- Apr 26, 2010
- 143
- 46
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We had 2 chickens. A hen and a rooster. Chicken-butt, our rooster, picked Princess out of the jungle. We had no ide how old she was or what her life was like before she came to us. Last month we had to put her down. 7 months ago she started getting water belly, it set in fast. First my husband noticed she seemed more squishy than usual. The the next day we noticed when she laid on the floor she would rock back and forth, like she couldn't get comfortable. We decided that if she wasn't doing better by that evening we would call our local all animals vet. That evening she was really squishy, almost twice her regular size. When we put them to bed we noticed she was wheezing. I called the vet the next morning while I had my coffee, we secured an emergancy visit.
They did xrays and drained the fluid, 400ml almost half her original mass. There were no tumors on the xrays, Her spurs had grown extraordinarily long over the month or so prior. That with the water belly lead the vet to believe that it may have been either a hormone imbalance or organ failure. Any tests beyond that were prohibativly expensive, because we live in hawaii and all animal tests have to be sent to the mainland.
The vet prescribed her medicine to help her expel the fluid rather than allowing it to build up. The original fluid build up happened very quickly, over the course of 2 or 3 days. After about a week on the medicine she started bloating again. Slowly this time but it was easier to see now that we knew what we were looking for. The vet had already set up a return appointment, we were half way there. So we tried to wait it out, 3 days before her appointment she started to wheeze again. We called and they moved her appointment up to that day.
They drained her again, showed me how to drain her and I took her home. Over the course of the next 6 months we drained her at home, about once a week. She lost a dramatic amount of weight. She was thiner than the day we brought her home. She had monthly check ins, the vet and I were both amazed how long she held out.
Finally a couple of weeks ago it got to the point that we couldn't drain her with out hitting a blood vessel. So we had the vet do her one last time, and we spent a couple of days doing all her favorite things. I didnt make the final appointment until she stopped digesting her food properly. It wasn't like sour crop or impaction, it was more like the muscles just stopped working. It was the weekend so I made her last appointment for Monday and we stopped her medication. No reason to give it to her if she was just going to urp it up. We withheld food and massages her crop to help the food down. We gave apple cider vinegar water, it seemed to help a little.
The procedure went as well as could be expected. My rooster was pissed when we didnt bring her home. He still looks for her, even though it's been a month. Having a cat and a parakeet helps, he has someone other than us to pal around with. But it's not the same. I'm aganoizing over weather or not to get him another hen. If so what breed? Something docile, that wont pick on him or the parakeet...
They did xrays and drained the fluid, 400ml almost half her original mass. There were no tumors on the xrays, Her spurs had grown extraordinarily long over the month or so prior. That with the water belly lead the vet to believe that it may have been either a hormone imbalance or organ failure. Any tests beyond that were prohibativly expensive, because we live in hawaii and all animal tests have to be sent to the mainland.
The vet prescribed her medicine to help her expel the fluid rather than allowing it to build up. The original fluid build up happened very quickly, over the course of 2 or 3 days. After about a week on the medicine she started bloating again. Slowly this time but it was easier to see now that we knew what we were looking for. The vet had already set up a return appointment, we were half way there. So we tried to wait it out, 3 days before her appointment she started to wheeze again. We called and they moved her appointment up to that day.
They drained her again, showed me how to drain her and I took her home. Over the course of the next 6 months we drained her at home, about once a week. She lost a dramatic amount of weight. She was thiner than the day we brought her home. She had monthly check ins, the vet and I were both amazed how long she held out.
Finally a couple of weeks ago it got to the point that we couldn't drain her with out hitting a blood vessel. So we had the vet do her one last time, and we spent a couple of days doing all her favorite things. I didnt make the final appointment until she stopped digesting her food properly. It wasn't like sour crop or impaction, it was more like the muscles just stopped working. It was the weekend so I made her last appointment for Monday and we stopped her medication. No reason to give it to her if she was just going to urp it up. We withheld food and massages her crop to help the food down. We gave apple cider vinegar water, it seemed to help a little.
The procedure went as well as could be expected. My rooster was pissed when we didnt bring her home. He still looks for her, even though it's been a month. Having a cat and a parakeet helps, he has someone other than us to pal around with. But it's not the same. I'm aganoizing over weather or not to get him another hen. If so what breed? Something docile, that wont pick on him or the parakeet...
you and the vet did the best you could 
