Just had to put my pet chicken down, I'm so sad:(

[jadeflower999]

Hi Everyone,

Today I noticed my wyandotte Dottie had a huge prolapse. I have never had this happen before and took her to the vet right away. She seemed like she was in a lot of pain and was all fluffed up with her eyes closed. She kept pushing and pushing and making noises when she did. I didn't know about the honey until now but it's to late. The vet wanted to do x-rays and suture her back up and send her home. I just didn't want her to suffer anymore and felt like the risk for infection was so high, I just didn't want her to have an even worse death from that. Now I feel like maybe I should have done more, she was my pet from 1 day old and now she is/was 3. I guess it's to late to be regretful. I just feel so terrible and can't stop crying. Was I barbaric to have her put down without trying the suturing?

Thanks for listening everyone

 

[roxyblue]

I am so sorry for your loss! it is so hard to put down one of the girls .(They are really family) But sometimes it is the best thing to do........Best wishes

 

[Yay Chicks!]

Trust your gut. You did what you felt was right. Sorry for your loss

 

[abbey808]

I am so sorry for your loss! You didn't do anything wrong. You did what you thought was best to end her suffering. It's such a hard decision to make, but it's done out of love. I dread the day that one of my chickens is so sick that I have to make that kind of decision. I hope I have enough strength to do what I have to do.

Sending prayers and hugs...

 

[Chickenaddict]

Awww hun I am sorry for your loss but I think you did the right thing with her. Having had to deal with prolapses myself before their chances of pulling thru are better if caught early. I was not so fortunate in both cases I had here and the tissue had gone necrotic resulting in the hens having to be culled. Prep H is a great thing to have on hand should it ever happen again and you catch it early enough. Don't be hard on yourself, things like this happen with chickens, sometimes ya win and sometimes ya loose some, it does get easier over time.

 

[CMV]

Jadeflower, you could have possibly saved her this time at much expense both to your pocketbook and to her, but what about next time...and the next time. Once a bird prolapses the chances of it happening again are significant. She could possibly have been saved, but even that is questionable. You have nothing to feel guilty about. You did what you thought best and that's all you can do. There is no point in beating yourself up or second guessing decisions that are already made.

I am sorry for your loss.

Good luck.

 

[kidcody]

So sorry for your loss

 

[3goodeggs]

I am so sorry.
I have loved a chicken like a best friend, so I know how it hurts.
You did the right thing for her.

 

[chicken grandma]

Today I had our vet euthanize my best chicken ever. She was a sweet D'uccle bantam that I raised from day one.
She talked to me all the time and followed me everywhere. She loved to be held and would stand on our feet and gaze up at us begging to be picked up.

She had a serious respiratory infection. I don't know how she got it. She was not suffering yet but it was contagious and so I felt it best to put her and her two other chicken friends down.

One of the hardest decisions I have ever made and like you I wonder if I should have kept trying with antibiotic treatments. The vet said that full recovery was unlikely and they would always be carriers. I did not want to cause suffering to other wild birds and other farms. So tonight I am missing my little hen and her friends.

I am sorry about your hen. All life is precious and we are trying to do our best with what God gives us. But like you, I wanted to limit the suffering of my hens and me and the community. So I think our hearts were in the right place.

p.s. my hen was almost 3 years old also!

 

[AinaWGSD]

I'm so sorry about Dottie. Don't second guess yourself. It's hard not to, I know, even people who know with absolutely no question that euthanasia was the best choice for their pet usually feel some guilt or question about what more they could have done. We had to put our old dog down last week, we knew she had a mass in her spleen that would most likely rupture eventually and even as I was calling the vet to come check her out and make sure I was just being paranoid I still knew in the back of my mind that her restlessness and distress that evening were because she had ruptured. Even knowing that she was slowly bleeding to death and the only thing I could do was to help take her pain away I still felt a brief wave of guilt as the vet helped her pass peacefully in my arms. But we all make the best decision possible with the information we have at the time, and the most important thing is that you made your decision with Dottie's best interest at heart. Honey can be used to treat prolapses at home, but even with the honey treatment the chances are greater that they will succumb to infection than heal and recover. And like CMV said, once a bird prolapses they are very very likely to do it again and that tissue can only sustain so much damage before there is nothing more you can do. Suturing may have saved her, or she might have died anyway (and after suffering much longer), and even if it did work it most likely would not fix the reason behind why she prolapsed. Birds that prolapsed are also at a much higher risk for other reproductive problems like internal laying and ovarian cancers too.