Broken? Wing

[CrazyBeets]

Here's your Pineapple update:

Still alive. Saturday I had her in her sling, but she managed (twice) to somehow flip out of it and onto her back. So I made her a 'hammock' as our boys have started calling it, out of the PVC that held up the bird netting in my garden. It has worked well. I rigged a way to attach her food and water on it and she's sort of independent now. She spends most of the day outside in her hammock. I keep her in a little wire fenced in area, just in case something wanders into our yard.

She still cannot stand or support her own weight, and her left leg seems pretty weak still. Since being in the hammock she does let it down to the ground and occasionally puts weight on it, but it is like her whole left side is weak. Her head defaults to the left, and she is starting to get lopsided because she puts a lot of weight on her right leg and it pushes her to the left. She does have feeling on her left side and she has control over it too, it just seems like her brain can't send the info. She is also still very, very, very thin. Like grossly thin.

I checked her ears, and boy was that a difficult task. I can only imagine that it would be impossible on a healthy chicken. They didn't seem to be dirty.

Today she ate quite a bit; she has a pretty healthy appetite for as tiny as she is. In addition to the crumble, she ate at least 6 worms that my husband found under a tire, several bites of carrot and a little bit of boiled egg yolk and white (she doesn't like the yolk much). Last week she pooed maybe twice, but since she started eating and drinking on her own she is up to once a day, then today she popped out two (one on me unfortunately). They are the right color, but not the right consistency. Sometimes they are very liquidy, and this last one looked like a cow pie.

She doesn't clean herself; the most she cleans is a little bit of her left chest, but nothing farther than that. I have checked her again for lice and all the ones I find are dead, which is good in the fact that they are dead but probably bad that she hasn't cleaned them out yet.

Now that she's sort of independent, it isn't much of a hassle so giving her another week or two isn't an inconvenience. I think right now my fear is that I'm getting attached to her and if she doesn't get better and we have to put her down it will be hard So, here are my questions and we'll see what you peeps think:

1. Do you think it would be good motivation to put a bird in with her for a while when she's outside? The bird that came with her from the auction, JoJo, has decided he's a rooster now. He is getting bigger, but he is pretty close to her size still. He was one of the birds that was standing guard when she started getting sick.

2. When should I redust for lice? Tomorrow would be a week, but some sites say 10 days, so not sure on this one.

3. I'm heading into town tomorrow so I should be able to access a larger Orschelns/TSC. I was considering starting her on an antibiotic, any thoughts or suggestions? Before when all of the ladies were on it, we offered it to her but I'm thinking she didn't drink much if any until I started dipping her bread into it.

4. Do you think that non-medicated starter crumble is still the best route, or should I feed her something more fattening? She seems to like crumble as opposed to regular people food, I just wasn't sure if there was a better kind to get.

Here are some pictures; keep in mind that even though she looks dead, she is still alive!



I was giving Pineapple some PT; I would straighten out her left leg, she'd pull it back, etc. One of our cats came to watch; the cats have gotten bullied by our other ladies so they don't mess with the chickens.



When I lay her down on her left side, her head goes to the left. She stretches her legs out and puts some pressure against the ground, but she makes no effort to right herself.


Here's her hammock. Don't know if you can see it well, but her left leg hovers in the air like a flamingo and she puts pressure on her right leg which makes her lean.

 

[justplainbatty]

