Mouse Myopathy? (pet help)

Killgrimage

Okay, I came back home yesterday after being out all day to find one of my mice had lost the use of his back legs I have had these mice (him and his brother) for going on five years now so it isn't unexpected that they would be starting to feel their age. The little guy seems to be getting around okay, and is eating and drinking normally and yes, I will be taking him to the vet on Monday. My question is if anyone else has had this happen to their pet mouse and if so, is there anything I can do about it/should I have him euthanized/is he in pain from this? I really would love to have him around for as long as possible since once one dies, the other will be very depressed and lonely. For the record they are Egyptian Spiny Mice but other than that I don't think they are any different than normal mice.

Gabriel_Pitt

5 years? Good lord man, maybe it's a feature of spiny mice, but I'm amazed they've been around that long (I used to keep pet mice). If he's suddenly lost use of his legs, but is otherwise acting normally, it's almost certainly not an injury, so it's either a tumor or disease, so there's almost nothing to be done about it. If he's not acting like he's in pain then there should be no need to put him down.

Beren39

As long as he's not exhibiting signs of pain and/or distress there is no need to put him down, hopefully he still has some time as 5 years isn't an unusual lifespan for a spiny mouse (they can live to be 7). Responding to Gabriel, the long lifespan is somewhat a feature of spiny mice due to the fact they're not a unique species of mouse (genus Mus) but rather a seperate genus altogether (Acomys). There's actually some evidence they're more closely related to gerbils http://www.pnas.org/content/90/8/3433.full.pdf .