Emergency hen 7yrs old, abdomen tight as a drum, listless

[Lyndat]

Update on my Butter Bud. Got home last night and gave her Coconut oil (I keep mine in the fridge so it was hard, I broke off small chunks and she ate it like candy!) After eating it I massaged her crop though it was soft and felt like a bean bag....I could move stuff inside around and it felt like little beans in it. The weather here is finally above 1 degree (was 45 yesterday....... like springtime!) so I took her and the dogs outside for an hour. She was like a kid in a candy store....pecking and eating and scratching......I swear I saw her smiling a couple of times!!! She was so happy and excited. She was eating like crazy and scratching away. Her face was covered in mud. Looked like a kid eating a melty chocolate bar. After an hour I put her back into her outside fenced corral/coop where she has lived the last 6 years and I went inside to do chores. After 1/2 hour came out (she was roosted inside the egg box probably because she was lonely. That's where she was sleeping after her last buddy died.) and brought her into the house. She immediately headed for the cat tree to roost for the night. This morning I checked and she had pooped 3x during the night but very small. I put her in her crate (she has fulltime grain/water in there) and fed her chopped up organic spring mix which she pecked at a bit. She was refusing anything to do with more oil chunks. She took another poo which was, volume wise, about a full 1 tablespoon+ (took photo but left the camera at home dang it). Way more poo than she has done in the last 2-3 days but runny and not her normal poo. I melted about 1/4 tspn of the coconut oil and mixed it with her fav snacks dried mealworms. The worms were coated with oil and she ate them all. THEN, I put her in the shower and washed her hind end well since it was getting somewhat pasted up....she liked it. I cut off all the butt feathers and blew her dry. She has decided she likes this and wants it every week!!!! Yea, don't we all? Her abdomen is still very tight as a drum like she is full of gas. I try not to pick her up with any weight on her tummy. She seems well enough.....eating, walking OK.......being in the house may be causing a lot of this IDK. Food is a bit different.....no where to really scratch....the fact that she was acting very normal outside makes me think that maybe she is just gased up.........going to continue these treatments and see where it goes. BTW in the picture to the left that is her sitting closet to the camera. Will try to get some pics of her boated belly to post.

 

[Lyndat]

If the grit and oil don't help, and I'm guessing they wont, it may be time to euthanize. It sounds to me like she has ascites. The fluid in the abdomen can restrict the lungs, and make the breathing more labored.

 

[debigag]

Update on my chicken....she is doing fine but her abdomen is still very tight and bloated like she is full of gas. It is starting now to effect her in that her legs are being spread wider to accommodate her widening tummy (her tummy does not seem full of fluid. I have had "water be;;y" birds before and she feels nothing like that). She lays down a LOT now as it seems that it is more difficult for her to walk. She seems to eat less and less and her poo is smaller each week. I have 18 gau. needles in my med kit. Does anyone have a link/video I can watch an "where" to insert the needle to try to remove whatever is in there? I need to do something because I think this will eventually kill her. I just wormed her 2 days ago....I see nothing in her poo.

 

[debigag]

Update on my Butter Bud. I did attempt to aspirate fluid from her tummy but there is nothing in there. I got a small (1/2 tsp) of fluid on first attempt and it was slightly yellow with what looked like egg white in it. Second attempt I was unable to even pull the plunger back on the syringe. So no fluid. She is eating less and less all the time. I doubt she ate 1 tablespoon of food yesterday. She has almost no poo. However, she is alert and talkative and mobile. She is certainly able to get up onto the cat tree to roost...but at this rate she will not last long. She won't eat yogurt, nor scrambled eggs. I was able to get her to eat a bit of ham lunchmeat and a bite or 2 of raw hotdog (Heck I will give her anything she wants so long as I am getting some food into her) Last night she ate 2 tiny bites of meatloaf. I think on Friday I'll take her to the vet and see if maybe she should just be put down. She will slowly starve to death at this rate.