What a pretty bird! It sounds as though she was very neglected before you got her. I know you don't want to give her too much calcium but she does need a little. I think starter only has > 1%.
It might not hurt to add a little layer to her starter. The starter is about 24% protein right? you are giving her polyvisol daily? She needs a wide variety of B vitamins plus A,E, D3 and K. Now that the lice are gone (2nd dusting between 7 and 10 days) she should start to be a little livelier and start putting on weight. She is unable to preen due to her condition. A special spa treatment is in order for her! A nice warm bath with a little Epsom's salts and a touch of baby shampoo. Rinse her after her soak. (You really only want to do this once for now as she cannot re-oil her feathers). Put her in her sling and give her a blow dry, most chickens like it. She will feel like a new gal and most of the bugs should float out of her feathers. when she is in the sling, try putting a block or brick under her left leg only as part of her PT too. I'm sure you get what i am suggesting here. . I have to think more about the antibiotics, what kind and how long for the last round? Have you de-wormed her yet?
Use something good like Valbazen or Safeguard equine/goat/cattle paste (you should give to all birds). Don't bother with Wazine as it only treats round worms, you want to get 'em all! As far as her loose poops, some chicken probiotics (as directed) or a table spoon of plain yogurt twice a week may help restore gut health and balance. Is she having any cecal poops? (the dark green,brown or yellow pudding like really smelly kind) Describe if it's foamy or not and what color, when she has those please. (poop pics are good too) I've been thinking of her and trying hard to help you figure this out. Her recovery from all she has been through and been deprived of, is going to take months, not weeks. If she is of good spirit and trying, can we try for another month? By then, she should have some marked improvement which may compel you to continue to support her recovery. Please?

ETA: Yes, putting a nice friend with her will probably lift her spirits! Another thing to do is, put a mirror in her crate so she feels like she is not alone. (even tho she will figure out that she is looking at herself) I still think it helps them feel more like their chickeny self.

 

[deacons]

Thanks for the update! So glad to hear you're still working through different options with her. In that last picture, she looks interested and alert, so if that's how she usually looks, I'd say keep trying as long as her attitude and appetite are good. Her face is awfully pale though- I'm no expert, but that would worry me some. Of course, since she's not eating or drinking much, I'm sure that's playing into it. Will continue sending you good thoughts for her.

 

[CrazyBeets]

I did put tiny bits of oyster shell in the crumble, but she wasn't interested in it so tomorrow I'll mix in a little layer crumble.

I just got some polyvisol today (took me a while to find it); before I was giving her the save-a-chick electrolyte mix. How much polyvisol? I mixed 1 ml in with her water cup (she uses a 2 tbsp medicine cup that we refill for her). I'm pretty sensitive and I could smell it from across the room, so I didn't know if it was too strong or not. She drank a little. I got her some yogurt today from the store; she didn't want anything to do with it so I mixed her crumble in it and she ate most of it.

She didn't poo today (I think since she pooed twice yesterday). Yesterday the last one was a cecal I'm pretty sure; it was super smelly, darker brown and pudding like. Before it has varied; she would have a really liquidy one (none foamy) with white urate bits in it. Other times it was more solid and crumbly. It has almost always been a muddy brown/olive green color, except that day she ate a lot of carrots (it was kind of orange). I pick clovers for her so she "freeranges" a bit.

I haven't wormed any of them yet, that will be my next project for this weekend. I tried the block under her foot, and it worked for about 3 minutes before she put her foot down behind it :/ I have now noticed that lately she is switching which leg she holds up, though it is mostly her left leg she does put weight on her left and lift her right occasionally.

We had a bath tonight, and boy there is not much to her, in fact I'm pretty sure there are bullfrogs in our lake with bigger legs. She's still got almost all of her feathers but a lot of feathers on her butt still have the shafts on them (about an inch worth), since she can't reach back there to take care of it. I dried her off as best as I could and since it is cool out I covered her with a dry washcloth to keep her warm for a while.

Her comb does seem pretty pale; I noticed yesterday that her brother JoJo seemed to have a pale comb too. Not sure what causes this or how to fix it? I was wondering if it was just those two and that's how they were made.

The husband agreed that since she's eating and drinking on her own, we can give her more time. The only problem is that the last week in May we're driving down to Flordia for the whole week, and we don't have anyone with some poultry knowledge, patience and a predator free home to watch her, so kind of hoping she gets well by then!

Any other suggestions are appreciated! Will keep you posted--thanks!

 

[justplainbatty]

If I understand, she gets 2 tbs of water in a little container that you refill? I would put two drops in it every time. I'm surprised she didn't want the yogurt. Try swiping the side of her beak with a finger full of it. The first time they see it they have no idea what it is but once they try it.. and there's not much else funnier than watching and listening to a chicken eat yogurt!
I'm worried about how little she poops, whatever she eats should go from beak to vent in 2 hrs. Of course she's probably using everything she takes in.

