Swollen, wheeping eye

[SaraChristine]

Last week my friendly ISA Brown hen, (known then as 'Fluffy Butt) was attacked by our neighbors evil barn cat while I was in the front yard with some of the other chickens. She lost some feathers and her eye had swollen shut within an hour. By Thursday her eye was still shut, but lost the swelling. I had just assumed that the eye was no longer functional, and that she just kept it closed. The other chickens began picking at her, so I isolated her to a separate area until she could regain her strength.

Before work Friday, I stopped in to see check on her and her eye had swollen to the size of a marble, and was wheeping. I went to work and conferred with a friend (who has a lovely flock of her own) there to see if she had any advice. She told me to not even bother calling the vet, none in our area think chickens are worth the time to care for. ( I called anyways, and all they offered to do was let me come in to pick up an eye cream, but they made it very clear they didn't think that would help).

So I started doing research on here for an antibiotic I can use for her. (we've since renamed her Cyclopse.) I started giving her Tylan 50 Friday, and have not seen any improvements. Today I began searching further and read about 'squeezing the eye'.

I'm not going to lie, this terrifies me. And I'm pretty sure my husband doesn't have the stomach for it either. Have there been very many cases of success? What are the best techniques? Will it hurt her when I do it? Should I put any ointment on it when I'm finished?

Thank you! Any input you can give us would be much appreciated!

Sara

 

[dawg53]

I recommend that you stop the tylan 50. Tylan is geared more for respiratory diseases, not injuries such as you're dealing with. Try warm compresses to the eye to draw out infection. Then put neosporin in her eye. Continue this treatement for several days. If the swelling doesnt go down, you might have to purchase penicillin G procaine and inject her with it. Here's a link regarding how to inject penicillin G procaine. Scroll down:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/352701/how-do-i-administer-a-penicillin-shot-to-a-chicken

 

[SaraChristine]

Update:
We put a heat lamp in with her today. She seems in much better spirits today! She ate all her food and the quarter of an orange I put in there for her. On the flip side.... her eye is oozing a yellow/white thick pus that is the consistency of ricotta cheese..... (ew!) I applied a warm compress tonight and a lot of it came out, but it's still really swollen :-(

Hmph. My poor girl :-( I just want her to get better!

 

[nuchickontheblock]

I would continue to put the warm compresses on her eye 3-4 x/day for about 5 minutes each time. Wrap her in a towel and set her on your lap, so she is comfy. If you can open her eye up a little, you could also try to flush her eye out with some saline eye wash and see if that would get some of the pus out afterwards. You can get saline eye wash in most any pharmacy or supermarket and it's fairly inexpensive. Probably she will need to have an antibiotic like Dawg suggests and antibiotic eye ointment if you can get it.
Good luck.

 

[casportpony]

Update:
We put a heat lamp in with her today. She seems in much better spirits today! She ate all her food and the quarter of an orange I put in there for her. On the flip side.... her eye is oozing a yellow/white thick pus that is the consistency of ricotta cheese..... (ew!) I applied a warm compress tonight and a lot of it came out, but it's still really swollen :-(

Hmph. My poor girl :-( I just want her to get better!

That's what I call "chicken pus"... She might have sinusitis. Forget that... I just re-read your 1st post... sounds like there's more puss in there, so get busy and get it out.

 

[SaraChristine]

We just got as much of it out as we would. There is still some in there, but it's almost like it's attached to her eye! I'll stop at the store tomorrow and get some saline solution! Her other wounds have healed nicely, but its her eye that is still causing trouble :-(. I'm probably calling the emergency vet tomorrow. They deal with all kinds of animals all the time, and hopefully they'll be a little more interested in helping than our normal vet!

 

[casportpony]

We just got as much of it out as we would. There is still some in there, but it's almost like it's attached to her eye! I'll stop at the store tomorrow and get some saline solution! Her other wounds have healed nicely, but its her eye that is still causing trouble :-(. I'm probably calling the emergency vet tomorrow. They deal with all kinds of animals all the time, and hopefully they'll be a little more interested in helping than our normal vet!

I have had chickens with the puss attached to the eye, so you might be right. Unfortunately, those chickens did lose sight in that eye and a couple of them actually lost the whole eye eventually. When I get the pus out, I use a pair of fine tipped tweezers and pull it out.

 

[casportpony]

Can you post some pictures of her eye?

 

[SaraChristine]

I will definitely post pictures tomorrow I have a meeting at work and then I plan on spending the rest of the day working with both chicken coops, so I'll be around her a lot tomorrow. She knows when we go to pick her up now that we are going to be doing something with her, so she doesn't even squirm anymore she just kinda sighs, like, "Oh jeez mom and dad, not again'. Lol my poor Cyclops.

 

[SaraChristine]

This is cyclops just after putting a warm compress on her eye and getting some of the stuff out. she did however go crazy over some yoghurt and crumble mix today! She has been huddlibg next to the heat lamp, so i moved ot to the otherside of the coop and cleaned out the corner shes been staying in.