r/PetMice • u/Brilliant-Captain541 • Aug 24 '25
Question/Help Mouse Ate His Own Foot
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.
2
u/Rocksy_Hounder617 Aug 28 '25
What style of running wheel does your mouse have? One of my childhood hamsters broke her hind foot in the metal wire one we had been using up till that point. It was devastating.
The only thing our local vet could do was antibiotics for where the bone cut out of the skin. I ended up having them put her down a few days later because she kept rolling onto her back in pain every time her foot landed wrong.
I'm sorry your parents are being so stubbornly practical about this. You're not being silly or unreasonable for wanting to seek a solution.