Amputation update from slipped tendon

[Angie3521]

I have a five month old light Brahma rooster that was born with a vitamin deficiency that I got from the local feed store. initially I thought he had splay leg and I was treating it for the first week and a half as that, but it ended up not being that but a Vitamin deficiency. I luckily caught it early enough to treat it and he was able to recover from that but he developed slipped tendon because of the deficiency and because it wasn’t caugt on day one then there wasn’t any hope for him to have the slip tendon try to get reversed so his leg grew backwards. I took him to the vet when he was two weeks old and we looked Possible amputation in the future. When he got a little older at five months I took him back into the vet and we decided to go ahead and amputate half of the leg because the one that was growing backwards was getting caught in everything he was getting so frustrated and mad because it was throwing his balance off and he couldn’t do a lot of things bc of it. It’s been about a week and a half since his leg has been amputated and he still has his stitches, but he seems a lot better and his leg is not getting caught on anything. He’s adapting well so far. I also have a makeshift wheelchair for him so he can stand up now that his leg can fit through the holes and he can go outside and stand up a little bit more like a rooster so that seems to brighten his day. The downside to having handicap chicken. He’s pretty much not ambulatory so he does require me to make sure he gets food and water brought to him and he needs constant care as far as clean up because he gets his poop all over his feathery butt in the back and he lays in it a lot so it is a going to be a lifelong challenge to take care of him, but he’s a he’s an indoor and he he seems pretty happy. He goes places in the car with me. He’s in a car seat and I and everything so he’s he’s a good little chicken , but I wanted to let everyone know that to show you what it looks like what slipped tendon looks like grown out you know that surgery option is not something I necessarily wanted to do, but watching him struggle these last five months as he was growing up knowing that he’s a big breed. He’s gonna be a 12 pound bird at some .12 to 18 pounds so I think it was for the best now the next step is to try to work with his curled toes on his 1 foot that he does have. His toes are curled because he used it like a kickstand to help prop himself up his last five months so I’ve got to try to go and straighten out those toes again. I found some place on Etsy that sell prosthetic feet to help train their feet to go flat for a little baby chicken that have curl toes, but they will make them to your size and also they make prosthetic legs so I’m hoping to get a custom prosthetic leg for his amputated foot, and hopefully he’ll be able to stand up at least and overtime with therapy. Hopefully, he might be able to stand and walk one day. Hopefully he was to give encouragement to those that are dealing with slipped tendon because I know these last five months it was really difficult to find any kind of information on it and it is very limited. I hope I get his x-rays when he was two weeks old from my vet so that I can post the x-rays so you can see it and learn a little bit about slip tendon. Don’t give up on your little birds and just know you can treat it and save a life!

 

[Squawkers]

That’s such a sweet story! I’m glad he’s doing better!

He goes places in the car with me. He’s in a car seat and I and everything so he’s he’s a good little chicken

That is adorable!!!