My year-old standard sized roo has a beak injury. I'm ashamed to say that I kicked him.....reacting to him attacking me. I am NOT a proponent of kicking an animal, it was a reaction, and I wish I could rewind time now.
His bottom beak is now not aligned with the top, and it's not closing all the way.
I removed him from the main run and he's in my recuperating cage alone. This happened on Saturday afternoon, and I hand fed him some food (feed pellets, BOSS, some cooked egg) which he had no problem swallowing down, but it appeared he wasn't eating on his own (no food missing from the cage cups). I've been hand feeding him since then, and this morning, he really put up a fuss. I thought maybe he was depressed, because otherwise he seems fine (normal poop, crowing quite a lot, etc.). So I decided to put him back with his girls to see how he'd do. He seems fine; but - he cannot pick up food. I even tried whole corn, thinking it's bigger and he'd be able to pick it up. Nope! He tries and tries, and it SEEMS like he can pick things up but they just fall right out of his mouth. So I'm wondering if he's now got some sort of swelling in his neck or something....but then, wouldn't that have shown up before now, since injury happened 3 days ago?
Taking him to the vet's not an option. So, I'm hoping that I can make a sort of slurry and force feed him with a syringe for a few days to see how he does.
I was thinking of yogurt, egg, some softened feed pellets, maybe all wet down with Pedialyte? I have no idea what the best "slurry" will be - it need to be thin enough to suck up into a syringe, but not too awfully watery. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Many, many thanks.
His bottom beak is now not aligned with the top, and it's not closing all the way.
I removed him from the main run and he's in my recuperating cage alone. This happened on Saturday afternoon, and I hand fed him some food (feed pellets, BOSS, some cooked egg) which he had no problem swallowing down, but it appeared he wasn't eating on his own (no food missing from the cage cups). I've been hand feeding him since then, and this morning, he really put up a fuss. I thought maybe he was depressed, because otherwise he seems fine (normal poop, crowing quite a lot, etc.). So I decided to put him back with his girls to see how he'd do. He seems fine; but - he cannot pick up food. I even tried whole corn, thinking it's bigger and he'd be able to pick it up. Nope! He tries and tries, and it SEEMS like he can pick things up but they just fall right out of his mouth. So I'm wondering if he's now got some sort of swelling in his neck or something....but then, wouldn't that have shown up before now, since injury happened 3 days ago?
Taking him to the vet's not an option. So, I'm hoping that I can make a sort of slurry and force feed him with a syringe for a few days to see how he does.
I was thinking of yogurt, egg, some softened feed pellets, maybe all wet down with Pedialyte? I have no idea what the best "slurry" will be - it need to be thin enough to suck up into a syringe, but not too awfully watery. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Many, many thanks.
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