Update (pg 11): Daisy's crop - successful surgery and now eating!

[caralouise1974]

So, Daisy has covered our downstairs toilet floor in putrid clear green liquid poop, and looks miserable. Have done another massage today, but it's not looking good. She's booked into the vet later this morning, and to be honest, I think I will need to let them do whatever needs doing to save her.

She's still in the cage with some water, crumbs and natural yoghurt and I'll be going back in a couple of hours to pick her up for her appointment.

Poor Daisy

 

[jjthink]

Quote:
I totally hear you on this one!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so sorry Daisy feels so lousy - it's the last thing we want for them. Hopefully the vet can help you right her. Thank you, as always, for your efforts (and the kind compliment - while I've picked up skills in certain areas over the years, I am always amazed at the many things that can go awry with a feather-soul and how much more there is to learn. Have barely scratched the surface.. Ha! I wonder if that saying came from chickendom!).

Sending lots of good thoughts for Daisy to feel well soon. Will check back in on her.

JJ

 

[caralouise1974]

Quote:
I totally hear you on this one!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so sorry Daisy feels so lousy - it's the last thing we want for them. Hopefully the vet can help you right her. Thank you, as always, for your efforts (and the kind compliment - while I've picked up skills in certain areas over the years, I am always amazed at the many things that can go awry with a feather-soul and how much more there is to learn. Have barely scratched the surface.. Ha! I wonder if that saying came from chickendom!).

Sending lots of good thoughts for Daisy to feel well soon. Will check back in on her.

JJ

Thanks so much for your kind wishes. Daisy is now with the vet, although the chicken specialist is on holiday at the moment, and none of the remaining vets at the practice can do much except the crop massage. Certainly none of them are able to surgically clear the crop, as our usual vet would, but I suppose that's actually good news really - I'd prefer her not to die under anaesthetic like Henny Penny did.

 

[AndreaS]

Oh.....poor Daisy! When does the doctor come back?
I hope they are able to help her. Can chickens get IV fluid to keep them hydrated or to deliver nutrients to their systems?
Keeping her in my thoughts.....

 

[caralouise1974]

I'm not sure, I think he's on leave.

They're going to call me later to let me know how she's getting on so I will update then. I'm sure they'll do everything they can, and the vet I saw clearly took a shine to her - she was such a good girl and let the vet examine her without a peep. She even cuddled up to me for some stroking and cuddles before stepping back calmly into her cage.

As the vet said 'she's a sweetie'. I hope she makes it

 

[caralouise1974]

Well, she's still with us!

The vet (a farm animal specialist and someone who has helped us enormously in the past with one of our other hens - he even took our lovely Bella to his own home for a whole week to monitor her last summer!) simply said Daisy's crop was 'slow', not impacted (probably causded by the original impaction, that I managed to clear myself on Sunday), and they didn't want to start pouring liquid paraffin or other stuff down into her crop when clearly she just needs to be starved for a day or so to allow it all to clear, and then given something to sort out the sourness.

He's prescribed nystatin (I didn't like to tell him that I already got one step ahead and had ordered it myself!) and it will be in tomorrow, but in the meantime, her crop feels to me like there's nothing in it but an enormous amount of liquid - I suppose that's good? She has drunk almost a pint of water since I got her home, and it's definitely going through, as her crop is getting smaller, so at least she's hydrated. Perhaps she senses that her crop needs to be flushed? I've added some Poultry Drink (special chicken supplement available here in the UK) and a little ACV for good measure.

My guess is that she will need her crop milked before I can administer the nystatin, and my other prognosis is that her crop has gone pendulous too, so she'll probably get this as a recurring issue, now that the muscles have weakened.

Hopefully she will be able to last another day or so without feed - I'm tempted to try and give her a little live yoghurt just for some sustenence and for the good bacteria, despite the vet warning me not to feed her anything!

More updates tomorrow - and thanks to everyone who has offered support, particularly jjthink and andreaS.

I love BYC!

Oh, and I love my vet too - despite having her all afternoon and massaging her and monitoring her constantly, he only charged £14.50! (That's approx $22!) How lovely is that?

 

[blefky]

Quote:
That's pretty darned lovely! That would never happen here in my corner of the world! So glad to hear she's doing better.

 

[caralouise1974]

My vets are great actually - they seem to go on the theory that caring for a chicken is a bit pointless and simple really, and that they would be embarrassed charging us the full price. The chap that took Bella home with him for a week last summer didn't even charge us anything! I never get a bill more than £25 from them for non-surgical treatments. Even major surgery on Henny Penny last year only cost us £50!

I suppose for them it's a bit different from the boring stuff they do every day with cats and dogs. The receptionists love it when I bring my girls in - they all coo over them! It's like chickens are an unusual occurence in the surgery, and therefore they all like having them around. Or perhaps they just feel sorry for me, being a weird chicken-loving type? Either way I don't care!

 

[AndreaS]

It's kinda silly, I know, but I've been worried about Daisy all day! I'm so happy to hear some good news! Cara, I know you're probably sleep deprived and over stressed right now, but When you get some free time would you mind detailing your crop massage technique for me? I'm so terrified of crop issues and whatever you did seems to have worked. Would you mind describing how you massaged her crop? I would love to file it away with my emergency information.

Hang in there Daisy!!

 

[caralouise1974]

Hi andrea, thanks for caring about our little Daisy. She's not so good today, and seems so hungry she's trying to eat the shavings in her cage, despite them being covered in runny green poo.

The nystatin is due in at the vets today, so when I get there I'm going to ask if she can be brought back in and antoher attempt made at milking the crop, because I'm sure what's left in there is so sloshy now it'll come out.

If she doesn't clear that crop today she can't have her nystatin, and neither can I start to feed her again, and I'm not sure she can go another 24 hrs without food. She's very miserable and keeps sitting down. It's horrid to watch her looking so forlorn. And she must be utterly fed up in that cage by now too.

Poor Daisy

And as for the massage technique, it's no great skill really. I just mixed up the ACV and olive oil, then dripped it along her beak line so she would swallow some, then grabbed hold of the crop firmly and kneaded away in all directions until I felt everything start to break up. Twice a day, morning and evening. What's worrying me is that I might have been a bit rough with it, and that's what's damaged her crop muscles, which is why, despite everything being nice and sloshy in there, she's not managing to push it through. Is that possible? Could I have been too enthusiastic? I pray it wasn't my fault.