baby house mouse - need help

[electro]

We have just found a tiny house mouse - it may have been orphaned 2 nights ago when we've caught our kitty with a mouse in her mouth. We've saved, fed than released the tiny mouse into a boarded area in front of an empty, dilapidated house.

Today my daughter spotted a super tiny baby mouse standing beneath her table. It wondered into her hands without fear. Its eyes are open and prior to my arrival it started eating crumpets of cheese from my daughter's hand.

Having read a bit, I am now worried that this (i.e. eating cheese) wasn't beneficial for the baby mouse. We've bought Hipp Organic First Infant Milk formula (powdered) and Dioralyte (oral electrolyte powder for replacement of lost water and salts), than mixed infant milk with oats and offered it to baby mouse. It wasn’t too interested although she/he did take a couple of licks.

We’ve than tried to give it a couple of drops of milk through syringe – it licked it all from my finger.

I realise that we’re not talking about a field mouse but to us this tiny life is equally precious. I’d be very grateful if someone could give us advice on how to rear it.

We didn’t dare giving it Dioralyte as it seemed to be responding well to food. Have we made a mistake? Will drops of liquid licked of hand be sufficient? How else could we provide liquids?

Which foods would you recommend? How do we spot signs of distress?

Let’s assume our baby mouse is a girl and call her Binca - Binca seems most content when sitting cuddled in somebody’s hand. Does anybody have experience with keeping a mouse as a pet?

I’m thorn as I know that we’ll grow to love Binka to bits. We have a cat so I fear that sometime down the line Moustache could hurt her. At the same time, Binca is not a field mouse, so we wouldn’t be releasing her into nature but a densely populated area. We’re caught in a Catch 22.

Right now we’ll appreciate any advice we can get on how to help her survive. Once again, advice on how to live with a pet mouse preferably without locking it permanently into a cage is also greatly appreciated.

Many thanks,
Nat