Hello everyone,
About 6 weeks ago one of my Sussex flew out of her yard so my puppy had a fun time cuddling her and pulling out 70% of her feathers!! He had her for about 40 mins until we realised!
She recovered well and after a few days, she was eager to be outside and back with the flock. Her feathers are growing back well and she is holding her ground in the hierarchy.
A few days after it happened, however, I noticed that she was very eagerly eating but having trouble actually getting the food down her throat. She is still doing it, 1 month later. She takes small bites and then really swallows hard with her head up/thrown back trying to get it down. She sometimes has a bit of a high pitched 'cough/sneeze' noise that she does while either trying to clear her throat (or swallow?) and she shakes her head to try and either gets things down or out, I'm not sure which.
I gave her cucumber earlier today and now - 2 hrs later - I can still see it in the top part of her throat, not in her mouth but throat. I gave her scrambled eggs soon after the dog incident which she inhaled as she was so excited to eat it but after a few minutes she shook her head violently and most of it flung out again.
She's not wasting away but her crop never seems as full as the rest of my flock. It is often pretty soft and squishy, even at bedtime.
She also seems to have a bit of trouble getting water down but she obviously must get enough down!
Does anyone have any idea what this problem could be? Could the dog have damaged her throat in some way? Could it be a parasite or disease? She obviously wants to eat and is getting enough down her throat to survive but probably not enough to thrive.
Thank you in advance for your thoughts! I'm happy to take her to the vet but I thought I'd try on here first as my vet has repeatedly made it clear they aren't very good with chickens.
About 6 weeks ago one of my Sussex flew out of her yard so my puppy had a fun time cuddling her and pulling out 70% of her feathers!! He had her for about 40 mins until we realised!
She recovered well and after a few days, she was eager to be outside and back with the flock. Her feathers are growing back well and she is holding her ground in the hierarchy.
A few days after it happened, however, I noticed that she was very eagerly eating but having trouble actually getting the food down her throat. She is still doing it, 1 month later. She takes small bites and then really swallows hard with her head up/thrown back trying to get it down. She sometimes has a bit of a high pitched 'cough/sneeze' noise that she does while either trying to clear her throat (or swallow?) and she shakes her head to try and either gets things down or out, I'm not sure which.
I gave her cucumber earlier today and now - 2 hrs later - I can still see it in the top part of her throat, not in her mouth but throat. I gave her scrambled eggs soon after the dog incident which she inhaled as she was so excited to eat it but after a few minutes she shook her head violently and most of it flung out again.
She's not wasting away but her crop never seems as full as the rest of my flock. It is often pretty soft and squishy, even at bedtime.
She also seems to have a bit of trouble getting water down but she obviously must get enough down!
Does anyone have any idea what this problem could be? Could the dog have damaged her throat in some way? Could it be a parasite or disease? She obviously wants to eat and is getting enough down her throat to survive but probably not enough to thrive.
Thank you in advance for your thoughts! I'm happy to take her to the vet but I thought I'd try on here first as my vet has repeatedly made it clear they aren't very good with chickens.