mouse scratching at wound!

by Jadamouse Fri 28 Dec 2018, 6:20 am

hello everybody! im currently in a bit of a sticky situation with one of my mice. she recently developed a tumour on her left shoulder, which i got checked out at my vet to make sure it was a tumour, not an abscess or anything, the vet put a needle in to check and confirmed it is a tumour. (not having it removed as its very pricy where i live and she is getting old and i feel as though surgery would be far too stressful to put her through.) however she has started itching away at it and scratched open the skin. she has continued to scratch at it for about a week and its now the tiny scratch has turned into a rather nasty looking hole kind of that she will not leave alone. ive been flushing it out with a saline solution however it is not healing because she will not leave it alone. im completely stumped as to what to do now and how to get it healing up/how to get her to stop scratching at it.

any help will be much appreciated Smile

by MerciToujoursMaPetiteBoop Fri 28 Dec 2018, 8:43 pm

Trying to think practically ...

I would say that you are fighting a losing battle if your goal is to heal the wound. The lump appears to have attracted the attention of your little friend, and it is bothering her. It could be that the lump is generating actual pain or itching, or it could be putting pressure on the skin or other surrounding tissue, or she might just know it doesn't belong there -- whatever it is, mousie seems to have figured out it is there and she wants the pain, the itch, the pressure, the lump itself ... GONE. No matter what you try on the ouchie to get it to heal, she will keep after whatever is bothering her and gouge herself up.

Maybe your veterinarian, who is aware of what the situation is with mousie, can suggest a local treatment for pain or itching (lotion, salve) that you could apply to the area to numb it, or else an oral pain medication. If they don't stop mousie from scratching and biting a hole in her little self, then it becomes more likely that mousie is just obsessing about this weird lump.

I've got to clear out of work in about ten minutes and activate the alarm lock-down, so some of the REAL mouse experts around here might be able to pick up from here with some advice. I wish there was some way to put a little vest over the problem spot to cover up the chew zone -- or to put a little pair of panties on mousie that would bother her so much that she'd spend a couple of days just trying to chew those things off and ignore the shoulder lump!