Claribel's Not Walking

[casportpony]

Thought I should mention that when mine are really sick, like yours, they get weighed daily. If they are losing weight, I take corrective action and try to stabilize their weight. Mine also stay indoors and if needed, they get a heat lamp.

 

[karinaspiraling]

Thank you. I would be interested to hear more about your tube-feeding technique...More as a curiosity and information for perhaps another time, as you'll gather from what I write below.

If someone was knocked unconscious from an accident or injury and unable to make the decision of whether she wants to eat, then I would intubate. But in this case Claribel is alert and conscious, and if she decides that living is not the route she wants to go, I respect that and support her in her choice.

It's been an interesting journey back into my feelings about Free Will and concepts of death. I worked in elder care for many years, so this is familiar ground. I'm clear that if I ever decide that I don't want to eat anymore, I certainly don't want some well-intentioned loved one overriding my decision based on his or her ability to overpower me physically and make me receive food forcefully. If I hold that principle for myself, I certainly honor it for a friend.

She'd been eating voraciously once we started on this Vet Recovery Crack, then after a day that included poking and prodding and checking for bound eggs and so forth, yesterday she refused to eat or drink. Same this morning, until a half hour ago when she rallied and eagerly helped herself to half the contents of her food bowl.About 25cc's, I'd say.

I remember people entering the final stages of life and wanting restfulness as they prepare for the transition, and how things like feeding tubes and IVs feel invasive and disruptive to that process. It's because of this stuff that the Hospice movement was born.

No one seems to know what's wrong with Claribel, from the Chinese-Medicine-trained exotic animal doctor to the elderly Brazilian livestock farmer to the chicken books and us here. Maybe she'll rally and pull through this, and maybe she's got other ideas of how to spend the next little chunk of eternity. I'm grateful that for all the sudden and at times violent death that can accompany having animal friends, that I've been given these days of closeness with my favorite little hen in the world. Horrible as it was to find her sister after that attack, it would have been far worse for me to find this one like that. So, if this is how she spends her final days in this little chicken body, then I'm grateful she's opted for making those days ones I can share with her in a very special way. Death isn't the worst thing in the world, and if we move past our fear of it and allow it, it can be a really beautiful time of togetherness with someone.

So, that's where I'm at. But, I would like to learn more about your approach to tube feeding.

Thanks again for listening.

Karin

 

[chickenzoo]

When I tube feed I use Exact parrot feeding formula...lots of good stuff in it. I hold chicken wrapped firm in towl. ..in my lap. I have on the right side of me on a paper towel the full syringe attached to the tube. With my left hand. I reach around the chicken and stick my finger in its mouth like a.wedge...all the while using my side to keep her still. I like having a small flashlight I hold in my mouth so I can see down the throat. While the chicken is biting down on my finger...I take the tube With my right hand.and aim it inside the cheek of the right side then down the throat. You are avoiding the hole right behind the tongue...that is the airway. If done right you will see the tube glide in as the feathers move on the outside. You can now take your finger and feel the crop for the end of the tube. Depress the syringe giving half the food. Stretch neck upward and if the crop still looks small give a little more.....best to underfunded then have it come up and her aspirate on it.
Remove tube in on quick motion.
When was she last wormed? Certain parasites can leave the intestines and cause trouble in other parts of the body...they also take all the nutrients.

 

[casportpony]

These links have very good info and pictures:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/722041/how-to-t-feed-a-sick-chicken-and-give-subcutaneous-fluid
http://forum.backyardpoultry.com/viewtopic.php?t=7933

 

[Suzie]

Karinaspiraling....

I am so hoping that your chicken Claribel will make it through to live a long and normal life with you and your Rooster - fingers crossed for you and her!

Your sentiments about life reflect my own thoughts and you put this so eloquently.... life has to have a quality... it is not about quantity and i would be horrified at the thought of being force fed against my will - I too have experienced similar events that are so very personal to me.... I hope that when my time comes to leave this world that there is somebody as loving and caring as you to help me!

I do realise that with our feathered friends that they do not necessarily know what is best in their interests and so I attempt to give them fluids even when they show no interest in taking them of their own accord - I have one tonight that i feel will not make it alive until the morning - she has had a little water but has no interest in food... she is warm and as comfortable as I can make her... I would so love to hear that Claribel makes it through to good health!

Suzie