slipped tendon home surgery

[Aaron Young]

I have a chick (6 weeks) that has a slipped tendon. I have tried to pop it back into place with my thumbs, however the attempts have been unsucessful.

As I see it, I am left with 2 options, cull the bird, or attempt to open the skin, move the tendon back to the proper location, and stitch it back up.

The vet, sadly, is not an option. I simplly cannot justify taking a 6 week pullet to the vet. 

My figuring is if the surgery seems to not be going well, I can immediatly cull the bird anyhow without proceeding any farther. With that in mind I'm having the "might as well try it" mind set.

I figure I'll need to get a scalpel (from TSC).
Sterilze everything, have some neosporin ready for the dressing, and iodine to prep the leg with before hand.

I'm not sure if I should attempt to aneastasize (spelling) the bird or not. To aneastatize the bird, i plan to empty the propellant (nitrous oxide) from 1 or 2 cans of spray cool whip into a balloon. I will then have a helper give a "shot" from the ballon to the bird every 15-30 seconds (or whatever seems to keep the bird knocked out).

I plan to knock the bird out like this (Nitrous oxide is the same thing the destists sometimes use when removing wisdom teeth). Make a small slit in the skin between the tendon and where the tendon is supposed to go. Then i will pull back the skin to expose a little bit of the tendon and use a pair of forceps to put the tendon back into place.

Then I will stitch close the incision, wrap it and splint it to keep the tendon from going back to its old position.

In theory... this seems like a good plan, but I'm sure I'm overlooking something (I usually do).

What do you guys think? Any recomendations or suggestions? Also, What is the best thread to use for stitching it all up afterwards?

Just not sure, not sure at all...

Oh! and of course, if the nitrous doesn't seem to do the job, the surgery will be aborted and the bird euphenized to limit any pain or agony the bird could go through.

 

[Eggcessive]

Honestly I have never read where surgery will correct a slipped tendon. There is a post about possible surgery on a rotated femur, but I doubt if it was actually carried out, since those kinds of bone deformities only get worse from what I have read. If I were you, I would keep trying to put the tendon in place, and vet wrap it, but this is not very successful at this late age. Here are some links for you to read:

http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publications/6/diseases-of-poultry/220/slipped-tendon-perosis
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/193572/is-slipped-tendon-perosis-painful

 

[lachri]

i will answer you soon i have the same problem and my chick is fine without surgery.
just waiting for moderater permissions

 

[lachri]

Hi first of all sorry for my English, i live in france and haven't written in english for a while.
So a week ago i rescued a one month old chick with a slipped tendon. I didn't think about taking a "before" photo so i found this one on internet except mine had a very swollen hock which he limped on and the foot twisted to the side.
I started by reading https://sites.google.com/a/larsencreek.com/chicken-orthopedics/ over and over again,
then i bought asprin for new born babys 100mg to reduce the swelling and pain and a seringe (without needle) of 10ml, put 10ml of water in a glass and added the asprin and gave the chick 1ml 1/10 of the seringe not more!
then i washed and disinfected the leg with a spray and i got every thing i needed together.

I cut two 2X2cm 1cm thick out of rigid foam like this

the sort of foam you find in bins outside stores after delivery.
and with a tape that wont expand, i fixed them together like this
With the help of someone patient (as you may need to start over a few times to get it right)
i started by working from behind the chick with his leggs dangelling. I took the leg and used this method:

• Quote:
• • Personnally i had a bit of difficulty so i used my thumb and my index to roll the tendon in place from the exterieur to the back. You will feel it when it goes "pop"^^. i had a hard time at first keeping it in place so for 3 days i just kept massaging the leg while pulling it back and poping the tendon in place holding it there and making soft naturel movments for around 3 mins, 5 to 7 times a day to help the tendon loosen.
  • then i put the brace on. so poping the tendon in place and holding it firmly i pushed the foam agaist it and while holding it in place i wrapped the other foam on the opposite side of the leg and firmly wrapped the tape around to hold it in place. Oh yeah be VERY careful when using scissors to double check before snipping that all his little toes are well out of the way XD. Check his feet for swelling every now and again. if the foot swells take off the brace a while and start again a little less tight.
  • I then put him in a hamak as in the photo on the top left, one hole for his legs and the other just behind for his poops^^
  • Stabilise the hamak so he won't fall over while protesting, tuck him in with a cloth so he wont flap around too much and cover him with a feather duster so he will feel safe under mum. Keep him warm and give him water as often as you can but take it away so he wont drown in it.
  • Now i gave him a diet of vitamine B12. I made toast with butter, fried egg, seasame seeds, beer yeast, cod liver oil and meat and chick starter for him to peck on a few times a day. as soon as he got used to his brace i put him outside with other chicks in a little pen to give him as much sunlight as possible. and at night in a cage in my room,with 2 other chicks warm in his hamak.
  • Here is my chick after three days with the brace. He runs around and jumps and perches, he still limps a little but i will continue the treatment for another two weeks to help his muscles strenthen in the right place.
    
    
    I hope this will help.
  • I'm open to any critisim if i am doing something terribly wrong

 

[Sunnyside Chick]

Thank you for such a thorough explanation! Very helpful!