Will a ten year old rooster survive this

[eldaness]

Hello guys, right now I'm visiting my parents in Puerto Rico. They came here to retire along with our beloved rooster, Pirri, as well.
A little background information on Pirri: was born July 2007 in our apartment in NYC. Dad brought him and a few others from a trip to PR and out of curiosity, put his egg (the other eggs he ate in an omelette lol) under our pet mama pigeon where she cuddled up on him until he hatched a few weeks later. Fell in love with him ever since.
Now ever since his comb started growing in, it's grown larger than say other typical roosters and gravity brought it over to the left side of his face, eventually years in completely covering his eye. Last year I took him to the vet and he said he has cataracts. The pupil on that eye is almost completely cloudy white and this year I see his uncovered eye is almost completely cloudy white too. Now when I was at the vet last year, I was asking if maybe we can like, do surgery or something to remove the comb since his vision has obviously gotten worse and he didn't suggest it since they bleed so much. I love this little guy so much but it hurts me to see him struggle so much, sometimes walking into doors my poor baby. Attached is a picture of him.

I don't really know what to do. I of course don't know how much time he has left here on Earth but feeding is becoming harder for him, I'm sure. Especially when he misses a lot of the stuff he's trying to eat. He becomes so discouraged, I feel.

What do you guys think? What would you guys do? Is anyone under a same or similar predicament? Any comment whatsoever is welcome. Thank you all

 

[happyhens1972]

Could you speak to the vet about cutting it back with a cauterising iron? Then there shouldn't be any significant bleeding. You may find though, that if he has cataracts, it won't help much. Maybe he needs more confined quarters.....at least for eating. Somewhere you can put him several times a day where the food is unmissable? Xx

 

[Frazzemrat1]

Honestly, I know what you are feeling. I went through similar feelings when my dog became geriatric. She went blind and deaf, suffered from doggie Alzheimer's and kidney disease... Eventually you have to decide when the quality of life is so low that its time. You have to remember that chickens don't live this long in the wild. As pets, we keep them safer and they live longer, opening them up to diseases they normally wouldn't have to deal with.
Personally, if it was me... I'd wait until he told me, when I knew it was time, and then quietly put him down.

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. He is a handsome little guy, and it is easy to see the cloudiness in his eyes. It may make it easier to keep him in a smaller space for most of the day, near food and water. Combs can be dubbed or removed, but that seems pretty drastic, and it would change his appearance, not mention be painful. Many people with game chickens dub rooster combs, so there is info online about this if interested.
Blindness in chickens can be caused by cataracts, infections, vitamin A or E deficiency, and early exposure to a virus called avian encephalomalacia or AE. He is pretty old, so I would probably let him live out his life without any intervening treatment.

 

[HenOnAJuneBug]

Maybe you could make some kind of device that would fit on his head and keep his comb more erect? Bent wire might be enough to do it.

 

[eldaness]

Thank you all. I appreciate all of these suggestions and any future ones to come. Going to share these with my parents.

 

[annmjensen]

A confined area sounds good - at least for a couple of times during the day so he can easily get to food/water. And do you feed pellets or crumbles? Whichever you do - maybe the other would be easier for him? Maybe test different color on him to see if he sees any better than others - then make his food/water dishes those colors? And have very bright light in the food/water area to help whatever vision he has left. And high contrast. like the dish a very different color than the food???

 

[eldaness]

Thank you for the response and suggestions. If he has a vitamin A and/or E deficiency, can I give him human ones (crushed, I imagine) or maybe there's some special chicken ones? Thank you.

Welcome to BYC. He is a handsome little guy, and it is easy to see the cloudiness in his eyes. It may make it easier to keep him in a smaller space for most of the day, near food and water. Combs can be dubbed or removed, but that seems pretty drastic, and it would change his appearance, not mention be painful. Many people with game chickens dub rooster combs, so there is info online about this if interested.
Blindness in chickens can be caused by cataracts, infections, vitamin A or E deficiency, and early exposure to a virus called avian encephalomalacia or AE. He is pretty old, so I would probably let him live out his life without any intervening treatment.

 

[eldaness]

Thank you for the suggestion. I'm just trying to figure out how I would be able to work it around his tiny widdle head. Maybe wrapping it around, applying some form of cushion over it?
Then I'm wondering if it'll cause him any more discomfort...
How would you try to do it?
Thank you

Maybe you could make some kind of device that would fit on his head and keep his comb more erect? Bent wire might be enough to do it.

 

[HenOnAJuneBug]

Thank you for the suggestion. I'm just trying to figure out how I would be able to work it around his tiny widdle head. Maybe wrapping it around, applying some form of cushion over it?
Then I'm wondering if it'll cause him any more discomfort...
How would you try to do it?
Thank you

I'd have to see closer pictures of his comb before I could come up with any specific ideas. It would be good to see what his comb looks like when it's not folded over.

Update: Nevermind. Your pictures are good enough. I just had to magnify them.