Obesity in mice

by the metalhead maniac Wed 09 Dec 2020, 7:10 pm

So ive been wondering how detrimental is it to a mouse if their overweight, whats the worst that could happen to them?

by chiroptera Wed 09 Dec 2020, 8:06 pm

Being too overweight could shorten their lives in similar ways to obesity in humans, such as increased risk for heart attacks and the like. However, mice have pretty active metabolisms, so even my chunkier mice have never seemed to get so overweight that I've worried.

The exception to that is those prone to genetic obesity - yellows/oranges and brindles have a genetic link to being obese, so they tend to get huge. There's nothing you can really do to slim them down, and for the most part my brindles and yellows have lived average lives.

by muisjes Tue 29 Dec 2020, 1:32 pm

I have an older mouse who has gained weight a lot and is obese while her cage mates are average. she seems healthy otherwise and is active like the others.