Post by Deleted on Mar 14, 2008 16:50:23 GMT -5
Took a trip to the vet today. I noticed one of our hens doing some weird movement with her neck last week. I don't pick them up or hold them so I didn't notice she had an enlarged craw (crop). I read on line that eventually she would starve to death so something needed to be done. Called our local farm animal vet and miraculously he said that he has never done it before. The surgery I mean. He suggested a vet who turned out to be an hour away. Soooo we called the vet up and made an appointment for this afternoon. We just got back.
I had researched this on line and knew that the vet would cut open the skin on her chest after removing some of her feathers and then would cut thru into the craw (crop). Then he would pull out all the undigested mass of stuff that would be sitting there not allowing food to get into her stomach.
So I was all ready with the digital camera to take photos to post for everyone so that we could all learn from this and the vet put his hand on my arm and said "you don't want to have to pay me what it would cost to do surgery on this older chicken". Well yea....I kind of did. I was going to consider it like paying for a class. I wanted to see how it was done and if by some chance this happens again to my chickens "I" would be able to do it myself. I am getting big on that self-sufficiency thing. Well as it turned out he did not do the surgery. He massaged her great hard crop and told me that I needed to give her Pedialite to keep her alive and that we needed to also put mineral oil or other oils down her so that it would loosen it up so that it could eventually pass and that we also need to give her some crushed pineapple. He said that the enzymes in the pineapple would help break down the mass in her crop. He did not know if any of this would be successful because he said that once the crop is stretched out too far then it doesn't go back down and tears or something. So anyway we stopped and bought Pedialite (first time ever purchase) and we have crushed pineapple so we have given her some mineral oil and have crushed pineapple in the cat carrier with her. I massaged and massaged the mass. He showed me on my upper arm how hard I needed to do it in order to break it down. The little hen, a light brahma, my favorite breed, didn't protest at all. She sat on my lap and let me squeeze and moosh it around.
I startd to protest that Yes, in fact, I do want to pay for the surgery he told me that he would have to use gas anesthesia (anesthesia..are you kidding me?) and then explained the surgery and said that the crop is difficult to work with because it doesn't always want to grow back together after it is cut into. But...but...but...I brought my camera and everything. I told him that I had seen on the internet a woman that is a surgical nurse had done it herself at home and that one of the chicken books even explained how to do it yourself. We then had the conversation about how much pain animals feel etc. and in the end I didn't get my surgery. I may have not been able to do it myself anyway. But I was really looking forward to taking pictures to post so everyone could see how it was done and could possibly do it themselves if it needed to be done.
I really wish this vet was closer to my home. He was the most wonderful vet. I instantly liked him. I usually prefer women vets but I could tell how much he cared about animals. He told me that when he went to vet school 30 years ago (he's probably around my age now) as part of the schooling he had to work some at a slaughterhouse/stockyard and said how truly horrific it was to see how the cows were treated. He gave up meat for a long time he said and didn't eat hot dogs and sausages for even longer. He seemed like a very empathetic person. I like that in a vet.
Janet
I had researched this on line and knew that the vet would cut open the skin on her chest after removing some of her feathers and then would cut thru into the craw (crop). Then he would pull out all the undigested mass of stuff that would be sitting there not allowing food to get into her stomach.
So I was all ready with the digital camera to take photos to post for everyone so that we could all learn from this and the vet put his hand on my arm and said "you don't want to have to pay me what it would cost to do surgery on this older chicken". Well yea....I kind of did. I was going to consider it like paying for a class. I wanted to see how it was done and if by some chance this happens again to my chickens "I" would be able to do it myself. I am getting big on that self-sufficiency thing. Well as it turned out he did not do the surgery. He massaged her great hard crop and told me that I needed to give her Pedialite to keep her alive and that we needed to also put mineral oil or other oils down her so that it would loosen it up so that it could eventually pass and that we also need to give her some crushed pineapple. He said that the enzymes in the pineapple would help break down the mass in her crop. He did not know if any of this would be successful because he said that once the crop is stretched out too far then it doesn't go back down and tears or something. So anyway we stopped and bought Pedialite (first time ever purchase) and we have crushed pineapple so we have given her some mineral oil and have crushed pineapple in the cat carrier with her. I massaged and massaged the mass. He showed me on my upper arm how hard I needed to do it in order to break it down. The little hen, a light brahma, my favorite breed, didn't protest at all. She sat on my lap and let me squeeze and moosh it around.
I startd to protest that Yes, in fact, I do want to pay for the surgery he told me that he would have to use gas anesthesia (anesthesia..are you kidding me?) and then explained the surgery and said that the crop is difficult to work with because it doesn't always want to grow back together after it is cut into. But...but...but...I brought my camera and everything. I told him that I had seen on the internet a woman that is a surgical nurse had done it herself at home and that one of the chicken books even explained how to do it yourself. We then had the conversation about how much pain animals feel etc. and in the end I didn't get my surgery. I may have not been able to do it myself anyway. But I was really looking forward to taking pictures to post so everyone could see how it was done and could possibly do it themselves if it needed to be done.
I really wish this vet was closer to my home. He was the most wonderful vet. I instantly liked him. I usually prefer women vets but I could tell how much he cared about animals. He told me that when he went to vet school 30 years ago (he's probably around my age now) as part of the schooling he had to work some at a slaughterhouse/stockyard and said how truly horrific it was to see how the cows were treated. He gave up meat for a long time he said and didn't eat hot dogs and sausages for even longer. He seemed like a very empathetic person. I like that in a vet.
Janet