Canker Treatment: Metronidazole 20% powder and Tube Feeding with Kaytee Exact. Am I doing this right?

[ebisu]

I will tell you how I tube feed. I wrap the chicken in a towel to confine wings, then I insert the tube into the esophagus. I have a half a cup or 100ml of the liquid food, and I fill my syringe from it.

The tube stays in place in the throat of the chicken while I refill the syringe several times until all the liquid has been put through the feeding tube. Then I pull out the tube and we're finished.

Yes I have a long sleeve I cut off an old shirt and put that on her and hold her between my thighs while sitting, rest my chest on her back, hold her neck straight with my nondominant hand and fingers to open her mouth, and my dominant hand to put the tube down and feed.

Does that method of refilling without pulling the tube out push air into her crop?

 

[ebisu]

Fed her at 5am about 85ml by taking out the emptied syringe leaving the tube in her esophagus and loading it with the syringe filled with the rest of the feed. She has food/water in her isolation. I'll feed her again tonight after work.

 

[azygous]

Air being pushed into the crop does occur when tube feeding. But it shouldn't be any more than what gets in naturally when a chicken eats. To further avoid pushing air in, be sure the syringe plunger is completely depressed before filling it.

 

[ebisu]

IMG_4548.MOV

• ebisu
• Jan 11, 2025

She weights 1280~ grams? Weighed her as soon as I got home, her crop was empty, and I fed her. Sorry she's not steady

So I was close to her being about 3 lbs. I was using 1lb blocks of butter to compare her....

@casportpony

 

[ebisu]

Fed her 120ml this morning. Tried this 150ml syringe I bought online but it was extremely difficult to pull/push even with just testing with water or watery feed and I lubricated the black part that pushes through with mineral oil. I ended up just using two 60ml with no difficulty.

She is still producing clear, mucus from her throat (no rattling/wheezing). The cheese substance under her tongue is less now but I am also cleaning it every morning.

 

[ebisu]

Today was day 7 of the Metronidazole+water treatment meaning I have to stop for now.

She has little to none of the cheese under her tongue, still nothing under the roof of her mouth, the sides, or as far down I can see her throat (but still accepting the possibility it's in her crop/esophagus). She is still producing clear, mucus from her throat (no rattling or wheezing).

She ate most of a leaf of lettuce and a whole palmetto bug but barely touched her chicken pellets/crumble. Idk if it's because she's still having difficulty eating, she's not interested in it, or she's too "full" from the tube feeding.

Tomorrow I plan on letting her back into the flock so I can treat everyone all at once with acidified copper sulfate for 10 days.

Tomorrow is also my day off so I won't tube feed her but will periodically feel her crop and try to see if I can catch her eating on her own from the shared feeder. I'll also weigh her.

EDIT: 23:24 I am spiraling I don't want to lose her and I'm having second thoughts of taking her out of isolation but now I have to figure out how she's going to drink from a gallon of water+ACS

 

[ebisu]

@casportpony Will tube feeding her less feed+normal drinking water encourage her to drink the acidified copper sulfate+ water treatment?

 

[ebisu]

After 2 months of treatment, tube feeding her everyday, and unsuccessfully trying to get the help of a vet...I decided to say goodbye to her today. I won't do a necropsy. On my days off, I'd let her roam the yard by herself supervised to stretch her legs but most of the time she'd ask to be picked up and held for hours instead. My sweet girl was patient throughout everything but it was not a quality of life; she could not eat and drink on her own, she had to remain isolated from everyone, I cleaned out the mucus from her throat and mouth every day, etc. She managed to gain weight and the cheese substance disappeared from under her tongue but the excessive clear mucus never went away. She also got lice because she was unable to dust bathe. And within the last 2 weeks, she developed a solid lump underneath her jaw on the right side causing it to swell and her nostrils started leaking a bit. I've tried everything to ensure her survival. I've kept a close eye on the rest of my flock too everyday and no one else has shown or experienced symptoms.

With the medications taking weeks to get to me from jedds and radio silence from them, i think by the time I discovered it right on new years day even then I was too late. But I had hope. I loved this girl so dearly.

Good bye my baby. From the day I got you on a whim as a baby 4 years ago to today when you've returned to the earth I've been nothing but thankful for the memories and love you gave me. I'm so sorry.

 

[AGeese]

You went the distance for her. I'm sorry for your loss.

 

[Seaslug]

Thinking of you.