M
Hi everyone,
well, yesterday was the day. One of my family's chickens has had a very bad leg for a long time. She developed a sort of growth on her leg that just kept growing till it fell off and then it would start over again. Here in Belgium we call this a wild flesh growth, I think it's called proud flesh in english, but I'm not sure. Basically it's just when a wound starts to heal that the flesh doesn't stop growing and forms a lump. It's a commen enough problem with chickens at times.
Well, it was pretty bad. It hurted her and restricted her mobility. Then a month back, when it fell of this time, it formed this huge gaping wound. She almost died of bloodloss. But we managed to bandage it up and save the poor little thing. But that wound just would not heal. It was just a big hole in her leg that never closed. The growth was so bad that it would grow around and into the bandage within a day. So everytime we changed it we'd end up tearing off skin, flesh and scabs. It's been horrible. She stopped using it and her toes just curled up in a weird way and we even had to trim her nails due to disuse. We tended to it as best we could but then last week she developed the infection we'd been dreading. With an open wound like that it was just a matter of time, despite antibiotic creams and ointments.
Now the wound was oozing and smelly. Nothing could help at this point. So yesterday my father and I decided it was time to take the poor old thing to the vet. We were going to put her to sleep and end her suffering. My little brother, despite being a big strong fellow, was the most heart broken. Strange how he can't handle the death of our farm animals when I'm normally the emotional one of the two. I guess I'm stronger in dealing with that part of life.
But once there the vet told us that he could just remove the leg and she might still be alright. Of course we agreed, despite it being a bit expensive. I figured if me, my brother and my dad split the cost it would be ok. So we got started. I even assisted the vet in the surgery. It was surprisingly fast and easy. It was a bit bloody and kinda gross but not as bad as one would expect. Though I admit I looked away when he cut the bone. Yikes! We were all surprised she came through the surgery so well. She's very old, almost 7 (old for a chicken). The whole thing took less then half an hour. Makes me feel bad we didn't do it sooner. But c'est la vie. One can't be expected to know everything.
This morning she was awake and alert again. Clucking away in her box in the veranda. We'll keep her there till the wound heals completely to avoid infection. She's on antibiotics for the next 4 days and doesn't seem to be in much pain. I imagine she's glad to be rid of that damned leg (pardon the language). She was already very hungry again since she's lost her appitite a bit this last week. And she'd gotten very skinny over the last month because it's been hard for her to get her share of the food. So I'll feed her grains, seeds and meat for awhile to get her strenght up. I call it the Chicken Power Food. She loved getting a big bowl. She'll need to put some fat on to get through the Belgian winter ok. Temperature can drop to minus 22 celcius here. Brrrr.
So in a week or so she'll hopefully rejoin her rooster and fellow chickens in the coup again. She'll have to learn how to walk again but I expect she'll do alright. She's tough and she's made it this far. My brother will never admit it but I could tell he was over the moon to have her come back alive, if not in one piece.
Putting animals to sleep is such a sad, if often nesessary, thing to do. Sometimes ending suffering is the last act of kindness and mercy to be given. So, I just had to share that. It made me very happy to be able to save her. It's amazing how tough chickens are. Even if she dies this week still, I'm happy we gave her every chance to pull through.
Anyone else have an amazing story about their animals? Feel free to share.
well, yesterday was the day. One of my family's chickens has had a very bad leg for a long time. She developed a sort of growth on her leg that just kept growing till it fell off and then it would start over again. Here in Belgium we call this a wild flesh growth, I think it's called proud flesh in english, but I'm not sure. Basically it's just when a wound starts to heal that the flesh doesn't stop growing and forms a lump. It's a commen enough problem with chickens at times.
Well, it was pretty bad. It hurted her and restricted her mobility. Then a month back, when it fell of this time, it formed this huge gaping wound. She almost died of bloodloss. But we managed to bandage it up and save the poor little thing. But that wound just would not heal. It was just a big hole in her leg that never closed. The growth was so bad that it would grow around and into the bandage within a day. So everytime we changed it we'd end up tearing off skin, flesh and scabs. It's been horrible. She stopped using it and her toes just curled up in a weird way and we even had to trim her nails due to disuse. We tended to it as best we could but then last week she developed the infection we'd been dreading. With an open wound like that it was just a matter of time, despite antibiotic creams and ointments.
Now the wound was oozing and smelly. Nothing could help at this point. So yesterday my father and I decided it was time to take the poor old thing to the vet. We were going to put her to sleep and end her suffering. My little brother, despite being a big strong fellow, was the most heart broken. Strange how he can't handle the death of our farm animals when I'm normally the emotional one of the two. I guess I'm stronger in dealing with that part of life.
But once there the vet told us that he could just remove the leg and she might still be alright. Of course we agreed, despite it being a bit expensive. I figured if me, my brother and my dad split the cost it would be ok. So we got started. I even assisted the vet in the surgery. It was surprisingly fast and easy. It was a bit bloody and kinda gross but not as bad as one would expect. Though I admit I looked away when he cut the bone. Yikes! We were all surprised she came through the surgery so well. She's very old, almost 7 (old for a chicken). The whole thing took less then half an hour. Makes me feel bad we didn't do it sooner. But c'est la vie. One can't be expected to know everything.
This morning she was awake and alert again. Clucking away in her box in the veranda. We'll keep her there till the wound heals completely to avoid infection. She's on antibiotics for the next 4 days and doesn't seem to be in much pain. I imagine she's glad to be rid of that damned leg (pardon the language). She was already very hungry again since she's lost her appitite a bit this last week. And she'd gotten very skinny over the last month because it's been hard for her to get her share of the food. So I'll feed her grains, seeds and meat for awhile to get her strenght up. I call it the Chicken Power Food. She loved getting a big bowl. She'll need to put some fat on to get through the Belgian winter ok. Temperature can drop to minus 22 celcius here. Brrrr.
So in a week or so she'll hopefully rejoin her rooster and fellow chickens in the coup again. She'll have to learn how to walk again but I expect she'll do alright. She's tough and she's made it this far. My brother will never admit it but I could tell he was over the moon to have her come back alive, if not in one piece.
Putting animals to sleep is such a sad, if often nesessary, thing to do. Sometimes ending suffering is the last act of kindness and mercy to be given. So, I just had to share that. It made me very happy to be able to save her. It's amazing how tough chickens are. Even if she dies this week still, I'm happy we gave her every chance to pull through.
Anyone else have an amazing story about their animals? Feel free to share.