 

[coach723]

I just read through all of this thread, for hens of this age reproductive problems are not uncommon and I would suspect that there is a cancer or tumors. If she was not still laying I would suspect internal laying, but sounds like that is probably not it, though the fluid matter you removed kind of looks that way. Short of vet care I think you have done everything you can do. If you can take her to the vet an x-ray may show something, at this point I think a vet is the best option. Best of luck.

 

[debigag]

I just read through all of this thread, for hens of this age reproductive problems are not uncommon and I would suspect that there is a cancer or tumors. If she was not still laying I would suspect internal laying, but sounds like that is probably not it, though the fluid matter you removed kind of looks that way. Short of vet care I think you have done everything you can do. If you can take her to the vet an x-ray may show something, at this point I think a vet is the best option. Best of luck.

I have a vet appointment tomorrow evening.......

 

[debigag]

An update on my chicken. Took her to the vet last night. She DOES has ascites. I was shocked b/c when I tapped her I was unable to get fluid out. They drained what looked to be maybe 1/3 of the fluid and they gave her some sub-que fluids to counter act. She has some lice as well so they gave her an oral med for that. When I got home I put her on her roost as it was about 6pm. I pet sit on the side and had to go do a job so 1.5 hours later came home and the rag under her was soaked through. She had leaked out probably another 1/2 cup at least. Called the vet and she said this was a good thing...slow ooze was safer for her and the more that came out the better. This morning the rags had maybe another 1/3 cups worth and as she moved around she was still dripping. She looks very good...I swear she feels 2 pounds lighter (she weighed 6.6 at the vet bit she is very thin right now from not eating well so a lot of that weight is water). She was interested in food. She kept coming back to eat and even ate half a hot dog (her fav food) She would have eaten more hotdog but that's all I had. I was very happy that she was very interested in eating. She has not eaten anything in 2-3 days!!! So draining her did wonders. I thought for sure it was a tumor. She of course will eventually pass from this, but if draining can give her one more decent summer then I am happy for it. She is a good bird and is pretty sociable with people. She was HIT at the vet's. People were so shocked to see a chicken and everyone wanted to take pics or pet her. When I was prepping to go to the vet I felt for sure that I would have to put her down last night, so since the ground finally as of today, had no snow on it I let her out for 20-30 minutes. She ran to the coop thinking that there were other chickens there. She got under the coop (it sits about 3 feet off the ground) and she got into the mud...OMG she had mud all over her face and feet...she looked like a kid eating melted chocolate!!!!! SO funny. I put her in the front seat of the truck (on towels)...and she rode with that mud on her face until I finally cleaned it off. LOL. On the way home I knew she has feeling very worn out.....I sat her on the passenger seat and she walked over and climbed on my lap while I was driving. She laid stretched her head out and laid it into the notch of my elbow and just scrounged down and settled in and fell asleep there during the 30 minute drive home. My poor little girl. I was so worried about her overnight. I kept getting up and coming out to see if she was still sitting on her roost properly. But she looks good this morning and she was mobile and walking with her tail in the air.......

 

[debigag]

An update on my chicken. Took her to the vet last night. She DOES has ascites. I was shocked b/c when I tapped her I was unable to get fluid out. They drained what looked to be maybe 1/3 of the fluid and they gave..

I note here.....the vet took her to the back room and sent me out to the waiting room and they just brought her back out to me later. I have NO idea how much they removed (which peeved me. I thought the vet should have talked tome before they I left). I assume they removed about a 1/3 based on how she felt . Her belly was still very full but not as tight as I had been. Now since she continues to leak her belly is down by 75% I'd say....

 

[coach723]

Glad you were able to have her seen, did they say what they think the underlying problem is causing the ascites? Ascites are a symptom of something going on internally (like internal laying or salpingitis for examples), so will likely recur since the underlying condition is still there. Draining will make them more comfortable for a time, and it's correct that slow draining is important, draining too much fluid to rapidly can put them into shock and be fatal.

 

[Morrigan]

I'm so glad it was something the vet could treat. Your Butter Bud is beautiful, and I hope she continues to improve.