Feros

Feros is a male mouse who was being severely neglected by his previous owner. Living in a tiny cage with absolutely no toys, hides, or even a wheel, Feros was being kept on toxic cedar shavings, fed a sub-standard diet, and had not received veterinary care for a prolapsed rectum, parasites, respiratory infection, and mange. He was directed to us as a "wild" mouse who was doing poorly, but was clearly just a neglected pet no longer wanted by his owners.

Feros's veterinary care needs were extensive; he needed ivermectin for the parasites and mange, antibiotics for the respiratory infection, special washes for his itchy, flaking skin, a special diet, and creams to minimize the irritation of his rectum. It was also discovered that he was completely blind, a condition that may have stemmed from malnourishment.

Despite his poor health, Feros has tolerated all of the discomfort of treatment, and today lives a happy and enriched life. He is a clever, friendly mouse who is very placid about handling (even for uncomfortable situations like his twice daily rectal ointment), and thrives in an interactive environment. (Top Right: Feros today. Below left: Feros's skin upon rescue)

Gentle, sweet Feros would have likely died shortly without prompt veterinary intervention. Sadly, his case is hardly an exception; it is a popular misconception that small mammals do not require veterinary care like dogs and cats do. Because they are short lived and can be purchased inexpensively, many small animals are denied veterinary care even when afflicted with conditions that can be treated easily and inexpensively. Some conditions can even be self-vetted due to the availability of OTC treatments, yet more often than not even this half-hearted courtesy is not extended.

It is important to remember that all mammals have an equal capacity to suffer; a mouse with mange, infections, or injuries is in just as much pain and discomfort as a dog or cat, and ignoring such for the sake of one's wallet is the height of speciesism. Lifespan and purchasing price do not affect the degree to which a living thing is suffering, and as such, should not result in a failure to provide veterinary care. In addition to being inhumane, such behavior is illegal in many states - rightfully so!

There is no such thing as a "cheap pet." If you are purchasing an animal like a rodent because you think it is an inexpensive alternative to a dog or cat, take pause and consider the fact that your mouse is likely to demand vet care at some point in its life, particularly if it was sourced from a pet store or rescue due to the high frequency of mycoplasmosis, sendai virus, and genetic cancers in such animals. If you are not prepared to pay for a vet bill on a small animal, do not purchase or adopt one.

Of course, prevention is always a helpful way to minimize vet costs in your small mammal. Because of this, Feros would like to offer some pointers on ways to help keep your small pet happy and healthy.
1. Choose Safe Bedding. It is a popular misconception that pine and cedar are acceptable bedding for rodents, and nothing could be further from the truth. Pine (exception: kiln dried) and cedar contain harmful aromatic oils that are very toxic to the kidneys and lungs of small mammals. They are also highly implicated in skin conditions in rodents. Suggested beddings would include hardwood, paper, and corn cob based brands.
2. Quality is Job #1 - when it comes to diet, that is! In the wild, most rodent species eat a wide range of foods, including leaves, stems, grains, seeds, nuts, berries, insects, and more. One thing they do not eat is a diet of sunflower seeds and corn, which makes up the bulk of many commercially available rodent food mixes. It is much healthier to feed a balanced laboratory block enriched with the foods your rodent species would consume in the wild.
3. On That Note - Avoid Ethoxyquin. Ethoxyquin is a popular preservative found in pet foods that is known to be carcinogenic in higher doses. While the threat posed by ethoxyquin is probably minimal at the levels in pet foods for most animals, many rodents derive from very closely bred laboratory lineages that, due to poor genetic diversity and deliberate selection for generating illness, are extremely prone to cancer. Thus, even trace levels of known carcinogens in the diet should be taken seriously and avoided.
4. Quantity is Job #2 - overfeeding and underfeeding are equally hazardous to the long term health of your rodent. Many species are obese-prone or diabetes-prone and depending on their feeding behaviors may demand a restricted diet rather then free feeding. Tumors proliferate in fatty tissue and there is a known link between cancer and obesity in rodents. However, the quantity fed must be sufficient to maintain healthy condition; rodents have a rapid metabolism and can die very quickly from insufficient caloric intake due to hypothermia.
5. Exercise Bodies and Minds. Rodents are clever animals that, in the wild, spend much of their waking hours being active - they forage, seek mates, defend territory, and play. In captivity, it is vital that rodents be offered items and activities that cater to their natural behavior known as behavioral enrichment. Foraging toys, wheels to run in, toys to chew, ladders and ropes to climb - all these and more should be utilized to keep your mouse active and stimulated.
6. House with Care. Many, if not most, commercially available rodent cages are of an insufficient size or quality for rodents. Small size, poor ventilation, difficulty in cleaning, and poor safety are all common problems for rodents and may result in injury or illness. Remember, if keeping rodents in an aquarium, bigger is better and all lids should be screen for ample ventilation. If keeping in cages, select bar spacing of 1/4" or less and avoid drafts. Avoid gimmicky products with cheap plastic parts and compact sizes; these items are normally insufficiently safe and undersized.
7. Heed Social Need. Rodents, depending on the species, have highly variable social needs. Some, like siberian hamsters, need to be housed singly or they may harm or kill one another. Others, like rats, must have the company of their own species or they may very well languish or die. Keeping a solitary rodent with others or a social rodent alone can have dramatic health affects and should be avoided.
8. Be Alert. Most rodents will hide illness well, and may not show immediately obvious symptoms until it is too late. Early detection is the difference between life and death (and the size of your vet bill!). If you notice any irregularity of behavior, activity, feeding, defecating, breathing, etc. seek help promptly - better safe than sorry!

