Chicken with huge vent prolapse... or more sinister? Update - I culled her today - Sob

[Suzie]

I have a 2 year old naked neck chicken with what I thought may be a vent prolapse - I noticed blood and poop stuck to her and examined her and bathed her this afternoon with betadine in the water.

I soon realised that she had a major problem - her insides were hanging out about 4"! I was initially mortified but having read on here about prolapse I used some honey to try and tease the intestine etc back into her vent - I managed about 3" but she was protesting and after 1 hour I decided she was getting very stressed and I stopped - problem...... the remaining tissue is very swollen and engorged with blood and I didn't want to push any more as she was pushing against me and making groaning noises.

The insides were not all soft - some of it was hard and some tissue had fallen away - is there any hope for her? I did think immediately about culling her as I did not want her to suffer BUT for some stupid reason I thought I could help her - now I am in tears for having put her through what has not ( so far) had any benefit for her - SO..... she has been isolated from the main flock, she has the company of Mattie ( who is partially blind and very gentle ) and Marion ( another naked neck friend ) - Marion is huddled against her at the moment.

Suggestions please.... yes I know it is Friday 13th and so far it has not been lucky for me!

Thanks all!

Suzie

p.s. Where is Kevin when you need his advice???? Offline

 

[CMV]

Coat the remaining prolapsed area with honey and cover it with Telfa (this is important because nothing will stick to Telfa unlike using gauze) and Vet Wrap it in place. You are going to need to try again later to put it back into place. A rest might do you both some good, and the honey will have a chance to shrink the tissues.

Keep us posted.

 

[Suzie]

Hi CMV thanks for the response - what is Telfa ? - I am English. living in France.... is it like a cling wrap/cling film ? i.e. for wrapping foodstuffs etc.I do have vet wrap for my horses so that will not be a problem.

Despite her ordeal she was and still is bright eyed and active - amazing!

Thanks again!

Suzie

 

[CMV]

Cling Wrap should work very nicely.

 

[egghead@1265]

Oh so sorry! This brings back memories, and our outcomes weren't great. However with that in mind feel we learned a few things I will briefly share as perhaps it may assist you and not cause too much pain for hen or owners!...

One is to keep hen somewhat isolated, comfortable , warm if appropriate, and in darkness for much of 24hours as possible to slow or stop egg production as much as possible. No need to be pushing and all!,

Continue to treat as you have carefully, keep clean as can, food water, all that. We have used penicillin injections as this is an infection.

Also, we believe our hens needed more calcium, so have given oyster shell calcium in a separate dish and replenish often. They love it, eat it as needed... So far, we have harmonies pro lapse or bumble foot which before the extra oyster shell had both of! More than once on both as well!!!

So crossing our fingers this was truly needed and helpful!

Good luck and please update on how it is going.

Pat

 

[Suzie]

Hi!

Thanks for the responses - just to update....

She is still alive ( I thought she would die of stress after my attempts ) - I have bathed her again in water with Betadine - Not quite so much of her insides hanging out, so applied lots of honey and attempted very gently to push her insides back into her body - again I worked on her for over an hour. I managed to get all but a little back inside her but try as I might I couldn't get it all back in - she was pushing hard against me so I applied cling film to the honey covered part still outside her (the part outside being engorged with blood) - I don't want to attempt to try again yet! She managed to get the Vet wrap and cling film off within 5 minutes....!!!

I don't have any penicillin injections - I do have a tetracyclin antibiotic powder and there are some penicillin tablets here - it is almost 7.00 p.m. here and all pharmacists are closed until Monday - no Vet would treat her here - they would only cull and I can do that for myself here if needs be.

Would any of the above medications be of any help?

I am prepared to keep trying to help her if there is some chance of recovery - I just don't want to make her suffer - she was very well behaved for me when I was treating her today - I put a towel over her head while attempting to tease back her insides - she fell asleep!

More help please!

Thanks again,

Suzie

 

[egghead@1265]

Suzie

I am not sure if the message went through I sent about one hour ago but it said:

wow so very brave and what a great caretaker you are! i feel
antibiotics cant hurt as she more than likely has an infection or
will--which of itself could kill her. I would give meds so as to not
give too much of course. I will be back to PC soon and will reply
more fully then. Here i checked web md for correct dosages to give.
They have a section for fowl and by weight.
pat

I am online so will reply more fully!

 

[egghead@1265]

You said " I don't have any penicillin injections - I do have a tetracyclin antibiotic powder and there are some penicillin tablets here - it is almost 7.00 p.m. here and all pharmacists are closed until Monday - no Vet would treat her here - they would only cull and I can do that for myself here if needs be.

Would any of the above medications be of any help?"

Check this link, as it appears it may have the same medication you refer to having available.

I was thinking it was web md, but see this at drugs.com and perhaps that may be helpful.

http://www.drugs.com/vet/tetracycline-soluble-powder-324.html

 

[egghead@1265]

I
I also meant to comment on your hen going to sleep, as ours did the same thing when we did the surgery on her foot for the bumblefoot. I was just shocked and actually we checked her to see and be sure that she was still breathing! As we were using a knife to cut open her foot! Surely, the hens have feelings/senses there and can feel it. I felt that she did trust us, and knew we were trying to help her, as you were with your hen. Otherwise, don't know how or why they would fall asleep, as you are not using any anesthetic at all! Can you imagine NO anesthetic?

YIKES!

Good luck, and hopefully in the morning she is feeling some better and may be on the way to better health!

Keep us posted!

Pat

 

[Suzie]

Hi egghead!

No -your original message did not get through - I am so pleased to hear from you....! I was beginning to think I was left alone to try and deal with my chicken problem.

I know I can't expect a miracle for her but I will try anything I can to help her - I will start her on Tetracycline in the morning - it is half an hour past midnight here and I don't think she would be too pleased at me waking her up at this hour... she does have company, I have two others that are huddling up against her tonight keeping her warm and in good company!

It is not easy dealing with this issue - I don't need to tell you that this is an awful problem as you have had previous experience - despite the fact that I wear protective gloves ( for both her's and my benefit) the residual smell stays with me despite constant hand washing - BUT she is worth it! The trust in her eyes seems to say that she understands that I am trying to help her - such a dilemma!

Please keep guiding me - I really do appreciate your help.... this is a new experience for me and I am keen to learn and do whatever is needed!

Thanks

Suzie