St. John's Wort

[jenn-]

Try soft food...Yin Yang loves chopped hard boiled eggs, chopped black cherries, soft bread soaked in buttermilk. Any soft food that she likes and will eat....my husband holds her in his lap most mealtimes and talks to her and encourages her to eat.. She likes the attention and will sit and sing, on good days.

I've tried wet cat food, applesauce, her normal food made as a mash (how she is used to eating it due to a cross beak in the flock), and several of those mixed up none of them are tempting enough to get her to put her head down and peck. I am concerned to try anything that would require grit because it won't get digested correctly and I have no way of getting grit down her throat. Maybe I will try soaking bread in some milk. Would heavy cream work as I don't have buttermilk on hand? I could make it into buttermilk, but I just didn't know whether I could leave it be.

 

[chicknmania]

Buttermilk is beneficial in that it has probiotics and is better than yogurt, and they just seem to like it. Twice I've gotten sick chickens to eat by dribbling a little applesauce on their tongue. Sometimes it takes a couple of mealtimes, doing that. If she just won't eat, you can tube feed her. I dislike doing this, but it is not difficult and very safe for the bird. I think it stresses them a bit too much, and I've never been able to save a bird that way, but a lot of people have, and do it routinely. If you decide to do that, I can give you directions, or they are on here already if you search.

 

[jenn-]

Buttermilk is beneficial in that it has probiotics and is better than yogurt, and they just seem to like it. Twice I've gotten sick chickens to eat by dribbling a little applesauce on their tongue. Sometimes it takes a couple of mealtimes, doing that. If she just won't eat, you can tube feed her. I dislike doing this, but it is not difficult and very safe for the bird. I think it stresses them a bit too much, and I've never been able to save a bird that way, but a lot of people have, and do it routinely. If you decide to do that, I can give you directions, or they are on here already if you search.

Thank you for the clarification. I've tried the heavy cream soaked bread and she seems to like the taste of the bits I can shove in her mouth, but she won't try to eat it on her own. I've been tube feeding her for the last week. She easily would have passed last weekend without it.

 

[chicknmania]

WEll, that''s good. Just keep trying, is all you can do. If you have read any of this thread, you've seen that amazing things can and do happen with this stuff. Or not...but as long as there's life, there's hope. I got YinYang to eat some watermelon tonight..if she were healthy there would be no coaxing needed...but she did eat some I crumbled off the rind for her.

 

[chooks4life]

Is there a risk to SJW if the diagnosis turns out not to be Marek's? I currently have one down but improving chicken that is coming out of an illness completely blind (no other symptoms then green loose stools and no appetite which could be related to not being able to see). I've treated with Corid and Safeguard, but now I think I am seeing the graying of the eye on another one of my birds. If I dose the one I have in quarantine and it isn't Marek's, will I be doing more to harm then to help?

The only risks with St. John's Wort is photosensitization if large amounts are consumed, in the plant form, and interaction with other medications, it may make them stronger or weaker. That's basically it, in a nutshell. As for the risks of homeopathic HP, well gee, if it's 'wishes in a bottle' as some say, and 'does nothing' as the FDA says (why are they regulating it now LOL) then what harm could it possibly do? I haven't tried the homeopathic form, but I know the plant itself is very powerful, if you read back through the thread you'll see some scientific research I posted on it that details what it does. Homeopathy seems to work sometimes, when you get some good stuff, and not other times, good luck with whatever brand you use. As with anything just about, really, some manufacturers could not care less about quality control and efficacy.

If your chook doesn't get her eyesight back, you can take some comfort in knowing they do quite well completely blind in many cases, better than many other blind animals really.

Best wishes.

 

[chooks4life]

Good to hear YinYang's hanging in there and has improved in some respects, even if others haven't. Where there's life, there's hope, for sure.

Some chickens I've tended did go through awfully long plateaus and I wondered if I should cull them to be humane but some of them are still with me into their retirements, and have been enjoying life for years past their crisis... If the animal wants to fight for its life I think it's kindest to support it, give it a chance, if there is at all a chance of recovery.

I know some people think animals only fight for life out of mindless survival instinct but those people have clearly never met the quitters among the animal world, who give up on life without anything being seriously wrong and die almost willfully. Can't save those that don't want to be saved, that's for sure. And those that don't want to die can often live, with some time and help, even if the battle is a fierce one. Animal rehabilitation is certainly not for the faint of heart.

Best wishes.

 

[chicknmania]

Quote:
I agree, absolutely. She's been struggling to stand up for the past couple of days, this is something new. She's getting nowhere, but at least she's trying. For what it 's worth, we have a blind goldfish. He does fine, he's been blind for a couple of years. He can tell where food is by sensing where the others are picking it up, and i imagine he smells it sometimes. Interesting to watch him. animals easily learn to adapt.

 

[chooks4life]

Might be worth making a sling to support the chicken in a standing position? Joints can lock up a bit due to being kept in a bent position for too long, muscles atrophy, lack of circulation due to the leg being continually folded affects it all... Just a thought.

The most success I've ever had with treating lameness from any cause occurred when I also supported them via a sling, no matter the species; not using the sling kept them down for much, much longer and decreased the chances of them ever getting up again.

Best wishes.

 

[chicknmania]

Good point. My husband mentioned he wanted to try this, too. Only reason we haven't is we'd have to stay with her....or put her in the tractor to do it, and the tractor's in use by one of our other hens for the most part, right now. Though maybe not for much longer.

 

[chooks4life]

Good point. My husband mentioned he wanted to try this, too. Only reason we haven't is we'd have to stay with her....or put her in the tractor to do it, and the tractor's in use by one of our other hens for the most part, right now. Though maybe not for much longer.

Why would you have to stay with her? Once the sling is set up and working out well, you can just leave them be, with food and water within reach.

Good luck chicknmania.