Did you put a poop hole in her sling? Nice job on that, btw.Are her poops pretty big when she does go? The colors and textures seem pretty normal. She should be eating close to 3/4 cup total of food per day. This is kind of a guess bc of her size. I give 8 cups of food, 2 cups of scratch, shell and grit, plus a daily snack (2 cups of BOSS or corn) and a little free range or a head of cabbage or big bunch of kale (just some of the variety of snacks they get, different each day) to 16 large fowl and 1 bantam.
The pale comb of her and brother, could be from dehydration, lice and potential internal parasites (anemia). Now that lice are gone, you've got vitamins and electrolytes and you're gonna de worm, they should get their color back, start gaining weight and have more energy.
I feel so bad for her! I think she can turn the corner though and get better. I'm thankful your husband said she could have more time.

Sometimes we can't save them but there are a ton of nearly dead, chicken revival, "glad we didn't cull" love stories all over this site.

Keep up the good work, it sounds like she's giving it her all!

I forgot to suggest using your fingernails to imitate preening on those tail quills if it's new growth. You might be able to remove the sheaths for her and the feather will unfurl.

 

[CrazyBeets]

Well we might have taken a turn for the worse today Hope it wasn't anything I did. Yesterday when I first gave her the vitamins, I did a full dropper in her water. She only drank about 1/2 of a tbsp before I dumped it out and gave her regular water.

This morning she was breathing out of her mouth, sort of huffing. When I got home from work she had pooed another mudpie, about 3" wide. She is very lethargic and extra weak. My husband moved her outside and when I picked her up she didn't have enough strength to hold her neck up and just kind of drooped down. We cuddled on the couch for a bit and I actually thought she had died, but she was still hanging in there. She keeps dozing off and hasn't been opening her eyes much and is still huffing. I did get her to eat a little bit (less than a 1/2 tbsp total) and she drank some plain water.

She's back in her hammock but she still looks bad. She dozes off with her beak in her food, wakes up and takes a few bites, the falls asleep again. Her comb and face are now almost entirely drained of color and look a light pink/flesh color. I think today will end up being a last ditch effort, so give me all you've got!

 

[justplainbatty]

Well we might have taken a turn for the worse today Hope it wasn't anything I did. Yesterday when I first gave her the vitamins, I did a full dropper in her water. She only drank about 1/2 of a tbsp before I dumped it out and gave her regular water.

This morning she was breathing out of her mouth, sort of huffing. When I got home from work she had pooed another mudpie, about 3" wide. She is very lethargic and extra weak. My husband moved her outside and when I picked her up she didn't have enough strength to hold her neck up and just kind of drooped down. We cuddled on the couch for a bit and I actually thought she had died, but she was still hanging in there. She keeps dozing off and hasn't been opening her eyes much and is still huffing. I did get her to eat a little bit (less than a 1/2 tbsp total) and she drank some plain water.

She's back in her hammock but she still looks bad. She dozes off with her beak in her food, wakes up and takes a few bites, the falls asleep again. Her comb and face are now almost entirely drained of color and look a light pink/flesh color. I think today will end up being a last ditch effort, so give me all you've got!

I'm gonna work on it here, looking up every medical thing I can think of....Can you put up a pic of her face and comb where I can see the true color and condition? Sleeping a lot might jus be her body trying to recover, we'll see. Ill get back to you after I look up some things.

 

[CrazyBeets]

Thank you for all your help! Her's her face (she's dozing off again). I just noticed she had some crusties on her eye. She's had those dark spots/scabs on her comb since before this happened, I don't know if that's anything or not. I checked her all over again looking for any creepy crawlies and found nothing. It does look like she has a lot of lice eggs near her preen gland, but nothing alive. She's also got these weird red dots on one of her legs, but not the other one.

