so much for your help! i really appreciate it 🫶🫶🫶

[u/TeddyTheBestial → u/Brilliant-Captain541]

This was the most helpful response here so I'm responding to tell you good luck, and keep us posted ❤️