Twisted tibia

[Garden Peas]

I hope it works out okay, and that you are able to fix it.

One of my birds was older, like yours, when it happened, and I didn't know about the taping then. All I could find was "put the bird down" -- or in a vet manual, the possibility of surgery on the bone. But my vet (not a bird doc) had never anesthetized birds for surgery, and we weren't sure if the bird would make it, and the nearest avian vet was 100's of miles away.

The good news is that my bird is still alive, has a good quality of life, and gets around okay. He walks with a bad limp, but gets in and out of the coop okay. He can fly-hop (he could probably fly more, but landings are challenging). He doesn't roost, and he displays and waves his tail just like the other boys. He is now 3 1/2 years old, and hanging in there. I'm so glad I didn't put him down!

And no, he had never had high protein feed... I'm now wondering if it started as a slipped tendon, after reading your story of the last few days.

 

[Trefoil]

OK, Answer's tendon seems to be staying in place but now he has a twisted tibia.

Any thoughts, fixable or should I stop trying???

Okay, you fixed the slipped tendon and am hopefully working on the twisted tibia. I know this is a lot to ask, but for others who will have this problem somewhere down the line: When you get some time ( I know

) would you diary for us what you did and what happened from the time you noticed the slipped tendon, until now? And if you successfully fix the twisted tibia, include that?
If we are able to pool our experiences and gained knowledge, it will help us all. p/s/ The above would make a great article for the gamebird magazine.

When I took my 5month old to the vet for a slipped tendon, she (the only vet in my area that will look at peas) told me there was nothing that could be done and that she had stopped trying surgery for it because it didn't work. That he would either learn to be a one legged pea or not. It only cost me $75 for the information.

 

[Garden Peas]

Okay, you fixed the slipped tendon and am hopefully working on the twisted tibia. I know this is a lot to ask, but for others who will have this problem somewhere down the line: When you get some time ( I know

) would you diary for us what you did and what happened from the time you noticed the slipped tendon, until now? And if you successfully fix the twisted tibia, include that?
If we are able to pool our experiences and gained knowledge, it will help us all. p/s/ The above would make a great article for the gamebird magazine.

When I took my 5month old to the vet for a slipped tendon, she (the only vet in my area that will look at peas) told me there was nothing that could be done and that she had stopped trying surgery for it because it didn't work. That he would either learn to be a one legged pea or not. It only cost me $75 for the information.

Great idea... this is definitely the sort of thing that we should all be documenting. There is a lamentable lack of information about peas, even in the vet community, and the more knowledge we can compile about meeting their medical needs, the better. Pea ownership seems to immediately vault one into the role of home vet tech... with not much clue how to proceed.

How did your boy turn out? What did you decide to do? I've heard of folks having the turned leg amputated and/or the bird put down. Mine learned to use it twisted, bless his lame heart, so he's hanging in there, but I expect it may shorten his life span just due to the increased physical stress. It seemed like mine was able to support himself, so with no other options, as long as he was able to move around, I didn't want to put him down.

 

[Garden Peas]

My TT male (now almost 4 years old) has learned to roost

No idea how he managed it, and so far, he only does it in the daytime, when the other boys (and usually the big hen) are out in the pen. He somehow has learned to fly up and land, and hang out up there for some hours in the daytime. He has to use the full length of it to turn around, I think... Eventually he launches himself back down into the deep shavings. He's still sleeping in the shavings at night... I assume that the nighttime roost is too crowded for him to manage. But in the daytime, he likes to hang out up there with the Opal SP henchick, who uses it to get away from the big boys outside.
I never thought he would ever be able to roost, so I'm really excited for him. He seems quite pleased with himself.

 

[thndrdancr]

Garden peas, I was so glad to hear this. I do wish that my boy would have healed completely and he might have if I kept taping so anyone with this in your youngsters, don't give up! I wonder if I should still try it, poor guy, he does roost and gets around fairly well. He limps but much better than originally.

I took some pics, don't mind the dirty coop, I haven't cleaned it yet this year and use dlm.

 

[thndrdancr]

 

[DylansMom]

Garden peas, I was so glad to hear this. I do wish that my boy would have healed completely and he might have if I kept taping so anyone with this in your youngsters, don't give up! I wonder if I should still try it, poor guy, he does roost and gets around fairly well. He limps but much better than originally.

I took some pics, don't mind the dirty coop, I haven't cleaned it yet this year and use dlm.

He looks really good. When I finished the 4 weeks of taping on my 5 TT chicks, the worst one still had a bit of a limp, and when he walked you could almost see a little pop as that joint would align and things would pop into place. It was minor and I figured he would always limp and maybe have some premature arthritis when he got older. However, by the time they were 6 months old the limp was gone completely. Just watch him, he may continue to improve, and if not...... you have stopped it from getting worse and he can live with it like this!

 

[thndrdancr]

I really think I could have fixed it 100 percent if his treatment hadn't been interrupted. (That dratted E.R. visit) I sometimes wonder if I should try taping more but I imagine it's pretty set now.

But yea he limps but gets around tremendously. Before he couldn't fly up on anything. So I sm pretty happy with the results all things considering!

 

[SassyMustang198]

notice this is an older thread but i believe my baby has a TT.. he is still fairly young.. hatch date July 14.. I'm stuck, but would love to fix him.. do i just tape him over night like shown and then undo it during the day.. I don't want to stress him out too much.. and is there a way to tape it so he can still be mobile or do you want them to be unable to move?

 

[thndrdancr]

I see Dylansmom is helping you with your chick, good luck! She helped me bunches. I think my boy would have gotten too depressed being wrapped 24/7. He still limps but gets around extremely well and just looking at his legs when he is standing, you would never know it. Vast improvement from where it was heading, thanks so much to everyone here that helped and luck to you and your lil guy!