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

[debigag]

Glad you were able to have her seen, did they say what they think the underlying problem is causing the ascites?l.

I feel sure the issue is heart or liver. She has been a regular layer and has had ascites for more than a year now. She was laying up until Jan 22nd. (In the house with the 12 hours of light or more!) I know she will eventually pass from this ailment that is causing the fluid build up. But she is almost 7. I am not going to do heroic anything to try to extend her life. I don't want her to be a slave to daily pills or injections. I figured when the fluid builds I will drain it myself if possible. If not then I'll pay the vet the $55 to do it (that was what she charged $40 for the visit and $15 to drain her). She might have an year left in her....if I can get her to enjoy one more summer that will be awesome. Especially now as a singe bird here she'll get loads of attention and have in-house rights!

 

[coach723]

I know it's sad, I've lost a few this way. I also just did my best to keep them comfortable as long as I could. Some were around quite a while. Sounds like she's had a good life and will have a good life for the rest of what she has. Best wishes.

 

[debigag]

...this BIRD....you would never know that she has Ascites and was close to death 6 days ago. She is like a new bird. She lost nearly 2 pounds of fluid from her body (the Dr. drained some but over the next 2 days she continued to leak from the insertion hole and she lost a LOT of fluid!) She is eating like a pig again, pooping like a cow....flying...yes flying around the house........we finally are getting nice weather here today so I put her back out in her pen/coop where she can play in the mud and poop outside!!!! She is one HAPPY bird these days! Thanks to everyone for their help and assistance these past 2 months. You all helped me to save my girl. We will def be celebrating her 7th birthday bigtime in july!

 

[Morrigan]

 

[debigag]

another Q....the vet gave my hen oral Ivermectin because she has LICE pretty badly...how long until it works? Ig I hold her those bastards get on me. She was treated 5 days ago. How long before I can see results?

 

[debigag]

Update.....took the hen back to the vet's to be drained again after just a month. They did a crappy job this time and removed very little fluid. Within a week she was full again. However, I set my mind to it and said a prayer and was able to do it myself. I was shacking like a leaf the entire time but was able to get out about 1 cup of fluid before my needle dislodged and I did not want to stick her a second time. That was good enough for now. She drained a bit more on her own....Now that I know I can do it I will drain her at home as needed.......I doubt she'll see next winter but if she can hang on till the weather breaks (we got a foot more snow yesterday!) she can be outside and enjoy the grass and sun for a few more months before she passes on.

 

[Morrigan]

That's great you were able to drain her yourself. I'm not sure I would have the courage! How is Butter Bud doing now.

 

[debigag]

That's great you were able to drain her yourself. I'm not sure I would have the courage! How is Butter Bud doing now.

She is doing well. The vet has drained her 2x but it is getting too pricey. I have watched a bunch of YouTube videos on how to do it. It is not hard. It is just the idea of sticking a giant 18 gauge needle into the belly of your pet. This was my third attempt (tried 2 other days this last month). But I knew I HAD to learn to do this on my own so I prayed to Jesus to help me and viola....I was able. I was shaking badly (that is probably why the needle came loose after 3-4 syringe fulls) but at least I know I can do it. I wrapped her wings with ACE bandages to keep her from flapping (doing it alone) and she was pretty calm. I made sure that the area I poked I rubbed pretty hard for a full min. to "toughen it" and she would not feel the needle as much. (They do that to my arm when I do platelet donations at Red Cross). IT seems that she fills back up quickly so I am sure she will not be around a whole lot longer. I was hoping she'd be able to get outside with grass on the ground..we still have more than a foot of snow here.....still hoping she can last till May or June.

 

[debigag]

Well, it has been 4 months since my last entry on this topic. Amazingly, my little hen Butter Bud (affectionately known simply as "chicken") is still alive and doing very well. I NEVER thought she would continue to flourish with this water belly issue. Once the weather got nice here I moved her back outside the house and into her own coop again (thank God....a chicken in the house is a pain in the butt). She is doing really well! I do have to drain her about once a month and it is still un-nerving to do it.....but it is keeping her alive. My original hope was that I could keep her alive long enough so that she would be able to feel the warm sun on her back and grass under her toes and be able to peck some bugs before she died. Little did I know that she would be doing this great. I felt for SURE that by the time the cold winds blew again that she would be gone. Nope...….she might actually end up spending another winter in the house (ugh!). But so long as she is doing well I will do what it takes to make her happy an comfortable...… GO BUTTERS!

 

[coach723]

Thank you for the update. Good to hear you've been able to keep her comfortable and that's she's hanging in there. It can be very hard to predict how each individual bird does, so I always give them a chance too. I've got one with salpingitis right now that I was ready to cull a couple of months ago, and she rallied and is doing quite well right now, so you never know. As long as she's comfortable my goals are similar to yours, knowing long term it's iffy is OK, as long as she's not suffering and I assess her daily. So, GO BUTTERS!