Vet experience

[cuntryuppiechick]

I took one of my 2 month old silkies to the vet for an impacted crop. I watched youtube videos on it and wanted to try it myself but was unsure and didn't want to experiment on a live bird. The vet wouldn't let me watch the procedure so the point of the visit was not met for my purposes. He used anastesia gas (sp?) which I thought was not a good idea on chicks. I did inquire but was reassured that it was safe. I was told they would keep him 3 days. The next morning I dredged the coop to make sure there was no foreign matter and sifted the sand. Nothing found except a large piece of hard plastic that no one could have tried to swallow. I also found a gap where the baby could get out and since I had found him twice out of the cage I was wondering if he had been letting himself out at will. I had just finished the baby's coop so they were moved into it this weekend with no more escape possibilities. Called the vet to check and they said to come get him (the morning after surgery) but he wasn't eating yet. My birds eat organic and he wouldn't touch their regular feed. I received a bill for $150 and an excessively long lecture ignoring everything I was saying. It seemed as if they were not going to let me go until I relented and confessed that I am the meanest worst person ever to animals and I will obey Purina for the rest of my life. I thought a lot about what to feed and made a well informed decision based on two very well respected breeders and two books. They kept telling me that it was my fault he was impacted because of what I fed. None of the others have this issue. Clearly I care because I have now spent 250 times the value on this one bird. I could have ate roaster chicken all year on what this bird has cost. I didn't purposely feed what had blocked him. He got into possibly the adult food, compost, dog food, and scrap heap. I don't know because I couldn't watch the procedure and they threw out the remains before I could see what was in the chick. This little guy has been my one wood chip eater and I had begun the transition for everyone to sand prior to this because of it. The instructions were to take him home and put him right back out in the coop with the others only allowing powdered food and water. I did as told at first until my husband insisted I bring him inside. The logic was that we wouldn't go have butt surgery and come home and sit in the dirt. I also had explained to the vet that it would be near impossible to monitor what he ate and if he was going potty if I had him with the others. I have mixed feelings on this experience. I will not be spending the money again for crop impaction most definitely. They are the only office to see poultry for 100 miles so it is not as if there are options. This morning his crop is still 50% full from what he ate yesterday and there is basically no poo in the box from overnight.

 

[fmizula]

im so sorry for your experence. i have found that doing things myself seems to turn out better, and also more cost effective as well. we do not have anyone who will see a chicken here either, i do bring in fecals to get tested on occasion however. maby some olive oil would help things slide out a little easyer...

 

[dawg53]

Quote:
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[kidcody]

I'm sorry for what you went through. Obvious your a wonderful pet owner for taking your chick to the vet. Not to many people would of done that.

 

[Kaitie09]

I'm sorry that happened with your vet. We too are bad pet owners in the eyes of our vet because we refused to get every single on of our cats tested for feline Leukemia ($900). He also said our 8 yr old cat would be dead soon because she weighed 16lbs. Shes a maine coon and her brother and sister weight 20lb (live with my aunt). We took her back 2 weeks later and she remarkably weighed in at 12lbs. I guess their scale was wrong because we did nothing different.

We also paid $400 on a 10 day old kitten that was dying in my hand. The vet took her in the back, and came out 10 minutes later to say she was dying, and we should euthanize her. Duh! We said no and took her home. My mom and I took turns sleeping with her at night because she refused to stay in the box with the hot water bottle, so we had to wrap her up. We were up for 2 days with very little sleep and taking her temp every 2 hours. She is now a happy 1yr old and the vet was amazed that she was alive when we told him.

We take all of our cats to local clinics now for their shots, they don't ask questions. Sometimes it is better just to do it yourself, and if you fail, you at least know they had a good life.

 

[ReikiStar]

I'm sorry you had that awful experience. I hope your little Silkie is improving.

Sadly, we've learned to only go to the vet if we absolutely can't take care of something ourselves. A crop impaction is not something we want to handle ourselves so we don't blame you for going. But we've also learned, just like the human health industry...it's all about two things: 1) Making money. Very few people are true healers any more, even in the animal world and 2) CYA - Covering your a**. They only listen to what they are told in school and SO many schools (both vet and human) have classes designed by or are taught information SPONSERD by the Big Pharmacuticals. So your vet has drank the Purina Koolaide and can't fathom that UNPROCESSED food might actually be what an animal needs more than labratory contrived mixtures.

Chickens can get impactions on GRASS! Is your vet going to argue free ranging is unntaural for chickens? He might if he only believes in managing chickens like large scale industrical operations where every aspect of the chicken's life is artificial and an effort is made to replicate the health a chicken would have in a natural environment with lights, fans and concoted formulas for mass production.

Go with your instinct. Keep the little guy inside or at least seperated. Fix the coop and clean up areas they could get into while free ranging where they could pick up foreign materials. You're doing a great job! Things happen with kids and animals. The only thing I would make sure I do...is never use that vet again. 100 miles would be worth it if the other vet is knowledgeable, has a decent bed side manner and truly cares about their clients.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
Most vets will not let you in the back to watch surgery. If you want to do so, you probably need to discuss it with the vet in advance. Quite frankly, a lecture on how everything you are doing is wrong, coupled with not listening to you sounds like grounds for filing a complaint with the veterinary licensing board on lack of professional behavior.

Is this an all-purpose vet, or an avian vet? I'm betting the latter. Call your state vet's office and ask if they can provide you with a list of veterinarians that will see chickens; make sure to explain that this is a pet, not a commercial bird. I also think you need to call the vet back and demand to know what he found in the crop.

Purina is fairly low on my list of feeds that I will give my birds. Many breeders and exhibtors use some commercial feed as the base, but add various supplements, seeds, grains, additional protein sources, etc. sometimes varying based upon time of year and the bird's current condition.


What are you feeding?

 

[cuntryuppiechick]

Yesterday I let him have some egg, yogurt, skinless potato, oatmeal ground to a powder, and polyvisol in the water. I took him outside for sunlight since the vet said to get my birds a grow light, and he went straight to eating grass before I snatched it away and made him sit on my lap. Since he wanted greens I will give him some seaweed water today also.

He is very sneaky. I left for a minute and he hopped up on the table and was helping himself to sunflower seed oil. The week before going to the vet I was doing oil and massaging his belly several times a day.

Would you do dry oatmeal as they recommend or something else?

 

[zookeeper15133]

In the winter I give mine cooked oatmeal. Maybe give him some cooked with a little spinach and olive oil added. I have never had to deal with impacted crop, so this may not be best.

If he hasn't gone to the bathroom yet maybe the blockage is actually lower? How about watermelon til he goes potty?

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
Sounds like good foods. What you might want to do for greens is give him baby food with green veggies; for that matter, you can use baby cereals to not have to grind them (this is for post crop surgery; normally giving whole unground grain is fine). Don't let him have too much oil.