Harvey the Great is Dying. . .

[Kiki]

Unfortunately I had a rooster with like symptoms, roost when could otherwise slept on the ground. When he stared drooling I took him to the vet and he couldn't figure out what was wrong, gave him antibiotics but he eventually passed away, broke my heart. A couple of years later I had a sick rooster that I knew wasn't going to make it so I wanted him put out of his misery and vets wanted over $100 to put him to sleep. I finally called the local Human Society and they did it for $35 and I brought him home and buried him.

Did you know about state labs and necropsies then?

 

[chickenflicker]

Did you know about state labs and necropsies then?

Not really, I thought I was lucky to find a vet that would see a rooster.

 

[Kiki]

Not really, I thought I was lucky to find a vet that would see a rooster.

I can't tell if you are in the US or not.
If you are you can find your state lab here:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/necropsy-and-disease-testing-lab-info.1236884/

Some state labs are free, some decently priced and some are outrageous. Some state labs with accept birds from other states too.

 

[nightowl223]

It's okay. We have a feedstore that will take any rooster at any age, nice or mean. I sold three roosters last year to them. Two were really nice and I hated to part with them, one was really mean and I was glad to see him gone! I just couldn't have 4 roosters with the size of flock I have. Waiting now for a call from a Vet that might see Harvey.

They must have someone there at the feed store that harvests them, then. It's not a situation where they're resold, like I was thinking you meant. Pardon my ignorance.

I sure hope that last vet will see Harvey. Otherwise, I'd say start searching the next town, and the next. If nothing else, you could at LEAST potentially find out whether he has some form of gigantism (sp?) that's causing the problems. I know what it does in humans - it definitely shortens their lives.

Edited to add:
I understand the monetary difficulty. When we had to put our LGD down due to metastatic cancer, it ended up costing us over $250 just for the medicine to put him down, and the cremation, all after the exam and xrays and sucnh - and that was with US taking his poor, dead body down to the town where they did the cremation, ourselves.

 

[Peppercorngal]

So sorry. This stinks so much. Really good roosters are hard to find.

Good roosters are rare true. Thanks for your support!

 

[Peppercorngal]

You have given Harvey a good life. I learned with our 2 older dogs a couple years ago that sometimes the last act of kindness is to not allow them to suffer anymore. It's so very hard, I know, but I do believe that.
You have a great support system and lots of hugs sent your way

Yes, the ending of suffering can be the nicest thing to do. I'm researching that option this afternoon. Even Harvey's legs are starting to look "funny". Poor guy, he must be miserable. Thank you for your support.

 

[Peppercorngal]

They must have someone there at the feed store that harvests them, then. It's not a situation where they're resold, like I was thinking you meant. Pardon my ignorance.

I sure hope that last vet will see Harvey. Otherwise, I'd say start searching the next town, and the next. If nothing else, you could at LEAST potentially find out whether he has some form of gigantism (sp?) that's causing the problems. I know what it does in humans - it definitely shortens their lives.

Edited to add:
I understand the monetary difficulty. When we had to put our LGD down due to metastatic cancer, it ended up costing us over $250 just for the medicine to put him down, and the cremation, all after the exam and xrays and sucnh - and that was with US taking his poor, dead body down to the town where they did the cremation, ourselves.

I did mean that the feed store re-sells the roosters. They buy and sell chickens of all sorts all the time, all year long. I almost bought a very old, very beautiful rooster from them one time. He was gorgeous, but I managed to control myself!
I couldn't find a vet to see Harvey and it's been 9 days since he ate anything himself. Now he is not drinking either. I'm looking into how to humanely end his life and put him out of his misery. He girls are paying less and less attention to him every day. He just stands around not moving all day so they move on. My husband and I are retired and living on social security so we can't really put out money on him. We did that trying to save a little dog we had in December and ended up emptying our savings . . almost. His treatment cost us $2,000 and ended up we couldn't save him. It will be some time before our bank account gets over that hit. I do think it is a genetic giant gene that has caused his problem. We will be saying Goodbye to Harvey soon.

 

[Peppercorngal]

Update: Harvey does not eat, does not drink. He goes out of the run, stands asleep all day. He then goes back into the run to sleep some more on the roost. I'm shocked he still has the energy to do that. I'll dispatch him as soon as I am sure of a painless humane way to do so. Even his legs are looking strange. He's had the crooked toes since he was 4 months old and couldn't walk, but it's the white and black colors that bother me. His hens are not paying attention to him much anymore as he doesn't respond to them at all now. I had to go to an appointment this morning, but will be researching now. I'm mentally saying "bye bye" to Harvey. It is so very hard.

 

[Ribh]

Our sympathy & support are with you. It is always hard to say goodbye, even when it is for the best.

 

[Kiki]

Update: Harvey does not eat, does not drink. He goes out of the run, stands asleep all day. He then goes back into the run to sleep some more on the roost. I'm shocked he still has the energy to do that. I'll dispatch him as soon as I am sure of a painless humane way to do so. Even his legs are looking strange. He's had the crooked toes since he was 4 months old and couldn't walk, but it's the white and black colors that bother me. His hens are not paying attention to him much anymore as he doesn't respond to them at all now. I had to go to an appointment this morning, but will be researching now. I'm mentally saying "bye bye" to Harvey. It is so very hard.
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