Wow. That's a lot of good info. Thank you. My husband is the medical procedure guy so I'll have him read all that over. It sounds to me like under the skin will be the most non-invasive and he's not critical so actual venous fluids don't sound proper. I read the info below posted by an ICU Nurse on another thread here:
Now, on the Subcutaneous (SC) fluids. I won't be as in depth here because most people who are likely to try this are probably healthcare people already (nurses and EMS folks are the ones likely to have random IV stuff hanging around the house). My vet told me (this was before we started doing tubefeeds) that if the chicken looked listless and wasn't eating I could give 60 ml of sterile saline into the loose skin under her wing using a syringe and a 22 FR butterfly needle.
Have someone restrain the chicken (or tuck her under your left arm). Have the saline-filled syringe attached to the needle and let it dangle. Seperate the feathers under the wing and look for a spot of loose skin. Insert the needle just enough that it pierces the skin (no deeper). Then depress the syringe to allow the saline to fill the space under the skin. The chicken will absorb the saline into her body. Of course, be careful with this. If you give too much you could over-dilute her blood and (potentially) kill her. So stick to once a day administration.
My husband was going to try that. Since Elvis has been refusing to drink on his own and we're stressing him by using the syringe we thought this would be more beneficial for him since it's only once a day.
So he WAS getting:
scrambled egg mixed with chick starter moistened with buttermilk in the AM and yogurt in the PM
electrolyte solution
orange for Vitamin C
anti-inflammatory/pain reliever
antibiotic
steroid
infant vitamins
Vitamin E oil
NOW he is getting - just starting today
scrambled egg coated in coconut oil
Sav-A-Chick
anti-inflammatory/pain reliever
antibiotic
steroid
I'm figuring the Sav-A-Chick covers some of the other things he was getting before and trying to get less items into him is less stressful for him. The eggs have selenium in them so he can absorb the Vitamin E in the Sav-A-Chick. My husband's question is whether he needs the starter for grit? We fill his crop and when we feed him again it's empty so I'm thinking no but thought I should ask.
His nose is still clear. He's eating and drinking tiny bits on his own today and then we take over when he nods off in his food. I keep telling him it isn't dignified to fall asleep with your face in your food. He's fighting being fed and hydrated a lot more too. Fighting is good. I've also trimmed around his vent so he doesn't get urine/feces burns.
