Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Gaia Chickens 1st Vet Appointment, Chicken Xrays! & A Surprise visitor at the Vet Clinic!

Today I took Gaia to her 1st vet appointment. She was a good little trooper through all the exams & shots. But I also have to say the Vet and staff are so good with the chickens and kind.. I can't help but smile when I see how well they treat and handle the chickens just like any other animal that has been brought in. And I love that about them! I have been to vets that question treating chickens and ask why I just don't kill her and to have a vet and staff that show respect and love for them it is heart warming and I could never trust anyone else to treat them.. :)
She had lots done and she was a good little trooper all day. First they weighed her and she weighs 4lbs. She is under weight and her keel bone is sticking out. I think she should be around 6lbs. Then we had to wait for a few minutes so she decided to try to fly and land on the chair and fell off so I picked her up and sat her back on her chair... where she stayed till the vet came in and she walked over onto my lap and was trying to peck me in the face while I was talking to our vet...lol ... He examined her and her belly is distended a little bit...Then they took a fecal sample to check for worms... Then swabbed her Crop to check for sour crop which is a fungal infection, while he gave me a mouth & throat anatomy lesson.  Then she got to walk around the room for a while and poop on the floor...lol... Then they came back and got her to get an ultrasound which they didn't find anything on so the did two xrays.





Test results...
Fecal: as far as they can tell she didn't have anything. But they gave her a shot for worms just in case...
Crop Swab: Not sure but she is on sour crop meds now to see if that helps her.
Ultrasound: Inconclusive
X-rays: They showed a few things... One her bone health is not very good. Her bones should be pretty solid in the xray and they are speckled...very speckled! Which means she is not getting enough calcium, or not absorbing it properly, or something is leaching calcium from her.... 2nd her crop is very full. Not as big as it was the other night..and he said that could be the right size for her..maybe.. but it looked pretty full.So he was a little worried about that... It also showed a very white round"something" in her belly/intestine... I am not sure where exactly... he said it could be metal causing metal toxicity or just a dense small rock...


So for now she was given a shot for worms and other parasites.
She was given a shot to slow the diarrhea
She was given meds for fungal infection in her crop (Sour crop)
And she was given an antibiotic just in case she picked something bacterial up...
O yeah and she also had some Sub Q fluids

We are going to watch her. Make sure she is eating and drinking... And hop that she gets better. If not next is blood work to show if something else is going on. He sounded pretty worried about her bones and said if this doesn't work it could end up being something rare like Leukemia! So please keep her in your thoughts a prayers...  He said if she doesn't get better with this that the next step would be blood work, and then exploratory to see what the opaque white round thing is...

So I really hope this works and we don't have to take it that far.

So since she was so great and had such a long day I brought her home and let her free range in my moms front yard for an hour of so. She also had some spinach, blueberries, and strawberries on the way home. Plus the girls gave her 3 grapes and some more blueberries when she was running around in the yard enjoying the sun and grass. She looked very happy and didn't seem bothered by the days events at all!





But I will post Xrays later if the vet will send them to me...

On a brighter note... There was a Bald Eagle (Thunder) (click the link and it will take you to her page)at the vet clinic when I was leaving... Well I was supposed to be leaving ... I stopped and talked to the guy who had brought her in first.  She is gourgous and is part of the West Virginia Raptor Rehab. She was found after being shot when she was 3 or 4 years old. She didn't have her white head yet at that point. Eagles don't get the white till around 5 years of age...  She was shot through the left leg and it caught her wing and her wing had to have part removed at the end so she has lived with the Raptor guy for 20 years now. She weighs 14lbs her wingspan is 7 1/2 feet (if she would still have her wing tip) She can't fly. But she was so gorgeous! It was amazing to see her so up close and it just gives you such respect for them. She is having problems with the muscle in her left leg now so she was going to be xrayed



They also have facebook
And a running list of things needed on a donation list on amazon
I take all our Ferrets and Chickens to The Cheat lake Animal Hospital in Morgantown WV. They are all awesome. The staff is great and answer all my questions. Our chickens normally see Dr. Fallon but can be seen by Dr. Amy too. And our ferrets see Dr. Amy but can see Dr. Fallon too... They are both great!!!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

She was gone for a while, stern in the room, on the floor, and then they come back, let her get an ultrasound examination, so they do not find any two X-ray.

appointment setting