Prolapse vs Vent Gleet: How to treat?

[HouseCat]

Patient: 2 yo Hamburg Hen

History: 9 months ago, this hen was free ranging in my front yard when a fox ran up, grabbed her by the rump, and tried to carry her off. Thankfully, my gang of roosters saved the day. Her vent area was pretty gruesome. Her vent appeared to be torn down to her left leg. I cleaned the wound and super glued the skin back together. 45 days later not even a scar remained.

1 week ago She and 2 other hens came down with a candida infection. I was treating them with athletes foot cream and all was well. 3 days ago, I noticed that this paticular hen had a 3 inch icicle dangling between her legs as she roosted. On further inspection, she had prolapsed and her leaking vent had formed an icicle hanging from her rear end.
I brought her inside and gave her an epsom salt/Borax bath to clean her up. I dressed the wound with Prep H, pushed it back in, and placed her in a straw-ladened crate with a bowl of acv h2o for the night. Her prolapsed vent seems to have some scar tissue and the majority of tissue is from her left side (where the fox nipped her).
By now it's been 36 hours w/o food (other than 1 tsp of plain yogurt?minced garlic her 1st night) and no improvement. I clean her up twice a day, dress the wound and push it in. Each time I push it in, it pops right back out. I thought maybe the dripping off before it could be effective so this morning I sprayed it with ` (as it is an antifungal). Her comb has great color and her eyes alert and sparkling.
Can anyone give me some advice or think of anything I may have missed. Thanks for even taking the time to read this long diatribe in advance.
hc

 

[Eggcessive]

Have you tried honey on the prolapse instead of the Prep H? I haven't treated prolapse myself but many recommend honey to reduce swelling and as an anti-infective. The longer the prolapse is out at first, the harder it is to get back in. What you are doing sounds good (I don't know about the borax, but epsom salts baths sound good.) I would sit with her on my lap with some saran wrap on the vent, and just hold it in for awhile, watch some TV, and do it again after each cleaning session. You can also try a pressure bandage at night over the vent while she is sleeping, then take it off in the morning. A sock tied into a knot and held in place with vet wrap or panty hose would accomplish that.

 

[HouseCat]

I will definitely try that tonight. How long do you think she could go without food before it does more harm than good (to keep her digestive track empty) Thanks again-
hc

 

[Eggcessive]

Why are you not feeding her? She needs to eat. Decreasing the amount she eats and placing in low light for 16 hours a day are normal to slow down egg laying while she heals, but she needs to be fed and have plenty of water.

 

[HouseCat]

Sorry I didn't post back soon but I didn't want to jinx my chicken. It must have been the right advice @ the right time because, knock-on-wood, she is better. I put honey on her prolapse @ night, sat with her on my lap with my hand in a ziplock bag on her bottom, and watching tv. We started watching tv around 11pm and sat up until almost 3am. She slept most of the time. I put her back in her crate and went to bed. I went to check on her the next morning, fully expecting her to be prolapsed again, but everything was still intact. Now 3 days later she is still doing fine.
Just for the record, she always had h2o available. I would brew a strong cup of chamomile tea and add it to her h2o in hopes of keeping her calm. Also, twice a day I would feed her a tbs of plain yogurt with minced garlic mixed in. At night I would feed her a mix of red raspberries/raspberry leaves that she loved.