Help! My hen has stopped drinking any water and has barely eaten for 3 weeks.

[HeatherKellyB]

Here it is mid afternoon, and so far has drunk a fair amount of water on her own, but she hasn't pooped since this morning and her crop is not emptying...
It's probably not fair to her to keep force-feeding her for an extended period... she really hates it... but if I stop I think she'd just waste away and die...

Yes she probably will unfortunately. How are you force feeding her? Have you ever heard of torpedoes? That really helped me get even more nutrients into a sick bird, along with tube feeding. Since she is under a vet's care, I would probably ask them about teaching you to tube feed and if torpedoes would be ok. Since she is drinking on her own, torpedoes (maybe save tube feeding as an idea if torpedoes don't work) will probably work well.

 

[amyduck]

Yes she probably will unfortunately. How are you force feeding her? Have you ever heard of torpedoes?

I hadn't! Thanks, I'll give it a try. That would be better than the hard little balls I made out of mash and baked. I haven't tried tube feeding yet, do you know if it is less stressful for the bird once you get it down?

 

[amyduck]

Today her droppings are no longer super wet, but her crop is still pretty full.... I'm hoping though, that might mean that at least she is absorbing more water than before... but she is *definitely* not out of the woods....

One interesting thing I discovered when I'm force feeding her.... I like to give her a little break and give her some diluted yogurt with baby food to drink. If we stroke her head there seems to be some kind of reflex that makes her drink!

 

[BugStalker]

I hadn't! Thanks, I'll give it a try. That would be better than the hard little balls I made out of mash and baked. I haven't tried tube feeding yet, do you know if it is less stressful for the bird once you get it down?

I found it depends on the bird and the condition it's in. I first tube fed one that didn't really struggle much, but it turned out she had cancer. Another one didn't struggle so much at first, but struggled more and more until she started eating on her own.

 

[HeatherKellyB]

I hadn't! Thanks, I'll give it a try. That would be better than the hard little balls I made out of mash and baked. I haven't tried tube feeding yet, do you know if it is less stressful for the bird once you get it down?

It really depends on the bird, like mentioned above, your ability to get it done quickly and restraining the bird comfortably. I think it's a much faster way to get nutrients in them, so the stress doesn't last as long.

 

[amyduck]

It really depends on the bird, like mentioned above, your ability to get it done quickly and restraining the bird comfortably. I think it's a much faster way to get nutrients in them, so the stress doesn't last as long.

Thanks so much, I like this method a lot more than trying to stuff the hard, baked little balls of mash I'd made! It also made it easier to feed her more. I also like that it included the coconut oil and grit!

 

[amyduck]

Just an update... Penny is still with us, but I think she is declining.
I could find no evidence of droppings in the yard yesterday, so I don't think she pooped at all after yesterday morning... when the poops had gone from large puddles of liquid to more like they'd looked previously.

So her crop was really full... but overnight she pooped two big puddles again of yellowy liquid with some urates and some long worm like things like before. When I examine them they almost seem like liverwurst... and in addition there was one clot of blood about the size of a lentil... so of course that is of concern... (update, an hour and a half later, one more puddle with urates and what seems to be some mucous... at least her crop is draining again...)

As for today, the plan keep feeding her torpedos (which contain grit now, as well as soaked crumbles and crumble powder, vitamins, an egg, and coconut oil) half a bactim pill in the morning and one in the evening, along with the propectalin 3 times a day. At least she is drinking water now. Yesterday she tried and tried to eat some greens I put out for her, but while some would end up in her beak, I didn't see any go down...

 

[HeatherKellyB]

I am not questioning your vet by any means, but did the vet explain why discontinuing the dewormer was advised? Did he run a fecal float? Again, I'm not questioning, just curious about the reasoning since you were using one of the safer dewormers. If the vet ran a fecal float and didn't see any internal parasites or eggs, that would make sense. How many days did she get Safegaurd? I'm so sorry she's not doing well. I'm in a similar position as you but I don't think we're dealing with the same symptoms. My sweet hen has been unwell for months now. I truly hope your hen makes a turn around and has a full recovery. I know it's very difficult to see them feeling so poorly

 

[amyduck]

I am not questioning your vet by any means, but did the vet explain why discontinuing the dewormer was advised? Did he run a fecal float? Again, I'm not questioning, just curious about the reasoning since you were using one of the safer dewormers. If the vet ran a fecal float and didn't see any internal parasites or eggs, that would make sense. How many days did she get Safegaurd? I'm so sorry she's not doing well. I'm in a similar position as you but I don't think we're dealing with the same symptoms. My sweet hen has been unwell for months now. I truly hope your hen makes a turn around and has a full recovery. I know it's very difficult to see them feeling so poorly

When I asked if I should continue it, he dismissed it and said she'd had enough... (I'd need to go back to check, but I did 2-3 days). I have to admit, I did wonder about that...but he doesn't seem to like to do lab work because he says it costs a lot...(I wish he'd let me decide...) I think a lot of the people he sees are lower income so that's his frame of reference, and I appreciate that he can help people - and their animals. I think all told we've probably paid about $60 for 2 visits and the meds. I hadn't realized when I'd gone to see him previously, that although he primarily sees dogs, I saw on his diploma that he is actually an avian vet out of UC Davis.

 

[amyduck]

@Eggcessive @Wyorp Rock @HeatherKellyB @BugStalker

5:17AM Update: Penny just died. Thanks to everyone who helped.
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Help! I woke up at 2 am and decided to check on Penny.

I found her off her 2" perch on the floor of where she roosts and she was gurgling and gasping for air. It seems she started to vomit some of what's in her overfull crop and aspirated some of it.

We picked her up and she vomits very easily, even when no pressure is put on her crop... She is now resting in my bedroom and at least she isn't gasping any more but I can still hear some gurgling and every now and then I think I hear her swallowing, as if some liquid is still coming up. She has also sneezed about 3 times and I think that's helped a bit with her breathing. But then it seems to get worse sometimes.

Yesterday at one point she took about 12 drinks of water and I guess she overdid it and maybe I fed her too much? She seemed somewhat weak when I put her up to roost, I suspect she may have fallen off her "perch" and possibly landed on her very full crop and that could be when it came up... but that's just a guess. The fact that she seems to be still regurgitating some may mean otherwise... I wish I could stop the regurgitation. FWIW, what did come up was almost clear and did not have a bad smell to it.

So I guess at this point we're going to try to go to sleep, but it's probably time to take her to the vet in the morning (if she makes it) to euthanize her... at least in the last hour or two, she has clearly been suffering. I wasn't going to take her to UC Davis for a necropsy, but after all of this, it would at least be good to know what happened.

I guess if her breathing should happen to have cleared by daybreak (it's now 4 AM here...) maybe I'll have second thoughts... so when you see this, any thoughts?

I'll add that she has yet to empty her crop at all, is still on Propectalin, Bactrim, and because of the Bactrim I started up the miconazole again. She hasn't pooped as far as I can tell since late yesterday morning and it was the very liquid light brown sludge....like the photo on the left near the bottom of page 10. She may have gone someplace in the garden but I looked and didn't find any evidence of that.

Thanks....