EEEK! Chicken attacked by cat-- Vet bill scary too!

[arwmommy]

RosyPosy:
Dwarf hamster tried to escape from her nursing babies that were making her crazy (I totally understand that one

) and tried to get out of the cage. She caught her leg on something and pulled it OFF--- it was just hanging by some skin. --ugh---

Two vets wanted $250 to fix it and thought I was crazy for even considering it, another I spoke with was so great--- thought it was awesome I was even thinking about it (she had babies to nurse!) and ended up doing the surgery and charging me much less in the end, though I don't remember exactly how much now! She ripped the stitches out-- he REDID the surgery, and put an E-collar on her to keep her from ripping them out again!

Mama with the ecollar:

Babies:

WindyOaks:
From what I have read (and the real experts can chime in here) there is always a "dominant" hen, and hierarchy in the flock. However, in rare cases, that goes to the extreme, and a hen starts doing a "fake" crow, stops laying eggs, and even grows a bigger comb, and other very "roo-ish" things. We may in fact have that, as I swear I saw her "crow" and even today try to get on top of another hen. *yikes*. We will see how far this goes, since we have vet confirmation that she is, in fact, female.

 

[Fancy Feather Poultry]

Don't feel bad about paying for having surgery on you dwarf hamster.I just found out today that my friend spent 190$, to get her dwarf hamster tumors removed.

 

[AccidentalFarm]

Alright, i'll admit it...i'm in the 'Pays Huge Vet Bills For Rodents Club', too. I spent several hundred on my...(dare I say it..)....pet rat. Antibiotics aren't terribly cheap, and to find a vet that even treats rats...sheesh.

Glad your girl (is a girl) and is doing better!

 

[SpottedCrow]

Glad Eunice is doing alright.
I'm also an open heart surgery survivor. 2 Corrections of Tetralogy of Fallot...
I would take any animal to the vet...cost be darn.
At least it wasn't an evil dwarf hamster, it was a nice Russian one...LOL

 

[dakinsmimi]

Those babies are entirely TOO CUTE!!!!

Glad your girl is going to be alright!

 

[Lunachick]

Eunice - 1

Cat - 0

 

[arwmommy]

Hey SpottedCrow,
My son Alec has Tetralogy as well! He was a pink Tet when he was born, though, and wasn't diagnosed until 2 days old. Do you mind me asking how old you are? Where did you have your surgeries?

Here is his story:
http://tchin.org/portraits/alec-1.htm

It is amazing how many people are diagnosed with CHD (congenital heart defects, for those not in this "world"), it is the most COMMON birth defect and gets almost NO ATTENTION and NO FUNDING. I was screened for Down's Syndrome at least 3 times during my pregnancy (as a 25 year old) when I had a much greater risk of having a baby with a heart defect

OK, there's my rant.....

 

[jessied1227]

My son is 15 months old and was born with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. I am well aquainted with Tet babies

We are a member of the 1 year of life and 2 open heart surgeries, feeding tubes, oxygen, nurses at home "club". We have well over 1 million in the first year, as well, and are looking at one more open heart to patch his defect. We actually have a cath coming up on Aug. 7th

May sound wierd, but it's good to see other CHD mom's who know what it's like and understand the frustration of CHDs.

Jess

 

[Whirlwind]

Glad she is doing better. I sure do watch my cats. They really don't pay attention to them but I still don't trust them. I wonder if your vet really knows how to sex a chicken. From what you said I think they might be wrong on the girl part. Hope not if you were wanting all girls.

 

[Anne]

I once paid a vet that exact same amount ($84) -- for looking at my chicken's foot and telling me she had gout.

It seems ridiculous at first, but as a small businessperson myself, I can kind of understand. The vet needs to have some sort of minimum office visit charge to make it worth his/her time at all.

I work at my husband's plumbing business, and customers have to pay $180 ($90/hr with 2 hr minimum charge) just to have a journeyman plumber show up. Maybe it sounds outrageous, but I can honestly say that anything less than that and it wouldn't be worth our time at all because we'd be making absolutely zero profit, once the wages, taxes, liability insurance, fuel, office overhead (for invoicing/billing/paperwork), and travel time are paid.

Anyhow, I'm glad your chicken is doing well! I still think it's a boy. I know there are a few breeds/color varieties where the females have glossy irridescent feathers (such as on your bird's wing), but not many... I guess "she" just looks like a boy to me... sorry...