Hypothermia

[PtldChick]

Today I found my 2.5 mo. bantam EE floating in the duck pool.

Her head was above the water and her eyes were open, I thought I detected movement so hoped s/he was still alive. When I picked her up s/he was limp but not stiff. No movement but I could detect a tiny twitch (heartbeat?) in the corner of her eye. I don't know how long she was in there, but she was in shock when I found her. I'm guessing water temp was in the 50s.

I took her in and put her in a warm bath in the sink for a little while to warm her up, then towel and blow-dried her, wrapped her in a dry hand towel to stay warm and she's in a box in the bathroom with a space heater to keep the room warm. I put a small amount of baby parrot food mixed with warm water in with her but have not force fed or watered her as I didn't want to traumatize her more. I plan to move her to a crate in the bathub for overnight but am not sure when I can/should take her out of the towel.

She started moving after being in the bath for a little while and has shown steady improvement. I took her out of the towel after a while to see how she was doing and s/he still shivered - don't know if that is temp or fear or both. What else can/should I do? How long should I leave her wrapped up vs. putting her in a crate? I will probably bring in another of the bantams to keep her company overnight and they can snuggle together to stay warm.

Thanks!

 

[Imp]

If she is still wet, you can blow dry her with a low setting.

Hope she is OK.

Imp

 

[PtldChick]

Thanks, Imp, she is blown-dry, I thought I mentioned that. She is wrapped in the towel to hold body heat in as she warms up, like insulation.

 

[MissJenny]

She would like scratch, scrambled eggs, oatmeal... something to warm up her insides. Some people say to put them in a quiet place... I would be inclined to carry her everywhere I went for the next week... I'm like that. Poly-vi-sol vitamins

If she tolerated the warm bath and the blow-drying (mine would have freaked out) then I'd say she is doing as well as one might hope.

Good luck to both of you ♥

Jenny

 

[remuda1]

I dont think I would dorce feed her either but might take that mash you made and warm it up and offer it to her on your finger to get her started. If you can get her to take that, it would help warm her from the inside out. Her core temp is still prolly kind of low.

 

[PtldChick]

Update - when I went back into the bathroom, s/he had emptied the little cup of food and pooped, so I moved her into a crate and brought in one of the banty cochin pullets to be with her. S/he immediately started eating crumble, so it looks like s/he's going to be OK.

A while later, I checked on them and they were laying together, and the EE was not trying to burrow under the cochin for warmth, so hopefully that means s/he has regained enough body temp.

If she turns out to be a he, I'm going to rename him Lazarus.

 

[centrarchid]

I have dealt with hypothermia numerous times. Warmup sequence was good. Babying with food not needed. But be careful about respiratory infection setting in within next couple days.

 

[wbruder17]

Hello Neighbor. Where in Portland are you? Id say that perhaps a dose of antibiotics could help with any infections... glad its doing better. I'm dealing with cocci right now, but I think I caught it early enough.

 

[PtldChick]

Quote:
wbruder17, I am in NE - your signature line reads like mine would...not the same breeds, but lots of different ones. I've dealt with cocci 3 times this year...ugh.