fanficfreezone
Chirping
- Jun 10, 2023
- 37
- 95
- 59
My hen Fiona had a stroke in May, and we had to rehab her, tube feed her, teach her to walk again and such.
She was doing much better but she had a second stroke two weeks ago and went completely blind. She was doing bad so we decided to put her down the next day, but the next day she seemed okay, so the vet said we could wait and see if she got used to her surroundings.
We put her in a small enclosure to limit her environment so she could get used to the space, we always put the food in the same place and every time we put her onto the ground, we put her in the same place so she could find her bearings; but instead of getting used to her surroundings, she started to seem more and more scared, so this weekend we decided to just have her euthanized. We did it today.
The process was not like cats or dogs. I wouldn’t have done it myself. The vet injected her with ketamine too sedate her and said it doesn’t always work with birds, but with her, it did. He then put her head in a little gas mask and tried to find a vein, but couldn’t, so he injected something in the back of her little head and she was gone.
He asked if he could do a necropsy and we said yes. He took a quick look while we were at the front.
Turns out she had what he thinks was ovarian cancer. He explained real quick that her egg follicles looked like very hard marbles and she had some other things that should go into forming eggs just kinda in there like debris. He said she was also likely having yolk strokes despite the fact that she didn’t have the normal egg peritonitis, and that’s probably why she had (that we know of) two strokes.
When she went blind two weeks ago, he said she was probably much older than I had been told because she had cataract. He assumed 10 or 12 years old, but it didn’t make sense to me because her former owner gave her to me for free, she is someone I trust, and she knows me a bit, so she likely is aware age doesn’t matter to me. She had no reason to lie whatsoever when she told me Fiona was born in 2019. When I questioned her after Fiona went blind, she was sure of her age and told me she got her as a pullet in 2019.
Also Fiona literally went blind overnight so it wasn’t a slow loss of vision. Her behavior changed suddenly and she so obviously couldn’t see. I don’t know much about cataract but I think it develops slowly? So the cataract theory was strange to me.
So now with the necropsy my vet said, it’s possible that the “cataract” was just “debris” (I don’t remember what word he used) from her reproductive system that travelled through her bloodstream and settled in her eyes and that she really just might be 4 and not 10 or 12 like he assumed.
I could be getting some things wrong, after all I’m not a vet. But I’m grateful for my vet. And I’m grateful for the time I got to spend with Fiona.
Fiona was a friendly, beautiful cinnamon queen who gave us good eggs until she couldn’t anymore (but that never bothered us). We were lucky to have her. We will never forget her.
Rest in peace, my beautiful girl, my little Beyoncé. We will miss you.
She was doing much better but she had a second stroke two weeks ago and went completely blind. She was doing bad so we decided to put her down the next day, but the next day she seemed okay, so the vet said we could wait and see if she got used to her surroundings.
We put her in a small enclosure to limit her environment so she could get used to the space, we always put the food in the same place and every time we put her onto the ground, we put her in the same place so she could find her bearings; but instead of getting used to her surroundings, she started to seem more and more scared, so this weekend we decided to just have her euthanized. We did it today.
The process was not like cats or dogs. I wouldn’t have done it myself. The vet injected her with ketamine too sedate her and said it doesn’t always work with birds, but with her, it did. He then put her head in a little gas mask and tried to find a vein, but couldn’t, so he injected something in the back of her little head and she was gone.
He asked if he could do a necropsy and we said yes. He took a quick look while we were at the front.
Turns out she had what he thinks was ovarian cancer. He explained real quick that her egg follicles looked like very hard marbles and she had some other things that should go into forming eggs just kinda in there like debris. He said she was also likely having yolk strokes despite the fact that she didn’t have the normal egg peritonitis, and that’s probably why she had (that we know of) two strokes.
When she went blind two weeks ago, he said she was probably much older than I had been told because she had cataract. He assumed 10 or 12 years old, but it didn’t make sense to me because her former owner gave her to me for free, she is someone I trust, and she knows me a bit, so she likely is aware age doesn’t matter to me. She had no reason to lie whatsoever when she told me Fiona was born in 2019. When I questioned her after Fiona went blind, she was sure of her age and told me she got her as a pullet in 2019.
Also Fiona literally went blind overnight so it wasn’t a slow loss of vision. Her behavior changed suddenly and she so obviously couldn’t see. I don’t know much about cataract but I think it develops slowly? So the cataract theory was strange to me.
So now with the necropsy my vet said, it’s possible that the “cataract” was just “debris” (I don’t remember what word he used) from her reproductive system that travelled through her bloodstream and settled in her eyes and that she really just might be 4 and not 10 or 12 like he assumed.
I could be getting some things wrong, after all I’m not a vet. But I’m grateful for my vet. And I’m grateful for the time I got to spend with Fiona.
Fiona was a friendly, beautiful cinnamon queen who gave us good eggs until she couldn’t anymore (but that never bothered us). We were lucky to have her. We will never forget her.
Rest in peace, my beautiful girl, my little Beyoncé. We will miss you.
RIP Fiona!
