Here is my previous post about Val’s dog attack. The saga continues!
She’s been doing well after having her egg removed. Some feathers are growing back but the worst wounds are still healing and scabbed up. I’ve let her outside a few times in short visits to be a chicken, she seems good.
BUT Val is such a high maintenance bird. I noticed she had stopped eating her laying pellets, but would eat mealworms, grapes, greens, etc. Her behavior and demeanor was pretty normal for being in hospital bin. So two nights ago I added some water to her feed and made a mash. She ate! I was elated.
My mistake was letting her eat as much as she wanted because she hadn’t eaten much in 2 days. Yesterday morning, her crop was still full. She probably ate a 1/2 cup of feed around 5:30pm the night before.
I haven’t dealt with an impacted crop yet. her crop is hard but becomes malleable with massage and water/coconut oil. Then it feels pretty squishy but I imagine that’s because it’s mash. There’s no smell coming from her beak (yet). I have also NOT been giving her grit (I forgot, I’m an idiot) for about 2 weeks.
Yesterday morning I gave her about 1ml olive oil and added another 1ml to her water, and took her food away. I switched to coconut oil, I just add it to her water because she still drinks it. I gently massaged her crop at first, then throughout the day I’d palpate it a little less gently. It basically feels like a balloon filled with sand and water.
Well despite many massages this morning her crop is hard as a rock. I can tell it will soften up again with more oil and massage, but I guess I can’t get it to clear. I’m still withholding food. She is still pooping a little bit, overnight poo seemed very watery, like all she did was empty the water from her crop.
- should I offer her grit at this point? Not sure if that would be counterintuitive.
- how long can this go on before I give up and take her to the vet? (IE I know egg binding gets emergency level after a couple days).
- I’m wondering if I should try to make her vomit. I know there’s some risk for aspiration. I watched a few videos I found linked in some threads here and it seems easy enough.
- how long until this turns into sour crop? Anything I can do to reduce fermentation in the meantime until it clears?
Any other tips are very welcome!
Stay tuned for more high maintenance Val drama on her dog attack healing journey.
She’s been doing well after having her egg removed. Some feathers are growing back but the worst wounds are still healing and scabbed up. I’ve let her outside a few times in short visits to be a chicken, she seems good.
BUT Val is such a high maintenance bird. I noticed she had stopped eating her laying pellets, but would eat mealworms, grapes, greens, etc. Her behavior and demeanor was pretty normal for being in hospital bin. So two nights ago I added some water to her feed and made a mash. She ate! I was elated.
My mistake was letting her eat as much as she wanted because she hadn’t eaten much in 2 days. Yesterday morning, her crop was still full. She probably ate a 1/2 cup of feed around 5:30pm the night before.
I haven’t dealt with an impacted crop yet. her crop is hard but becomes malleable with massage and water/coconut oil. Then it feels pretty squishy but I imagine that’s because it’s mash. There’s no smell coming from her beak (yet). I have also NOT been giving her grit (I forgot, I’m an idiot) for about 2 weeks.
Yesterday morning I gave her about 1ml olive oil and added another 1ml to her water, and took her food away. I switched to coconut oil, I just add it to her water because she still drinks it. I gently massaged her crop at first, then throughout the day I’d palpate it a little less gently. It basically feels like a balloon filled with sand and water.
Well despite many massages this morning her crop is hard as a rock. I can tell it will soften up again with more oil and massage, but I guess I can’t get it to clear. I’m still withholding food. She is still pooping a little bit, overnight poo seemed very watery, like all she did was empty the water from her crop.
- should I offer her grit at this point? Not sure if that would be counterintuitive.
- how long can this go on before I give up and take her to the vet? (IE I know egg binding gets emergency level after a couple days).
- I’m wondering if I should try to make her vomit. I know there’s some risk for aspiration. I watched a few videos I found linked in some threads here and it seems easy enough.
- how long until this turns into sour crop? Anything I can do to reduce fermentation in the meantime until it clears?
Any other tips are very welcome!
Stay tuned for more high maintenance Val drama on her dog attack healing journey.