CatsMeowMix
In the Brooder
- Aug 20, 2020
- 9
- 14
- 39
Hi all!
I'm posting this as a little lesson/story in love...($$$ cha-ching)
We've had our lovable flock of 4 for a year now. They are our Golden Girls: Blanch (German Biefelder), Sophia (Lavender Orpington), Dorothy (Barred Rock) and Rose (Buff Orpington). What started as a comfort purchase due to the loss of of beloved senior cat (at the spark of Covid no less) became a new love and appreciation for our backyard feathered friends. The hatchlings soon became affectionate pets and part of the family...
So, how much would you spend to save a pet?
It was known that Rose was prone to eating anything. Over the winter she got in the habit of feather plucking the other ladies. We tried toys for enrichment and higher protein food for deficiencies to no avail. The only thing that helped was time out of the coop/run on the fresh sod we had placed in our yard. This was my rookie mistake...
In the hopes that they would have tons of time to destroy the lush yard, I kept their designated areas full of long, unmowed grass. You experienced readers can tell where this is going.
Last week I noticed Rose not eating as much, turning away from her favorite treats and standing apart from the rest of her friends. I pride myself in being a hyper aware pet parent (regardless of species) and immediately knew something was off. We isolated her and I watched for 24 hours as: *her crop did not empty but remained soft and malleable, with noticable texture of grain and possibly grit, *she had an incident of regurgitation, *passed one tiny, wet stool. Through research on here and other forums, I came to the conclusion that this was beyond my skill set to manage at home. The crop was not impacted, but something was keeping things from moving further down the line... if what I did couldn't get past the crop, it wasn't going to help things past it and could do more harm.
Off to the avian vet we went!
An x-ray showed that she had massive intestinal filling but due to the amount of "stuff" they could not see where the blockage was. The x-ray was thick white with pieces of suspected oyster shell. An ultrasound was also inconclusive. The option was give to me of medical intervention or investigative surgery. We chose to admit Rose to Critical Care and proceeded to give IV fluids, GI lubricants, special syringe feeding to fill the crop, motility stimulant (yea! Laxative), pain meds, and more. It was a scary couple of days of watching and waiting and then...
SHE POOPED! The vet was astounded at the volume of matter she had managed to pass. We equated it to a small hot dog. Definitely not a normal chicken poop. It was mostly masses of intertwined long grasses and tons of bits. We kept her going on that treatment plan for a couple of days more. She continued to pass grassy masses (none as large, but still fibrous) for the next 48 hours. But all else looked great, and she was cleared to come home to us yesterday after a total of 4 days in the hospital. (She's still passing some grass material, even after 9 days off the lawn)
She's now an indoor chicken for the next couple of weeks while I continue with some medication and can monitor her access to shiny bits on the ground and any grass.
How much did this cost? $4,500.00
Am I crazy? Most likely. But love is love and how do you put a price on that?
Now my problem to solve is how do I make the outdoor world Rose proof (besides the obvious) - do they make hamster balls for chickens?
I'm posting this as a little lesson/story in love...($$$ cha-ching)
We've had our lovable flock of 4 for a year now. They are our Golden Girls: Blanch (German Biefelder), Sophia (Lavender Orpington), Dorothy (Barred Rock) and Rose (Buff Orpington). What started as a comfort purchase due to the loss of of beloved senior cat (at the spark of Covid no less) became a new love and appreciation for our backyard feathered friends. The hatchlings soon became affectionate pets and part of the family...
So, how much would you spend to save a pet?
It was known that Rose was prone to eating anything. Over the winter she got in the habit of feather plucking the other ladies. We tried toys for enrichment and higher protein food for deficiencies to no avail. The only thing that helped was time out of the coop/run on the fresh sod we had placed in our yard. This was my rookie mistake...
In the hopes that they would have tons of time to destroy the lush yard, I kept their designated areas full of long, unmowed grass. You experienced readers can tell where this is going.
Last week I noticed Rose not eating as much, turning away from her favorite treats and standing apart from the rest of her friends. I pride myself in being a hyper aware pet parent (regardless of species) and immediately knew something was off. We isolated her and I watched for 24 hours as: *her crop did not empty but remained soft and malleable, with noticable texture of grain and possibly grit, *she had an incident of regurgitation, *passed one tiny, wet stool. Through research on here and other forums, I came to the conclusion that this was beyond my skill set to manage at home. The crop was not impacted, but something was keeping things from moving further down the line... if what I did couldn't get past the crop, it wasn't going to help things past it and could do more harm.
Off to the avian vet we went!
An x-ray showed that she had massive intestinal filling but due to the amount of "stuff" they could not see where the blockage was. The x-ray was thick white with pieces of suspected oyster shell. An ultrasound was also inconclusive. The option was give to me of medical intervention or investigative surgery. We chose to admit Rose to Critical Care and proceeded to give IV fluids, GI lubricants, special syringe feeding to fill the crop, motility stimulant (yea! Laxative), pain meds, and more. It was a scary couple of days of watching and waiting and then...
SHE POOPED! The vet was astounded at the volume of matter she had managed to pass. We equated it to a small hot dog. Definitely not a normal chicken poop. It was mostly masses of intertwined long grasses and tons of bits. We kept her going on that treatment plan for a couple of days more. She continued to pass grassy masses (none as large, but still fibrous) for the next 48 hours. But all else looked great, and she was cleared to come home to us yesterday after a total of 4 days in the hospital. (She's still passing some grass material, even after 9 days off the lawn)
She's now an indoor chicken for the next couple of weeks while I continue with some medication and can monitor her access to shiny bits on the ground and any grass.
How much did this cost? $4,500.00
Am I crazy? Most likely. But love is love and how do you put a price on that?
Now my problem to solve is how do I make the outdoor world Rose proof (besides the obvious) - do they make hamster balls for chickens?
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You win chicken lover of the year for sure! So happy you had a good outcome.
