Impacted cloaca

[zeppley]

Boy was Kathy ever right to make sure your sick bird is well hydrated!

I had been tube feeding my hen fluids and dilute food during her convalescence from enteritis, but not enough fluids.

She hadn't been pooping much and when I investigated I thought she had a stuck egg. Nope, concretions.

I am soaking her in warm water with creme rinse (to make it slippery), giving her more fluids orally, irrigating the impaction and picking away at it. I think I'll give her some aspirin (5 tablets dissolved in 1 gal H20 - I think that's right) to take the edge off. She is not very happy about her constipation and having to play anhinga (a bird that swims half-way submerged).

Anyone have any other ideas. Do they have lithotripsy for chickens?

Wish us luck.

 

[chicklover 1998]

How is she doing now.

 

[zeppley]

Hi chicklover,

Thank you for asking. She's in chicken heaven - no more sorrow, no more pain.

We spent 4 hours chipping & straining & soaking.

I wasn't able to fix her and she was suffering. I'm kicking myself for not understanding what was going on until it was too late.

I did a cloacal exam on all the rest and they are clear.

I hate it that the birds suffer while I am learning, but at least I'm learning.


Here she is (R) with her sister.

 

[ryanhodapp]

So sorry for your loss. I didn't know that could happen.

 

[chicklover 1998]

That suck that you lost her but she was a pretty chicken, (ameraucana?)

 

[zeppley]

Yes, a Blue Ameraucana, hatched last summer.

 

[zeppley]

Boy was Kathy ever right to make sure your sick bird is well hydrated!

I had been tube feeding my hen fluids and dilute food during her convalescence from enteritis, but not enough fluids.

She hadn't been pooping much and when I investigated I thought she had a stuck egg. Nope, concretions.

I am soaking her in warm water with creme rinse (to make it slippery), giving her more fluids orally, irrigating the impaction and picking away at it. I think I'll give her some aspirin (5 tablets dissolved in 1 gal H20 - I think that's right) to take the edge off. She is not very happy about her constipation and having to play anhinga (a bird that swims half-way submerged).

Anyone have any other ideas. Do they have lithotripsy for chickens?

Wish us luck.

These obstructions are called cloacaliths, fecaliths, uroliths, or coproliths. They can occur as a result of many different conditions - fungal infections causing granulomas, kidney conditions, etc. Caught early you can dissolve and remove them, caught late, surgery is the only option for removal.