I don't if many of you know about mice but yeah obese mouse here

[Sarah_C2492]

Actually three obese mice
Anyone know how to skinny them down? We usually feed them the lab blocks and sometimes when i make the rats their treats i feed them some....and mostly stuff like uncooked noodles and toast
HELP

[DrkSilence]

How big are they? It may just be bad genes. I honestly don't think it could be their diet. Is there any way you could post pics? They may not be as bad as they seem. You could go to http://mischeif.rmca.org and get some better advice I think. But....if you go there...look up Mousey Princess and just look at her signature. She has so very *ahem* big mice. lol.

[Sarah_C2492]

Yes i can post pictures of them....but the link you put there doesn't seem to be working

[Dearpie]

The url can be changed to www.rmca.org , but then you'll need to hunt around over there.

Do your mice use a wheel?

[Sarah_C2492]

Yes they used to use their wheels daily.....now that they have gotten fat they kind of slowed on the usage a bit.


This is Nikki..the one I'm worried about most


This Is Roxy


This is Cloey


And this is the only skinny one ..Pip..short for pipsqueak

[DrkSilence]

Hmm.....It may just be bad genes. Are they related? Do they just eat and sleep? Maybe you could just make their cage a bit more challenging so they have to work more to get what/where they want? It'd be more exercise for them. I dunno....perhaps you should take them to a vet and see what they say.

[Sarah_C2492]

No, none of them are related.
I think it might have been out of depression.
Because first we had Nikki(my sister Rachel's mouse)and Falcon (my brother John's mouse) and when Falcon passed away Nikki started getting quite heavy.
So then we decided to get a new mouse because my mom missed Falcon. That's where cloey came in and she stayed skinny for a long time. So then my sister Lindsey felt left out and wanted a mouse so we got Roxy and she started getting fat for no reason, and i think it's because of what Lindsey was feeding her or maybe bad genes, not sure. but then my older sister got pip and we had them all living together, then Pip escaped and when we got her back after about 2 or 3 months she would NOT tolerate the other mice (she still won't let us touch her) and so i put cloey with her just so she had a friend because she seemed to deal with cloey...but then cloey gained weight so I put cloey back with the others. Now they are all living together though....took a lot of patients and intros and stuff like that. so yeah

[LifeInCircuit]

This has probably been explained, but I am not sure I understand completely so I will ask. How long have each been overweight? Were they with any males at any point recently? They do look fat to me, rather than pregnant, but I have seen some pregnant mice look like this also....Just trying to cover our bases here

[Sarah_C2492]

no we made sure that none of the mice we boys. at first we thought falcon was a boy and him/her and Nikki had spent a few nights in the same cage and at first we had thought nikki was preganant but shes been this way for nearly a year....other than that there is no possibility of a pregnancy. lol

[Adventure Rats]

Some strains of mice have the Zucker Gene, their just going to be fat. If their healthy, using their wheel and eatting healthy foods I wouldn't worry to much about it.

Here's a few examples of Zucker Gene Mice.

[LifeInCircuit]

don't you just want to smush them(gently)? lol

[Corliss_Gallows]

I want my rats to be squishy like that!!!! 

[Rodentgirl]

Two of my mice got fat like that, another(the girl's sister) didn't get as fat.

The boy mouse was a brindle mouse, which has been said to tend to get fat because of genetics. If they have brindle genes or another prone to obesity gene, there may not be much you can do.

My mice were fed the same as the rats and aside from the usual pudge they were not fat.

[Blue Steel Rats]

Wouldn't'cha know it?  I get lost in cyber space and first thing I see when I find my way back are Zucker mice....  The Zucker gene is also responsible for TYPE 2 DIABETES in both rats and mice.  Those mice, I'm betting $$$$ have Type 2 Diabetes.  They are not healthy.  No amount of "wheel running" will slim them down.  HOWEVER, you can get a handle on the condition using diet and suppliments.

*sigh*

If you want more info, I can fill 'ya in....

[Sarah_C2492]

Wait my mice have diabetes? or the zucker gene mice that she posted

[flannel]

If you keep getting them from the same pet store or pet store chain, or if you live in a small-ish town, don't count on them not being related.  Chances are good that the same person bred them or that everyone in town is breeding them from the same genetic lines.  If there's any inbreeding...well, that will make the bad genes POP out.  Of course that's something you probably can't find out but it might help to know their backgrounds. 

Good for you for being concerned enough to notice something funny's going on and to ask for some advice.

[Blue Steel Rats]

Wait my mice have diabetes? or the zucker gene mice that she posted

No, not necessarily, but there is a high likelyhood that Nikki may.  First off, how old are they, particularly Nikki?  How old were they (again, particularly Nikki) when they (she) started becoming morbidly obese?  How much water are they consuming in a 24 hour period?  How much water is Nikki drinking in comparison to, say, Pip?  What is their "fight or flight" response like?  Is Nikki much more "laid back" than Pip?  *What is their diet?*  Does, Nikki seem to be constantly famished - always hungry?  Is she happy just to eat, sleep, and then get up to eat again?

If Nikki's (and Cloey and Roxy's for that matter) obesity has come on with "old age", that's not too abnormal and I wouldn't be too concerned about it, HOWEVER if they were "chunky" from a young age, and continued to get "chunkier", then it's much more likely that they do possess the Zucker gene.  Also, it's not *just* diabetes, it's Type 2 Diabetes, which is quite different than Type 1 Diabetes.  Little bit of crowbar separation there....

[Sarah_C2492]

we got nikki as a baby last christmas so shell be nearly one on christmas
She was quite small when we got her...ill see if i can find a pic
she doesn't drink an abnormal amount of water...and the mice get the same thing as the rats do (labs blocks..noodles...stuff like that)