UPDATE on Dottie--just an FYI
Dottie had a relapse a a couple days after my last post. I separated her from the flock again and this time her "treatment" lasted much longer before I saw results. I thought I'd share my experience to hopefully help others who may be "newcomers" and to show there is so much support here at BC.
I treated Dottie for 8 days before I saw results.I would check her 3 times a day and each time, her cloaca was out again. Here is the course of her treatment:
Day 1: Soaked in warm water and clean the area in the morning followed by application of honey and gently pushing the cloaca back in. Afternoon and evening: Cleaned the area with water, applied honey and pushed in the cloaca
Day 2-3: same as Day 1
Day 4-6: Soaked in warm water and cleaned the area in the morning followed by application of a mixture of honey, Preparation H and vaseline; then, pushed in her cloaca (this time I inserted my finger to try to push the cloaca in further) and sprayed the outer area with Vetericyn. Afternoon and evening: Cleaned the area with water, applied honey/Preparation H mixed with vaseline and pushed in the cloaca and sprayed outer area with Vetericyn.
Day 7-8: Same as Days 4-6, but these days I added approx. 2 oz. of Hydrogen Peroxide and a squirt of Dawn to the (soaking) water.
In the evening of Day 8, I noticed that Dottie's behind was soaked with what I thought was mud, but in examining her and the cage I had her in, I couldn't see where she could have gotten that much mud..so I am thinking that she was soaking with poop? The days before she (her feathers and bottom) would be dirty but the "poop" on her feathers was white, and this was a different colored matter. Could it be that Dottie had a severe case of constipation or maybe she ate something that severely upset her stomach?? I never saw any signs of constipation. She ate and acted normally...aside from the prolapsed cloaca, Dottie seemed quite healthy. Anyway, I cleaned her up as much as I could, applied Preparation H and vaseline, then sprayed the area with Vetericyn.
On the morning of Day 9, Dottie's cloaca was still in!! I was so excited! But I still soaked her in the water with Hydrogen Peroxide and Dawn; and, I sprayed the area with Vetericyn and applied the mixture of honey, Preparation H and vaseline (only to the outer area). Dottie kept her cloaca in for the rest of the day and today she still has her cloaca in.
I am wondering if adding the Hydrogen Peroxide and Dawn to the soaking water gave Dottie that extra help to keep her cloaca in. Prior to adding those to the water, I had seen no change whatsoever...I had already prepared myself to be "treating" her for the rest of her life, but thank God I won't have to!!
I hope this helps anyone who doesn't have much experience with chickens (like me LOL). I just wanted to share to show that persistence does pay off. I also wanted to say that I truly appreciate this site and the support of those who responded. It really helped to know that I was not alone.
Any thoughts/comments on how I treated Dottie and the results I got will be appreciated