 

[deacons]

I wish I could give you some advice, but sadly I'm just a novice myself. I'm sending all the good thoughts I can muster to you and her.

 

[justplainbatty]

Difficulty breathing is a common complaint in birds presented for emergency or critical care. After administering oxygen or establishing an airway and adequate ventilation, a thorough evaluation of the animals respiratory tract must be performed to determine the cause of the problem. Character of respiration may be helpful in making a diagnosis and appropriate treatment. Primary pulmonary disease (pneumonia, pulmonary congestion or hemorrhage), upper airway obstruction and abdominal disease that interferes with the filling of air sacs may all present as respiratory distress.
Pulmonary disease may result from a variety of causes including heart disease, fungal, bacterial, viral and parasitic pneumonia or pneumonitis, and airborne toxins. Symptomatic treatment should include oxygen, antibiotics, and other supportive therapy such as diuretics. The use of bronchodialators and corticosteroid are controversial. Nebulization of medication and or humidification will benefit some patients.
Upper airway obstructions are common avian emergencies. Inhaled foreign bodies (e.g., millet seeds inhaled by cockatiels), fungal and bacterial granuloma at the syrinx and glottal papillomas may result in near total to total obstruction. These patients present with a history of acute onset of dyspnea, often with no previous sign of disease. Initial evaluation of respiration may show open mouth breathing, inspiratory and/or expiratory stridor, very often with a musical squeak-like respiratory sounds originating at the glottis or syrinx combined with cyanosis are suggestive of upper airway obstruction. The cyanosis and signs of distress may become evident with any stress or restraint. The decision of what point to intercede and intubate the air sac should be based on whether the patient can tolerate diagnostic and therapeutic care without becoming cyanosis. If cyanosis with or without restraint, intubation should be considered.
Bleeding and blood loss

