Crop Surgery Success - Before and After Pics - one question remains...

[Feathers n Fur]

DH and I performed crop surgery yesterday. Sweetie was a wonderful patient and only wiggled 4 times during the entire procedure. After seeing what came out of her I feel horrible for not taking care of this sooner but I kept trying to massager her crop and get the mass to pass. - No way this was ever going to pass.

Poor Sweetie with an impacted crop.

Sweetie after surgery and in her recovery room.

The mess that came out of her crop (minus the blood soaked guaze from the procedure)

Some of her friends came to visit.



I'm praying for no infection and quick healing. She gobbled yogurt and oatmeal this morning like she has never eaten before. She had only water after surgery until this morning. She pooped many times through the night so I'm feeling confident.

How long should I keep her in the crate? I feel bad she can't move around more.

 

[sourland]

Well done on the surgery. I would guess that you would want to control the volume of feed intake and insure that she eats minimal roughage for 7 to 10 days so as to allow for complete healing. I would suggest feeding small quantities of feed frequently so as to not fill the crop. Good luck with her recovery.

 

[Feathers n Fur]

I guess that's best. She just looks so pathetic in that little crate. I might try to pen off a small part of the run and make sure there is no hay in there for her to "nibble on" so she can move more than a few steps. I was hoping for a shorter stay in isolation but I guess it's best to monitor her food intake. I'm heading out to offer her some applesauce now and if all goes well I will mix some crumbles in with her yogurt at her next feeding.

 

[realsis]

that's so wonderful that she's doing well! congrats on saving her life! did you close her with super glue? I've seen videos of the surgery. its amazing what comes out! I hope If I were in that situation I could do it!! were you nervous? that's so great she's doing so well! I wish you the very best of luck! keep us posted on her recovery. great job!

 

[Feathers n Fur]

realsis - I never thought I could do "surgery" on one of my pets but when faced with "If I don't do it she will die of starvation" instinct kicks in and you do what you need to do to help her. I had both thread and super glue but couldn't get her dry enough for super glue (she bled more than I thought she would) so we sewed her up. Using a curved needle helped a lot. DH did the cutting and sewing, I was in charge of holding her, passing the gauze, handing off razor blades, tweezer, needle and thread, gently pushing the crop to get all contents out, squirting with water to clean it out and keeping the feathers out of the way. I would have cut into her myself but Hubby wanted to do it.

I was just out to check on her and aside from not loving being in a small crate she is doing well. She gobbles everything I give her - I'm doing small feedings of yogurt or applesauce or oatmeal and she devours it. Tomorrow I plan to give her some crumbles mixed in with her feedings and then on day 4 I plan to introduce more crumbles and a little bit of the small chick grit to get her going again.

I am truly hoping it is a real success and no infections set in or worse, internal leaking but if that's the case I know I did all I could for her and relieved the pressure/pain from removing the blockage.

Fingers crossed