Gasping for breath, can't see anything else wrong ** RIP Florin :( **

[indi]

I hope she gets better! My fingers are crossed for bothof you (and you other chickies!!)

 

[nurse_turtle]

I wonder if the meds she gave you were antibiotics or antivirals. Often if a viral infection is treated with antibiotics or vice versa, it doesn't always work. Is she getting something for the fever? As in humans, fever will quickly dehydrate your chicklet. Maybe rubbing cool cloths under her wings would help with the fever. Or even rubbing a bit of rubbing alcohol under there as alcohol evaporates quickly and cools. Even if she isn't able to recover, you have gone above and beyond and know you have done everything possible to help her. Seems you'll have a house chicken for a while. Long story short, I had to bring one in about 3 weeks ago due to failure to thrive because her hatch mates would not allow her to eat and she was hatched with a sealed eye on her left. Her flock will NOT accept her back, and so, she's a permanent house chicken. After fattening her up a bit, I realized she's a rooster but I can't seem to stop calling her Annie-Belle. He seems fine with it though.

 

[Nonny]

She gave us Baytril, which is apparently an anti-microbial for treating "Respiratory colibacillosis, Mycoplasmosis, Chronic Respiratory Disease, Infectious Coryza, Fowl Cholera" and probably a few more.

Our bathroom is the coolest room in the house and immediate access to fresh cool water.. I've got her in the bathtub with towels at one end, and drinking water and food at the other. At least being the in the bathroom she'll get checked on a LOT each time someone in the family needs to use the WC. (And in this heat that a LOT cause we guzzle water all day long

)

I'm hoping we won't need to keep her confined for too long. I figure she'll be OK to take outside again once she's off the meds, but is a week long enough to show up illness in the other birds if they have the same thing? I don't want to put her back in with them too soon and risk her getting sick again from the others.

We won't be able to eat her eggs for a month according to the vet, so either we have to keep her segregated for that long, or discard everyone's eggs, since we won't know which are hers.

Unfortunately we can't have a permanent house chicken if it comes to that - our cat is a hunter, and two active toddlers would make her life a living hell.

I guess if it comes to that we can put her in with the new chicks once they're a bit bigger and hope their numbers will mean she won't pick on them.

 

[nurse_turtle]

You can probably prepare her eggs and feed them to the flock.

 

[Nonny]

Quote:
That's the plan - although the vet said it was a bad idea as it would be "medicating" the flock without having them diagnosed first.

The small amount that would get into the eggs, I'm willing to do it anyway. As long as they are cooked it shouldn't matter if the eggs carry the illness would it?

 

[Nonny]

What the...???

She's still gasping - but I just now checked on her and while I was watching she pooped out a 12cm long live worm! Did the vet miss something?? Looks like I'll have to go back first thing in the mornign and get more worming treatment for her (I have some here, but it's the gentle one, and I think she needs something a bit stronger.

I hope she makes it through the night so I have time to treat her - there ar eno after hours vets close by.

 

[Nonny]

Oh this is so hard

I feel like I'm listening to her die and I can't do anything. Because she's in our bathroom where it's cool and dark but also echoey, her gasps are echoeing right through the house. Every time she skips a breath I go on alert listening for the next one. My nerves are shot.

 

[Nonny]

Florin just passed away...

I'd like to say it was peaceful, but she was very distressed and her final moments were heartbreaking.

First thing tomorrow I will be cleaning out the entire coop and run from top to bottom, giving the remaining two girls a worm treatment and check each very carefully for signs of illness, and I have Florin's unused antibiotics at the ready for the first one to show symptoms at all so we can catch it earlier this time with hopefully better results.

I couldn't bear to see her after she passed, so my darling partner has taken her away. I've been there when my dear old cat was put to sleep, and I've held a pet mouse in my hand as it breathed it's last breath. This was no easier.

 

[nurse_turtle]

Oh Nonny, I'm so sorry. I know that non-chicken people think we are absolutely insane for treating our birds the way we do and worrying and fretting over them so. I'm on holiday in a different state and called Mom last night so I could talk to Annie-Belle, my house chicken, on the phone. I heard her do that little chirping thing she does when we "talk" and I felt so much better afterwards. If there is a research type facility nearby, some will do sick bird necropsy for free. Nonetheless, I send hugs to you.

 

[Hawkeye95]

I'm so very sorry for you!

My beloved turkey spent 5 days at the vet hospital being tube fed after she had heat stroke this summer. Are you sure Florin had an infection? It just sounds like worms, to me. Either way, I feel terrible about your lovely bird.