3 Year-Old-Hen Recovering From Unsuccessful Surgery - Tips and Ideas?

[Peace Love Hens]

Hi BYC folks,

I'm sure some of you have heard of my favorite girl, Rubi (short for Rubina). I posted a thread because I saw/felt a really strange bulge between her legs. After the protrusion grew significantly in a week, we took her to the vet (last Wednesday). The vet told us that it was a tumor of sorts in her oviduct. They did an ultrasound and saw that it was a big tumor, but didn't have any blood vessels attached to it, so it was not cancerous. We opted for surgery to remove it, which was on Friday. The vet opened her up on Friday and called us immediately. She had a mass of cancerous tumor that was attached to many smaller cancerous tumors that had weaved their way around her organs. Every time the vet moved something, she started bleeding. He couldn't do anything without risking her life. He closed her back up, her belly was really full so it was difficult, he said.

He called us again a few hours later. She was having a really hard time recovering and he was extremely worried about her. She pulled through the night on low oxygen. The next morning she was perky and standing up.

She came home on Saturday because she was doing so well and has been staying in my room in a pen and oversized dog crate (almost like her coop and run outside) next to our guinea pigs and their cage. Today she was super perky, walking around her pen, eating and drinking voraciously and even getting her voice back and squawking a little!

She's on pain meds and we're giving her CBD. Anyone have any suggestions to make her more comfortable with her large and healing belly? Anything known to shrink tumors? Also, she seems to be lonely for her seven other flock-mates. Would it be a good idea to bring one of them up to say hi to her?

Thanks!
Anne and Rubi

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

That's a lot to go through for a chicken, both for you, and the chicken. I would assume her cancer will return and will eventually take her as cancer often does. I have no advice how to care for her as I've never had surgery on a chicken. I would think supervised visits to the other hens would be okay. Keep your hen confined or separated, and on clean ground like grass. Let her interact through a fence. Good luck with your girl.

 

[Peace Love Hens]

That's a lot to go through for a chicken, both for you, and the chicken. I would assume her cancer will return and will eventually take her as cancer often does. I have no advice how to care for her as I've never had surgery on a chicken. I would think supervised visits to the other hens would be okay. Keep your hen confined or separated, and on clean ground like grass. Let her interact through a fence. Good luck with your girl.

Thank you for your input and advice! It was most helpful. Do you know anyone else who may be able to help us? Would you mind looping or tagging them for me? I really want to make sure that I am doing everything correctly and helping her maintain a good quality of life while she is with me.

Thanks!
Anne

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

@Wyorp Rock and @Eggcessive and @casportpony are good at health stuff, but I'm unsure if they know about surgery recovery or not in a chicken.

 

[kissezmychicken]

I've had surgery done on a chicken before. Yuu can take her out so she can see her flock..make sure she's in her crate. She had major surgery, I wouldn't let her run around but it's nice to visit. They do get depressed if they are alone for a long time.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I really don't know much about recovery from surgery. I hope she is doing well.
I do agree with @oldhenlikesdogs taking her out on nice days for short supervised visits will brighten her mood - if nothing else getting a little sunshine. A lot, I would think depends on how well she is healing - you could place her in a dog kennel on puppy pads or clean shavings.

 

[Tesumph]

Are you planning on keeping her alive until the cancer takes her, or are you expecting to put her down when there is no quality of life?

There really isn’t much to be done, I’m sorry to be a downer. If the cancer is already that widespread through her organs then it’s just a matter of keeping her comfortable. A photo of her incision might help with how to speed recovery in that regard. I don’t see why closely supervised flock visits would hurt, just try and keep it clean.

 

[casportpony]

Lots of great advice above. Other than what was suggested above, I would suggest that you start weighing her once a week to monitor for weight loss.

 

[Peace Love Hens]

Are you planning on keeping her alive until cancer takes her, or are you expecting to put her down when there is no quality of life?

There really isn’t much to be done, I’m sorry to be a downer. If the cancer is already that widespread through her organs then it’s just a matter of keeping her comfortable. A photo of her incision might help with how to speed recovery in that regard. I don’t see why closely supervised flock visits would hurt, just try and keep it clean.

Yeah. I guess this post was hoping to gather hope that there'd be something long-term we could do for her to avoid the cancer, shrink the tumor and get a few more years out of her
. As for end-of-life scenarios - my goal is to keep her as comfortable as possible. If she passes overnight or we have to put her down when she is struggling, for the second option, we'll figure that out based on her quality of life.
I'll get a photo posted soon. And thanks for the useful information!!