Ascites Relief. Did I do it right?

[Tookie]

Your doing a great job taking care of her!

 

[vantain]

Your doing a great job taking care of her!

I hope so! But I also know this is just treating the symptom, not the cause.

 

[vantain]

Well..she’s obviously feeling better, because she is obsessed with digging a hole in the run, and basically eating dirt. I have not seen her eat her normal feed, or drink any water at all since I drained her. I have been force feeding her water, which I’m sure is the only reason she is surviving. I don’t understand the behavior at all. She has been digging in this hole for two straight days now, and does nothing else. Weird.

 

[vantain]

And.....she needs draining again. She seem to need the draining every 4-5 weeks. I am not sure if I am willing to continue this procedure. She is in pretty bad shape today, and the high is supposed to be 98 here, and humidity is higher than normal. So, I don't think today is the day to perform this procedure, and I'm not sure if she will even survive the day. Yes, I know I could bring her inside, perform the draining, and let her recover inside for a day or two, but since this treatment is just prolonging the inevitable, I am reluctant to do so. We are getting into the hot part of summer here, and this issue is not going away. I'm heartbroken for this hen.

 

[vantain]

So, my hen has now gone almost six weeks since the last draining. I guess as long as the interval doesn’t get shorter, I’ll keep draining as necessary. In between draining, she is her normal happy, bossy self. She is now the queen of the pecking order, since the previous hen holding that position has recently died.

I removed about 210ml from her with the syringe, then she continued to drain on her own for another hour, while spending time in the hospital crate. She was alert the whole time, and I think she was feeling a lot better.

Once she stopped draining, I applied neosporin to the syringe site, and released her to be with her flock.

This was the fourth draining since early April.

 

[vantain]

Sadly, she never rallied back from this bout. I found her dead in the run this morning. So sad this has to happen.

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

Sadly, she never rallied back from this bout. I found her dead in the run this morning. So sad this has to happen.

I just read through this thread now, as I did not see it when you originally posted. From what it sounds like, you did absolutely everything you could to help her. I'm sorry for your loss! At least you know you tried your very best though.