Sookie was out sick.
So this is the story.
One day, (about 3 weeks ago) I was out in the yard and found Sookie in the coop, immobile and panting on the grass.
I grabbed our pet taxi and rushed her to the Avain vet (the bird doctor).
There we met with Dr. Mohan. See picture.
The vet weighed her. Asked how old she was (3 months) and said that a bird her age should weigh closer to 3 pounds. Well, Sookie weighed less than a half pound. Yikes!
He did some throat cultures on her.
Checked her crop and said that it had SOME food in it but she felt VERY ill.
He gave her all kinds of shots and medicine. He gave us shots to give her, drops to give her and a feeding tube with food to mash up and give her. WOW.
$250.00 later, we got home and placed her in a box in the house with a heat lamp and just prayed that she would pull through.
We woke up the next morning and she was laying flat with her head in her water dish. Oh no. Not a good sign. Her feet were paralyzed also. Which is common in sick birds.
My husband thought we should stop her suffering and put her out of her misery. She looked just about dead. TERRIBLE.
But, we figured, we got the meds and stuff... let's go to work and see how she is when we get home.
We got home. She had her head up. SWEET! AND, she took her meds, ate some cucumber bits and looked a tad bit more alive.
So we waited. Went to bed. Got up and she was sitting up a little better. She drank water and ate food... and we pumped food into her stomach the night before, gave her her shots and meds.
As days passed, Sookie began to get better, slowly but everyday was better.
The results came back and she had a bacteria in her throat. Klebsiella.
I called the doctor, asked when she would stand up. And he said, if she's eating and drinking, she will stand soon. Just keep her from the rest of the flock for a couple weeks.
Sooooo, Sookie is all better. I will post a picture of her. She's become very tame and pet-like. However, when we introduced her back to the flock, her sisters, they did NOT accept her. We tried to put her in at night like I have been reading about... but no luck. Barb is a bitch and Ronald Reagan teams up to peck at her.
The pecking order is in full order.
So today, Sookie is hanging out in my fenced in garden. We will see how she does there for now.
Yeah Sookie!
Awww, I remember Dr. Mohan when I use to take my parrots to him. He is quite the character, isn't he?!!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like maybe this chicken is afraid of being around others, it gets nervous in a crowd, it has a little weight loss, it gets nervous giving speeches at school - maybe a prescription of Cymbalta is in order. Does the chicken have health insurance. Please check with your doctor before prescribing any GAD (General Anxiety Disorder) medications.
ReplyDeleteSo glad to hear that Sookie is doing better! I swear, when I read that part about her head being in her water bowl I almost lost my crap!
ReplyDeleteGreat blog, Jame! Keep it up!
Just out of curiosity, do you remember what kind of medicine or antibiotics the vet had you use? I generally use terramyacin on my chickens that you can just by at the tractor store for most of my chickens ailments but I'm always curious to see what others are doing.
ReplyDelete