The sight of blood strikes fear in all bird owners and is a common emergency presentation. Hemorrhage may result from numerous causes including trauma, infectious disease, metabolic and nutritional causes, and neoplasia. Trauma is the most common cause of hemorrhage. The majority of the birds bleeding due to minor trauma can be easily treated. Bleeding blood feathers, fractured or avulsed toenails and beaks, and traumatized wing tips make up the majority of these cases. Bleeding blood feathers must be pulled. Even if the bleeding has stopped, it may resume if the tip of the growing feather brushes a perch, or is groomed by the bird. If the feather appears to be gone but continues to bleed, look or palpate for a remnant of the feather shaft in the follicle (BE GENTLE!). Once the feather is pulled do not put hemostatic agents in the follicle! The bleeding will usually stop if the follicle is pinched closed for 60-90 seconds. If the hemorrhage continues try gluing the follicle closed with a drop of tissue cement in the opening of the feather follicle. Bleeding toenails may be cauterized with a mild styptic such as ferric sub-sulfate or the quick may be covered with a thin layer of tissue cement. Broken beaks are occasionally difficult to stop bleeding. This is particularly true with slab-type fractures of the tip of the upper beak or rhinotheca (common with cockatoos and African Grey parrots (Psittacidae). These fractures may be difficult to diagnosis due to blood spreading from the tip of the beak to the tongue, giving the appearance that the origin of the hemorrhage is elsewhere in the oral cavity. The bleeding will often stop if the broken surface is filed or ground smooth. This also appears to make the broken tip less irritating to the bird. The tip of the beak may be cauterized with hemostatic powder if needed.
Hemorrhage secondary to more significant trauma, such as lacerations of major vessels, hematoma, or fracture of the liver, spleen or kidney is immediately life threatening. The first goal is to recognize the hemorrhage. This is not a problem when trauma results in external hemorrhage. The greater challenge is to recognize internal blood loss. The hemorrhage must be slowed or stopped and restorative therapy initiated in order to prevent the bird from bleeding out and support vital organ function. The rate that blood is lost from the circulation is the determining factor in its mortality. Losing 20% to 25% blood volume over several minutes may be fatal where the same volume lost over several hours is not. Generalized clinical signs of blood loss include pallor of skin, nails and mucous membranes, delayed capillary refill time, increased cardiac and respiratory rates, thin appearance to blood visible in peripheral veins (median ulnar and jugular), generalized weakness, fear, and dyspnea, especially with restraint. More specific signs of hemorrhage depend on the location of the hemorrhage but may include bruising, distention and/or discoloration of the abdomen, and coolness of isolated limbs.
Timely diagnosis may make the difference between life and death in these cases and should be aggressively pursued. If hemorrhage is unapparent in an animal with a history of recent trauma, serous ongoing internal hemorrhage should be assumed to be ongoing until proven otherwise the patient should be hospitalized for several hours for observation.3 External hemorrhage is not difficult to diagnose. Volume of blood loss may be estimated with the aid of history, blood on the cage or carrier floor papers or in the materials used to wrap the patient prior to presentation. Diagnosis and/or assessment of blood volume loss is much more difficult with internal hemorrhage. Patients presented with a history of trauma along with signs of hypovolemia or hypotension should be assumed to have sustained internal hemorrhage. Hemorrhage into the bird’s abdomen and into bone and muscle compartments are the most common in the authors experience. Discoloration or bruising of the abdominal wall, especially along the ventral midline and caudal on the ventral abdomen, may give a clue to hemorrhage. Radiology and endoscopy may aid in locating the site. Removing the feathers from a traumatized limb or the trunk area may aid in locating hemorrhage in those locations. Bruised or swollen areas should be evaluated for an increase in the size of the swelling or diameter of the limb. Definitive location of internal hemorrhage may require exploratory surgery.
These cases must be treated by a veterinarian, preferable one familiar with avian patients. Treatment must be initiated early and progress rapidly if the patient with significant hemorrhage is to survive. Direct pressure should be applied in those situations where it will not interfere with respiration. Clamp or suture vessels that are readily accessible. In some cases, the application of elastic bandage wraps to produce counterpressure to pelvic limbs may be possible to increase systemic vascular resistance and venous return to the heart. The resulting influx of blood acts as an “autotransfussion” of blood pooled in the limbs. The degree of stress created by wrapping the limbs must be weighed against the benefits of increasing blood pressure. Counterpressure pneumatic “garments” are not available for avian patients and counterpressure may not be applied to the abdomen to avian trauma patients due to their need to expand abdominal air sacs for respiration. An intraosseous or intravenous catheter should be placed for the rapid administration of fluids to restore systemic pressures. Whole blood, plasma, colloid plasma expanders, hypertonic (7.5%) saline or crystalloid solutions have been recommended. Fluids should be continued until systemic pressures are at or slightly greater than normal. The single heterologous blood transfusion has been shown to be safe and anecdotally demonstrated to be efficacious.30,31 Studies of radio-labeled (51Cr) red blood cells administered as either homologous or heterologous transfusions have suggested the half-life of the transfused cells to be substantially shorter than previously thought. These studies imply that heterologous transfusions (blood from different species) may be of little or no benefit and homologous transfusions (from a bird of the same species) of only limited benefit.
Anemia

As with bleeding, a bird presented with signs of anemia must first be evaluated to determine the cause of the anemia, the degree of blood loss as well as the site or the reason new cells are not being produced. Gastrointestinal bleeding, genitourinary bleeding along with hemolysis may be difficult to diagnosis. Hematochezia (red blood in the stool), typically from lesions in the lower GI tract, and melena (black tar-like digested blood), associated with gastritis, enteritis and ulcers of the gastrointestinal tract, GI foreign bodies, primary and secondary coagulopathies and hepatopathies. Cloacal bleeding may be associated with severe cloacitis, cloacal or uterine prolapses, papillomas, and other cloacal masses, and egg laying. Heavy metal poisoning (see lead or zinc poisoning) and chlamydiosis may result in hemolysis or bone marrow depression anemia.
I"m still researching, but here's something. We can discuss but I am going to look for a few more things. Her face looks anemic but comb and wattles not too bad a color. The red spots in the leg are jjust part of the blood system-ok. I think an injectable antibiotic may be in order here but I need to see which one.