Sour crop

[Bogtown Chick]

Good luck at the Vet's Shell.

 

[shell3]

Thank you guys for all your well wishes

well we finally have got to the bottom of our troubles!
The vet did a second endoscopy today and said although he could feel a piece of something between his fingers and pointed the endescope directly at it he could not see it! upon further investigating he discovered a hidey hole! medical name being 'diverticulum' basically its a pouch next to the crop which should not be there! a defect if you like. whats been happening is some of the things she eats have been passing into this pouch causing it to fill with fluid and filling the crop with fluid too, this explains why after he emptied the crop last time, other things appeared in there imediatley affterwards. he took xrays to determine that she does not have an impacted gizzard after all and her digestive tract is clear of obstruction and healthy. her weight is good and everything else is in sound working order. there is an operation to empty, collapse and close this extra pouch, however as the endoscope is made with cats and dogs in mind it is not small enough to get a good look at the area and has no flexibility to allow it to look back on itself which is where the opening to this pouch is, this being the case means that the operation is highly risky and possibly fatal as it means the vet would be going in blind. he would have to cut the crop and the pouch open to even see its makeup and even then theres no way of knowing if he could even fix it.
however the vet feels that at this time the procedure is not neccersary as she is healthy and maintaining a good weight. the hope is that she will continue to do well and live a happy chicken life. the pouch will fill and empty back out into the crop at times, when things pop back into the crop she will just naturally pass them. when something is in the pouch the crop may swell but it is nothing to worry too much about unless it stagnates and causes the sour crop to return, in which case she will have medication for sour crop again. i am adding a mix of ginger,cinnemon and garlic to the mash to try to prevent that from happening and she will be checked and monitored by me every day for signs of deterioration, obviously ill try to eliminate any large debris from her environment as i have been doing, to try and stop any big 'bits' from getting stuck in this pouch and causing further problems.
her crop will likely never feel normal and flat because of this, and even thou at times it may feel normal like it did before i should not be expecting it to last or feel that something has gone wrong when it swells again as this will be a lifelong condition which just needs watching closely.
so all in all im relieved, although its a shame she has this defect, she has gained back most of the weight lost during the sour crop and hopefully will continue to gain more. she is otherwise healthy as far as the vet can tell and she has not got a blockage which is interfering with her nutrition.
shes sleeping in with me tonight until the effects of the anesthetic wear off and will be back out with the flock hopefully tomorrow.
i will continue with the mash just to help aid digestion and weight gain for now but maybe in time get her back to solid food, it will be trial and error. the vet wants to give her 4-6 weeks to see how she gets on before considering wether the operation is something to discuss but hopefully she will continue to thrive and will never need it.
seems odd to add in smily charaters here because she does after all have a genetic defect! but it could have been so much worse and at least now we can hope for a happy life for her and less anxiety for me when finding a full crop every morning! so......

........ im gonna!!

 

[delisha]

Finally..answers..what a relief for you.

 

[pwand]

Glad you finally got an answer. That bra will probably be helpfull and keep her crop more snug and help food to pass through. Keep us posted how your all doing.

 

[shell3]

Thanks guys xxx
and yes the bra seems to be doing a great job keeping food moving throu, im gonna tighten it up tonight to fit her now smaller crop size and hope that helps to hold food where it ought to be. xx
i will definately keep posting updates on how shes doing, just probly not as often!

this has started as a sour crop thread, turned into a blockage and ended up as a secret pouch!

i feel for anyone looking for help with sour crop as they will find all the info they need here but will have a lot to read through!! should have titled it 'big bombies diary'!! lol

 

[casportpony]

Thanks for sharing your journey, I'm sure many have learned from it.

 

[Sunflowergirl]

Whew! I am with you on the

!!!
Glad you can

now!!!

Feel like "chillin'" for you now!!! (That would be kind of like relaxing and taking it easy.)

 

[pwand]

This will be a great thread for anybody searching, it's helped me and I've probably read most of threads on here for sour crop to find even a smidgen of an answer. It's been all so helpful Shell, we keep learning, there is always something new to learn and thank you for sharing your experience with Bombie.

 

[casportpony]

This will be a great thread for anybody searching, it's helped me

and I've probably read most of threads on here for sour crop to find even a smidgen of an answer. It's been all so helpful Shell, we keep learning, there is always something new to learn and thank you for sharing your experience with Bombie.

Very good point... Shell, maybe you could do a post that summarizes the whole experience?

 

[Bogtown Chick]

Shell: thank you so much for sharing your ordeal and for bombie's sake going thru all the diagnostics to get to the bottom of it. It sort of makes you wonder if this is an underlying cause for a certain percentage of sour crops that are "hard to cure." This thread will no doubt be an information rich source for those looking for answers. Not many have gone the lengths that you have to find these answers and in a way I look at it as a case study for sure. A good summary or step by step to what you found most helpful and what you'll do for maintenance would be fab!


That is when you have taken a long well deserved nice tea break of course. Will check in of course whenever there is a little tidbit about bombie chooking around her fancy new tool shed....I mean chicken coop.


. Bogtown