I lost one of my favourites today. A splash Silkie X that I'd come to adore and enjoy. She reminded my wife and I of our rescue cat Cha Cha, so we named her Chicken Cha Cha. I'm not really looking for advice, I just wanted to get her story out. She's only one of two that I've lost to illness, so I feel a bit guilty, like I could have done more. The other that I lost to disease was a pure white Silkie named Snowflake who I assume I lost to egg yolk peritonitis (she was about 10 months and had never laid an egg). I rescued Chicken Cha Cha and a black Silkie named Snowflake II in her honour.
Chicken Cha Cha had issues since I rescued her and Snowflake II from terrible conditions. When I got her she had horrible scaley leg mites which took some time to resolve. She also had vent gleet which was a recurring issue. The combination of the two made her STINK! I had solved both of the problems and she had been in great health for the last 4 months or so. Snowflake II had a much less serious scaley leg mite issue and hasn't had any other health issues.
Toward the end of last week she'd slowed down quite a bit. Her vent gleet had come back looking almost as bad as it was when I first got her, but she didn't smell at all this time around. She hadn't laid an egg in about 2 weeks, but she wasn't egg bound from what I could feel, and it's winter here, so half my flock isn't laying either. After giving her an Epsom salt bath to treat her vent gleet, I'd had her inside for a night away from the flock on Friday and gave her a mash, yoghurt, and oyster shell grit mix, and some electrolytes in her water. She was looking fantastic Saturday, chirping, running around and enjoying being back with the flock for the day.
Again on Sunday, she was happy and energetic and got stuck into some more mix. We'd left for the day and didn't get in until about midnight and I checked on her before bed. She was at the bottom of the roost in her usual spot on her own (she and Snowflake II never went to the top of the roost). Snowflake II had moved to another roosting spot as it was a cold night and a lot warmer where she'd moved to. I moved Chicken Cha Cha over to roost in the same spot out of the cold.
This morning before work I found her dead on the ground about 2 meters from where I'd placed her. She felt like she'd died a couple hours earlier, some time before sunrise. I can't help wonder if I'd left her where she was, whether she'd have stayed off the cold ground and survived the night. I also can't help but feel a pang of guilt for not keeping her in the house over the weekend like a lot of people would have. I was planning on spending some time on her health today (I work from home a few days a week), but unfortunately it wasn't to be.
Here she is enjoying her bath on Friday afternoon:
Chicken Cha Cha had issues since I rescued her and Snowflake II from terrible conditions. When I got her she had horrible scaley leg mites which took some time to resolve. She also had vent gleet which was a recurring issue. The combination of the two made her STINK! I had solved both of the problems and she had been in great health for the last 4 months or so. Snowflake II had a much less serious scaley leg mite issue and hasn't had any other health issues.
Toward the end of last week she'd slowed down quite a bit. Her vent gleet had come back looking almost as bad as it was when I first got her, but she didn't smell at all this time around. She hadn't laid an egg in about 2 weeks, but she wasn't egg bound from what I could feel, and it's winter here, so half my flock isn't laying either. After giving her an Epsom salt bath to treat her vent gleet, I'd had her inside for a night away from the flock on Friday and gave her a mash, yoghurt, and oyster shell grit mix, and some electrolytes in her water. She was looking fantastic Saturday, chirping, running around and enjoying being back with the flock for the day.
Again on Sunday, she was happy and energetic and got stuck into some more mix. We'd left for the day and didn't get in until about midnight and I checked on her before bed. She was at the bottom of the roost in her usual spot on her own (she and Snowflake II never went to the top of the roost). Snowflake II had moved to another roosting spot as it was a cold night and a lot warmer where she'd moved to. I moved Chicken Cha Cha over to roost in the same spot out of the cold.
This morning before work I found her dead on the ground about 2 meters from where I'd placed her. She felt like she'd died a couple hours earlier, some time before sunrise. I can't help wonder if I'd left her where she was, whether she'd have stayed off the cold ground and survived the night. I also can't help but feel a pang of guilt for not keeping her in the house over the weekend like a lot of people would have. I was planning on spending some time on her health today (I work from home a few days a week), but unfortunately it wasn't to be.
Here she is enjoying her bath on Friday afternoon:
RIP Chicken Cha Cha. I'll miss your egg song.
