Perosis Question! Please read

[Shawness]

Hi everyone!

I hatched a bunch of chicks about 6 weeks ago and one of them must have had a vitamin deficiency from the momma (I ordered the fertile eggs from my pet chicken) and she came out with slipped tendon. I took her to our vet and he confirmed it’s perosis in one leg and since then I did a few weeks of having her suspended in a cup which ended up helping so much. She started getting confident and so I’ve had her out with the other chicks in the coop for the last couple weeks and they’ve been loving her and taking care of her. I’ve been working with her doing some little PT exercises and helping her practice
Walking, as well as giving her assisted feeding and drinking times throughout the day just in case she’s not doing them herself (although I do see her scooting around getting herself to the waterer!) she’s on vitamins to help her with the deficiency and I do notice it making a difference.
She’s starting to get her feathers finally although is SO much smaller than the rest. My biggest question is that her good leg seems to be going weak as she’s growing and sometimes she can stand on it and sort of get herself around but a lot of the times she’s scooting or looks like she’s struggling. She’s not crying and has a ton of personality - eats and drinks Up a storm. So! That’s where my question lies- do I just continue helping her and seeing if she can improve as she grows and maybe get her in one of those chick wheelchairs I’ve been seeing in the case that it helps her to be supported? Or is this cruel? The only thing I can see is that she has a will to live- she’s been really trying and at 6 weeks I feel like she would have died by now if she was going to. Does anyone have any other suggestions to help with her improving and her quality of life?

Thank you soooo much!! photos attached.

 

[Isadora]

Oh, poor little baby.
Birds have an amazingly strong will to live. They also don't tend to show pain or signs of weakness until it gets very bad, so it would be hard to say what her quality of life is right now.
I had a guinea with perosis. He was a part of my original flock and I didn't realize what it was, otherwise I would have hobbled him as a young keet to try to fix it. We ended up putting him down when he was a few months old. He was greatly distressed that he couldn't get around with the other guineas and it was too sad to watch. He would try so hard to follow the flock around and would end up exhausted.
I have successfully treated a few turkeys with perosis by hobbling their legs together. Early intervention is key with it.
I don't really have a definitive answer for you but I know that if it was my bird I would put her down.
Good luck with everything