Not Eating or Drinking After Swallowing Latex Glove... Please Help

[VaderRader]

Feel her crop. Does it feel like there‘s a glove in there?
Can she see a different vet? Poor baby.
Is she a lone chicken?

Yeah she is a lone chicken. We got Vader as a chick along with another one, but that one did not make it in the very beginning. So Vader is the only hen we have.

 

[VaderRader]

Vader has a habit of hoarding things in her coop... much like some of us during the pandemic haha. We have found gloves in her coop before but she never ate any of them. She is rather a picky eater and would not even eat grass or wood shavings. I personally have been mindful about what she has access to, but my siblings can be very sloppy and irresponsible sometimes. She's a good girl and only ever eats her feed provided. After reading everybody's comments, which I am super grateful for, I think I will keep monitoring her closely and get her a more thorough check-up asap. The glove theory is still possible but I think we should focus on other potential health issues as well. Anyways, THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH! We are new to this community and Vader and I already feel the love

 

[Eggcessive]

I don’t know what else to recommend other than offering her some wet feed, plus a little egg or canned cat food to get her to eat. Fluids are most important.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm sorry about your chick.

The vet mentioned other things like parasites, etc. Did they run a fecal float to make sure there's no Coccidiosis overload or worms?

The not pooping is concerning - if she does poop can you get some photos?

If she did swallow the glove and that's her issue, then I think you are doing all you can. Making sure she's drinking is most important.

Keep us posted on how she's doing.

 

[azygous]

I've lived long enough to learn that almost anything is possible. (But usually it involves really stupid humans.)I suggest offering her raw egg white, no yolk. It would create a very slimy "runway" and if she has a crumpled up glove inside her, that may help it move through her system.

I've had a chicken swallow a bandaid, and it terrified me, waiting and inspecting every poop for evidence it had been expelled. It came out 24 hours later, barely recognizable. If your hen swallows the egg white, offer her more, and keep offering egg white as long as she will eat it.

 

[LaFleche]

Unless they performed MRI, a latex glove would not show on X-ray. And being as soft and thin as they are, latex gloves would be hardly palpable either.

You could try to make her swallow some previously refrigerated pieces of coconut oil and offer grit or sand to help move along or grind the foreign matter.

 

[azygous]

A chicken can feel when there's a slow down in their digestive system. They instinctively consume more grit and drink large amounts of water to push things through. Oil would be fine to give, but egg white performs the function of oil and puts fluids into the digestives system. As long as her crop isn't impacted, you could even syringe the egg white and oil into her crop if she refuses to eat them.

The gizzard is capable of making a shredded crumpled thin mass out of a latex glove. If it managed to pass out of the crop, then it can make its way through the gizzard and the rest of the way out with the poop.

As a last solution, you can give and Epsom salts flush to stimulate the action of the intestines to move the mass down and out. I would try that if the egg white and oil don't produce results within 24 hours.

 

[LaFleche]

Feeding some sauerkraut also helps to make accidentally swallowed foreign matters reappear.

 

[azygous]

Bottom line. If this hen swallowed a latex glove, she will die if it remains in her. The solutions offered will either help or not. It's worth the attempt since doing nothing will result in death. It's a no brainer.

On the other hand, if she didn't swallow the glove, these solutions will do no harm, and then if she continues her behavior, another cause can be explored.

 

[Weeg]

If she has had gloves in her house before, I guess it is very possible she tried to swallow one. Plus, she's a bored lone hen, so maybe needed something to do. Check her for parasites, and look for the other things the vet suggested may be the problem, but along with the experts help, I new believe a glove is a good possibly.