Sick Chick - Won't Move

[sledzeppelin]

Any idea how long the Enfamil might take to work? She's got lots of energy (and drinks from my dropper and eats starter off the ground) but she's still really uncoordinated. She'll get up on her feet, and then just tip forward and flop around. She also keeps pulling on her toes.

I wonder if this condition is what caused her to lay in the heat and not move or if laying in the heat caused it.

At what point should I call it hopeless and put her out of her misery?

 

[chcknrs]

She might be dehydrated, takes awhile to get over that. Since she started perking up fairly quickly, I'd keep an eye on her and see what happens.

 

[sledzeppelin]

I'll give her some more time and keep giving her the polyvisol. Thanks for the help everyone. I hate to see the poor thing flop around like that, but I want to give her a chance because I'd hate to put her down and then think I did it too early.

To my very untrained eye, the way she acts makes me think she had a stroke or something like that, but I'm still hoping for the best. She stands up now while leaning, and generally has her head down with her beak resting on the ground or where the towel is folded up. And she's still doing that weird head turning. She turns her head about 45 degrees each way once every second and a half or so.

 

[sledzeppelin]

I noticed a big squishy tumor-like thing under her neck which I assume is her crop. It's pretty filled up, but not hard. It's very squishy like it's filled with water. Is this okay?

Picture below, but it's a bit hard to see. She's wet because I was giving her water and it dripped down.

 

[chcknrs]

That is her crop and it sounds like that's okay, but does her breath smell sour at all? And does the crop go down overnight?

 

[sledzeppelin]

It went down pretty quickly and looks normal now.

Still no improvement in her coordination. Her right leg is really lame. I've been mashing up her food in water and letting her eat/drink that. We'll see.

 

[arlee453]

Definately is the crop and is squishy because she is getting mostly liquid/soft diet.

I hope she pulls through for you!

 

[chcknrs]

Looking at the pic a little more closely, her eye appears to be sunken in. That is usually a sign of dehydration. Hmmmm, got any Pedialyte? It's an electrolyte replacement for children.

 

[sledzeppelin]

How much pedialyte should I give her?

She seems to be getting weaker. She had a lot more strength and fight yesterday, and now she just lays down most of the time. She's still pooping but doesn't seem to be eating on her own. I've been feeding her food mashed up in water from a spoon. She feels very thin and she's definitely smaller than the other birds.

Could her leg/balance problem be related to dehydration?

 

[chcknrs]

Yes. The inner ear has a chamber which holds water and fine hair-like structures that sway with movement, telling the brain where the body is spatially. When dehydration occurs, some of the fluid in the chamber is lost, and thus balance is lost. This is because the tops of the hairs are at fluid level (which is low). Remember spinning around and around when you were a kid? Until you couldn't stand up. The dizziness was from turning quickly in the same direction until the fluid in the inner began to do the same. That fluid doesn't stop spinning right away, which is why you felt dizzy and couldn't walk straight. With dehydration it's a lack of enough fluid, so it had the same effect, but longer term.

Keep doing the vitamins, try the Pedialyte for a day and see if it helps. Use it instead of water.