Help!!!!! Buff Orpington fractured leg

[Ginmary]

At hospital. No feeling in lower leg/ foot. Even with surgery may not regain use. Hospital says $3000. To amputate I don’t know what to fo

 

[Ginmary]

Buffy is doing pretty well considering. She's basically just laying in the box. Tonight we will try to get her into a bigger one. She hasn't been pooping a lot, nothing overnight at least until we left at 9am. I'm thinking I will find a big broody poop when we get home. Last night she expelled a poop that was mostly clear liquid. I guess the antibiotic is probably effecting it.

Here's her in her box:

Here's her meds and the 2 screws:

I put a quarter down for comparison. I have to give her an injection 2x per day of calcium which acts as chelation to remove the zinc from her body.
Then I have to give her 1/2 tablet of the anti-inflammatory 2x per day. Finally the amoxicillin tablet 2x per day. Look at the size of that freakin tablet. Last night I shoved the whole thing down her throat. This morning I mashed it in some banana. It was hard to get her to get it all. The 1/2 tab I was able to squeeze into a piece of bread.
I mentioned to her that if she could get those screws down she could at least try to eat the tabs. She didn't get the logic.....

 

[Ginmary]

just got home. The scoping was a success. They took out 2 large screws. She was awake and eating afterwards. She’s staying there overnight.
more info tomorrow.

 

[Ginmary]

So..... I took Buffy to a different hospital where they took xrays. You would not believe what they show!
the break is in the tibia just above the joint that I thought was where the problem is. See the leg below on the left towards the bottom. You can see the break just above the joint. Easy fix if that was all.

now, look further up the leg...

here’s a close up....

yeah....there’s 2 screws that she swallowed that seem to have been there a while.
Here’s another view of the break:

According to the vet, her blood was showing her being anemic which she attributes to metal toxicity from the screws. This would make her bones fragile accounting for the break.

it also may explain why she went from the alpha hen to being picked on by a Serama Roo half her size. She was not feeling well.

shes in the hospital and tomorrow they are going to try to remove the screws by a scope and then set the break. If the scope doesn’t work they will do it surgically. The X-ray also shows an egg forming.

 

[Ginmary]

Thank you all. I just heard from the hospital. She is resting well, laid an egg, and is eating and drinking. They will scope later this afternoon. They said they have had good success with anesthetizing chickens so they are not worried about that.

I will update tonight after the deed is done....

 

[Ginmary]

Just leaving hospital with her now. She’s ok will update later when we get home eat and get settled

 

[casportpony]

I am a little shocked that a vet would suggest a $3000 amputation without getting an x-ray first, that just doesn't seem right to me.

Which bone do you think is broken?

Ok, I'll be the odd one out here... it looks like it could be broken above the joint, in the lower tibia, which may be why it appears to be dangling like that. **ducks incoming rotten tomatoes**

You might be right, it could be broken there, and if I remember correctly, that is a common fracture spot, which, in many cases, can be splinted.



@Ginmary, don't give up yet. Talk to your vet and try to get a better understanding of what bone they think is broken and why they didn't want to do an xray.

Was this vet an avian vet? If not, may I suggest that you get a second opinion from an avian vet?

 

[Ginmary]

They are going to try to get the screws out with a scope. If they can they won't need to open her up. Then they will set and splint the leg.
I don't think leaving the screws in is a good option. The vet thinks her anemia is because of them. So they will only continue to make her sick if left in.
Also, the screws are pointy and can potentially perforate something important and cause damage or a serious infection. She said she just had to scope a duck who swallowed a piece of glass and it went well.

As I had mentioned before she had always been the alpha and we were wondering why she recently started getting beat up on by the mini roo. She must have been really feeling badly with the anemia. Maybe she'll bounce back and kick the ____ out of him once she feels better.

 

[Ginmary]

We have to bring her back in a week to recheck, possibly re-cast. and then again a week later. They will take another X-ray to make sure everything is setting well. They said the X-ray will be simpler and cheaper.... If you knew how much this has cost me so far you'd be sending the guys with the straight jacket over....

I think I now have the world's most expensive chicken. and we can't even eat her...

I'll have to throw out all her eggs for quite a while until all the meds are out of her system.

 

[Ginmary]

We have one like this:
https://www.harborfreight.com/30-inch-magnetic-sweeper-with-wheels-93245.html

Thanks, that's just where I was going to look. Plus we have a 20% coupon.