Prolapsed vent

[Goodycupcake]

Hi there. I’m treating a 11 year old hen with a severely prolapsed vent. After reading about a case on one of your forms where someone worked with a prolapsed vent for over a week, holding the prolapse in for 30 minutes to an hour a day, sometimes multiple times a day, I am willing to give this a try, but I am discouraged because my hen isn’t eating or drinking and I’m concerned that she is suffering. It has been a little less than 24 hours since I discovered her condition. I have soaked her in warm water with some betadine solution, and we are able to get the prolapse back in, but it doesn’t stay in. There is some improvement in size, when I found her the prolapse was the size of my fist, I would say it’s maybe 50% smaller today. We have soaked and pushed the prolapse in twice now. I’m looking for advice on continuing considering she is so lethargic and not eating/drinking. I haven’t tried prep H or hydrocortisone cram yet.

 

[SueT]

Welcome to BYC! Amazing that she made it to 11 years old....it sounds like you are doing the right things. Some people do use prep H.
Good luck.......

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hi there. I’m treating a 11 year old hen with a severely prolapsed vent. After reading about a case on one of your forms where someone worked with a prolapsed vent for over a week, holding the prolapse in for 30 minutes to an hour a day, sometimes multiple times a day, I am willing to give this a try, but I am discouraged because my hen isn’t eating or drinking and I’m concerned that she is suffering. It has been a little less than 24 hours since I discovered her condition. I have soaked her in warm water with some betadine solution, and we are able to get the prolapse back in, but it doesn’t stay in. There is some improvement in size, when I found her the prolapse was the size of my fist, I would say it’s maybe 50% smaller today. We have soaked and pushed the prolapse in twice now. I’m looking for advice on continuing considering she is so lethargic and not eating/drinking. I haven’t tried prep H or hydrocortisone cram yet.

Welcome To BYC

How is she doing?
Is she able to poop?
If you have photos you would like to share, we will be happy to look at them.

11yrs old is wonderful. I agree with @SueT it sounds like you are doing what you can for her.

Sometimes prolapsed tissue is too swollen to stay in. You can use Prep H or anti-inflammatory cream to keep the tissue moist and hopefully to reduce swelling. It's important that the tissue does not dry out.

Being dehydrated can make it worse, so do what you can to encourage her to drink. Some people are successful by holding a large spoon or small cup to the beak. You can even try a little sugar or honey in the water to entice her or give a little gatorade. Whatever she will take. Alternatively you may need to syringe fluids into her.

I would try to get her through the lethargy stage, pushing the prolapse in can sometimes be stressful. Does she by any chance have an egg in there?
Once the swelling has gone down, if the prolapse still won't stay in you can try making a sling to help keep it in. Here's a good example https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/successful-vent-prolapse-treatment-with-photos.1101406/

 

[Goodycupcake]

Thanks for your reply! She seemed to be doing a little better this afternoon. She was actively drinking, she took several sips, as opposed to before when I sort of forced her beak into the water. And she was moving say bit. We put her in another soak of warm water and betadine to clean up the protruding tissues before a 30 min. session of holding everything in. This seems to really tire her out, so she seems lower energy again, but I applied the hydrocortisone cream for the 2nd time and I’m hoping she will have gained some strength back in the morning. I think if she can eat (I’m offering her yogurt) and drink a little, it will help her fight. Thank you for the bandage example, maybe I will try that tomorrow. Does the bandage cause problems for pooping? Here are photos from yesterday. I’d say she looks better now, the protrusion is decreased by 30%.

 

[SueT]

If you have any nutri-drench, squirt some in her mouth. It's a liquid nutritional supplement, good to have on hand for weak birds.....
Let us know how she's doing.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

That is a lot of swollen tissue, your probably going to have to wait until it drastically reduces in size. Attempting to push it back in sounds like it's stressing her, to me it's still swollen way too much to stay in right now.
Soaking can help, if the soaking stresses her, then put her in a steamed up bathroom.
Keep the tissue moist with your ointment. Anti-inflammatory should help, but I'm not sure how well it keeps things moist, you may need to try a combo of prep H/something greasier and the anti-inflammatory.

When it's time to put it back in and you feel she needs bandaging, look at the photos closely-they leave an opening for the vent so the hen can poop.

I agree with @SueT poultry vitamins like Poultry Nutri-Drench are always a good idea. In AU, you may be able to find Net Tex Nutri-Drops which is similar. Keeping her hydrated is very important.

 

[Goodycupcake]

Thanks for the support everyone, I really appreciate it. Unfortunately I don’t think she had enough fight in her. I decided to give her a break from the “pushing back in” until the swelling went down more. Yesterday I soaked her and dried her off, gave her lots of support with water, etc. but she just seemed completely exhausted. She no longer tried to stand up or move around and seemed to be uncomfortable and I’m afraid she was suffering. So with a heavy heart, we decided to euthanize with the dry ice method. It was quick and I feel like we did the right thing. Our chickens have been more like pets than farm animals, so this was a hard decision. Thanks again for all the support and advice, it was deeply appreciated.

 

[micstrachan]

Aww... I’m so sorry for your loss. 11 years is fantastic. It is always a personal decision, but for what it’s worth, I think you did the right thing. Hugs!

 

[Goodycupcake]

Aww... I’m so sorry for your loss. 11 years is fantastic. It is always a personal decision, but for what it’s worth, I think you did the right thing. Hugs!

Thanks.

 

[SueT]

Awww, so sad. Well, I hope you stay with us on BYC, we'd like to see you around....