Need advice for my sick chick

[casportpony]

I haven't seen her drinking so I am not sure. I have been squirting water in her mouth whenever I get a chance.

I doubt she's getting enough... they need 30ml/kg every 6-8 hours.

-Kathy

 

[Savy]

I think you are right. I'm giving her more water now, but she is barely eating. I don't know how to tube feed, and I don't know that I want to go that far just yet. Any ideas on how to entice her to eat?

 

[casportpony]

Tubing is the only way I can keep them alive when they're this sick. Just about to tube one right now, lol.

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

Done! Just gave her about 130ml of food mixed with water. It was already mixed so all I had to do was fill the syringes, catch her and tube.


-Kathy

 

[Savy]

I'm going to try "the spa treatment" listed here http://hencam.com/faq/the-spa-treatment/ to see if it helps. I still don't know about tube feeding, it seems so extreme. There seems to be something else wrong with her that we can't diagnose, so would it really help to tube feed?

 

[casportpony]

I'm going to try "the spa treatment" listed here http://hencam.com/faq/the-spa-treatment/ to see if it helps. I still don't know about tube feeding, it seems so extreme. There seems to be something else wrong with her that we can't diagnose, so would it really help to tube feed?

• Research lipoid pneumonia before you force feed her any oil.

• If she's still breathing through her mouth, the spa treatment might send her over the edge.

• If you've been weighing her and she's not losing *any* weight and she's nice and fat, no reason to tube.

-Kathy

 

[Savy]

She does seem to be breathing through her mouth, you think this means she may have lipid pneumonia? Her breathing doesn't sound labored or anything. She is very underweight though.

 

[casportpony]

She does seem to be breathing through her mouth, you think this means she may have lipid pneumonia? Her breathing doesn't sound labored or anything. She is very underweight though.

Lipid pneumonia is what they can get if they aspirate any type of oil, which that spa treatment recommends.

If she's up, active and bright, I wouldn't worry too much about the open mouth breathing, but if she's sitting, eyes closed, it's bad, really bad, hence the reason I said the spa treatment might kill her.

To quote my vet "it's not usually the disease that kills them, it's dehydration and starvation". Tubing, when started before it's too late, can buy time to figure out what they have. Once they get to about 50% of their ideal weight, there's usually no coming back.

-Kathy

 

[Savy]

I had already given her the oil when I saw your first response warning me not to. She doesn't seem any worse for it as of yet. She is well below 50% of her ideal weight, she's just skin and bone at this point. Do you think she can bounce back at all?

 

[casportpony]

I had already given her the oil when I saw your first response warning me not to. She doesn't seem any worse for it as of yet. She is well below 50% of her ideal weight, she's just skin and bone at this point. Do you think she can bounce back at all?

If you tube her and the infection has cleared up, maybe. What worries me is her open mouth breathing, that's often a sign that the dying process has started, but not always. Is she alert and warm to the touch. By warm, I don't mean fever warm, just normal temp warm or is she hypothermic?

-Kathy