Mikhail J. Bentham

Mikhail J. Bentham is a male Syrian hamster who was put up for adoption at a Petco store after having been badly mauled by other hamsters in the store. Though his physical injuries healed, his psychological ones did not: he became extremely aggressive to humans and it was obvious that he was unsuitable for an average "pet" home. While one might applaud Petco for putting Mikhail up for adoption rather than trying to make a profit off of him at the expense of some poor child, it is important to emphasize something: Syrian hamsters should never be housed with others of their species once they are sexually mature. A solitary, territorial, aggressive species, housing this species together is a recipe for injury or death. Mikhail was very lucky to have made it through his ordeal alive, and should have never been placed in this dangerous situation to begin with.

It is tragically quite common for pet stores to house incompatible animals or even species together for the sake of being able to stock more animals. In addition to the grave risk of physical injury in the store, these habits are often passed on to unwitting pet owners, resulting in injuries and deaths. Male mice (US lines), all varieties of Syrian hamster, pacman frogs, male canaries, countless species of fish, crayfish, and many others are put at risk in pet stores across the country every day, typically unchallenged. Some stores even foster dangerous interspecies pairings, like bettas with guppies or rabbits with guinea pigs. The result is something akin to housing a trained fighting dog with a cocker spaniel puppy: disaster waiting to happen.

Were groupings physically dangerous to animals not bad enough, it is equally common for animals to be housed and sold in improper groupings: finches, degu, female mice, rats, and gerbils are routinely sold singly. Schooling and social fish like otos, cories, guppies, and goldfish are often sold in insufficient numbers to foster natural behaviors. Though the result may not be as dramatic as a sudden mauling death, it makes its mark: when denied proper social groupings, animals become stressed and neurotic, often developing stereotypical behaviors, or abnormal repetitive stress behaviors. Pacing, obsessive digging/wheel running, self mutilation, or simply languishing are all regularly observed in deprived social species.

It is easy to point fingers at pet stores, and indeed they are at least in part liable for housing animals inadequately and being ill-educated on their husbandry. However, the bottom line is that individuals who purchase animals from pet stores, particularly stores demonstrating incorrect husbandry, are directly responsible for the mistreatment by continuing to support it. Every species available in pet stores and more is available either from a responsible breeder, or better still, from a rescue organization. In fact, rescues are inundated with pocket pets and exotics who are purchased without thorough husbandry knowledge, so for every hamster crowded in a cage with others in a pet store, dozens of other hamsters are patiently awaiting homes in rescues that could really use to free up the space that individual caging demands for other needy animals!

So, next time you consider a new pet, Mikhail would like you to remember the following:
1. Always research your companion's social needs. The best cages, toys, and nutrition on the planet mean nothing to a social animal deprived of companionship or a solitary animal stressed by it.
2. Think adoption first; it isn't just dogs and cats suffering a homelessness crisis, but virtually every species in captivity today. Besides, wouldn't you rather have your dollar support animal rescue efforts over animal exploitation?
3. Speak up if you notice fighting. Bring it to an employee's attention; it could mean the difference between life and death. Likewise, if you see a social species languishing in solitude, let the store know what you think. Bad conditions persist only because they are allowed to.
4. Avoid anthropomorphism. One of the reasons that solitary animals like bettas, hamsters, horned frogs, and other species wind up being injured from improper social groupings is that we tend to humanize animals and assume that they, like us, need company. There's nothing wrong with valuing an animal as much as you would a human, but equal respect & consideration does not equate equal needs - do what is right for that species, not your species!