Hello all,
Please don't think I'm asking this lightly, and if you think badly of me for having to ask the question, I'd rather you just don't reply.
One of my red sex-links disappeared a while back, and she has been setting on eggs. She came back today. Poor girl ... I don't know exactly what's happening with her. I thought she had a very large area of poop on her back end. There is a lot of poo, but also it smells like rotten meat. I think she has a large open infected area, mixed with lots of poo (it almost looks like her insides are partly out), and there are little bugs, and maggots on her. It's very sad, and she's lethargic and her feathers overall don't look good.
My situation is this ... I can't spend a huge amount on vet bills for her. I'm going through a particularly busy time right now ... I have a newly hatched brood of 15 in the house, along with today's hatch of 3 so far, 2 brand new kittens with health issues, and I'm transitioning my older 7 chicks into the group, as well as trying to keep the peace between my geese and my escape-artist drake who wants to chase them, and I have a cat with an injury that just got back from surgery and another cat I've had for 10 years that disappeared that I need to keep looking for ... and a LOT of stuff going on in my life besides the animals.
I need to be able to make the right decision here. On the one hand, I want to say I'd do whatever it takes to restore her to health. However, I am stretched almost beyond my limits caring for "special needs" animals at the moment. I don't know if I can reasonably give her the care she will require if what I read about the duck is any indication ... I won't be able to spend hours a day on this without neglecting everyone else. And all the others depend on me too ... I can't compromise their care.
Also ... I am trying to decide if she might be in too much pain to continue, or if the chance of her recovering is too low. It looks like part of her insides are out. (though not very much). Birds are very good at hiding such things, so it's hard to tell. She is lethargic, that's all I can tell.
At the same time, I REALLY don't want to endanger everyone else. I have chicks of various ages, as well as my grown chickens, my ducks, and my geese. The kittens are inside, but their immune systems are compromised.
I would appreciate any input. I'm not sure if you guys can realistically tell me what to do, but I would appreciate voices of some experience.
Thanks all ...
trish
Please don't think I'm asking this lightly, and if you think badly of me for having to ask the question, I'd rather you just don't reply.
One of my red sex-links disappeared a while back, and she has been setting on eggs. She came back today. Poor girl ... I don't know exactly what's happening with her. I thought she had a very large area of poop on her back end. There is a lot of poo, but also it smells like rotten meat. I think she has a large open infected area, mixed with lots of poo (it almost looks like her insides are partly out), and there are little bugs, and maggots on her. It's very sad, and she's lethargic and her feathers overall don't look good.
My situation is this ... I can't spend a huge amount on vet bills for her. I'm going through a particularly busy time right now ... I have a newly hatched brood of 15 in the house, along with today's hatch of 3 so far, 2 brand new kittens with health issues, and I'm transitioning my older 7 chicks into the group, as well as trying to keep the peace between my geese and my escape-artist drake who wants to chase them, and I have a cat with an injury that just got back from surgery and another cat I've had for 10 years that disappeared that I need to keep looking for ... and a LOT of stuff going on in my life besides the animals.
I need to be able to make the right decision here. On the one hand, I want to say I'd do whatever it takes to restore her to health. However, I am stretched almost beyond my limits caring for "special needs" animals at the moment. I don't know if I can reasonably give her the care she will require if what I read about the duck is any indication ... I won't be able to spend hours a day on this without neglecting everyone else. And all the others depend on me too ... I can't compromise their care.
Also ... I am trying to decide if she might be in too much pain to continue, or if the chance of her recovering is too low. It looks like part of her insides are out. (though not very much). Birds are very good at hiding such things, so it's hard to tell. She is lethargic, that's all I can tell.
At the same time, I REALLY don't want to endanger everyone else. I have chicks of various ages, as well as my grown chickens, my ducks, and my geese. The kittens are inside, but their immune systems are compromised.
I would appreciate any input. I'm not sure if you guys can realistically tell me what to do, but I would appreciate voices of some experience.
Thanks all ...
trish