Unsecure chicken perches

[hippy chick]

Fifi my 2 and half year old ex-bat has peritonitis. She hasn't laid for months and when she was laying her eggs were mostly soft shelled. A few days ago she started to stand with her legs really wide apart and her belly felt really tight. I took her to the vet yesterday and he said that she has peritonitis. He has given her some amoxycare and said that if she doesn't rally in the next couple of days then she will have to go back to the vets. I asked the vet about having her PTS but he said that she deserved a chance. He said that they often pick up fairly quickly.I feel really guilty for letting her suffer like this. She has gotten to the stage where she is sleeping all the time, I have to keep waking her to give her a drink. She is due back at the vets tomorrow but I'm fearing the worst. Has anyone ever had success treating peritonitis.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Yes, I have so don't despair . The vet prescribed Baytril, Metacam and Critical Care Formula and after a week or so, she was right as rain. That was in May and she's been fine ever since.

 

Fingers crossed for Fifi .

[hippy chick]

That's good to hear, I seem to only ever hear bad news about it. I really hope that she starts to get better, this is the chuck that was attacked by my bunny last year and she is one of my favourites.

[hippy chick]

I had to take Fifi back to the vets this afternoon and they put her to sleep. She had been laid asleep all the time the past few days and was barely breathing. I couldn't even wake her to give her water. Her abdomen had turned deep purple and was really hard.The vet said that the purple was blood poisoning and that there was no hope for her. Poor thing she has been through so much over the past few years, but at least she isn't going to suffer any more.

R.I.P Fifi sweet dreams little angel

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Oh no, I'm so sorry . It must have been fairly advanced .

[hippy chick]

That's the thing is she has only seemed ill for a few days. Admittedly she stopped laying about a month ago but she was going through a really bad moult, and I thought it was because of that. He said her abdomen was full of tumours. I can't believe I didn't notice her being ill sooner. She was acting totally normal eating and trotting around with the rest of them. I feel so guilty, I promised myself I'd do the best for them but it looks like I missed this one

[Ain't Nobody Here]

I was going to say, please don't blame yourself . They hide these things really well till it's often too late .

[Olly]

So sorry to hear that. As ANH has said, it can be very hard to tell when they are ill because they disguise it so well - she probably wasn't displaying any obvious symptoms until the point when you spotted them.

[LunaKiw1]

So sorry to hear about Fifi. We lost both ours to peritonitis a few weeks ago. The vet found Ginger's to be quite advanced - she had started passing horrible lashes all the time but in other ways had still seemed herself - and Pepper had just started to do a few too. The vet said he thought she was going the same way but would maybe be a few weeks behind. We only had the two so felt it kindest to let them be PTS together. I too felt guilty at not having identified anything earlier but it seems they can have peritonitis for months even before the symptoms get bad enough to notice. We've now got 3 new chooks and although they'll never replace our first girls, they are making their own place in our hearts

[nikkichick]

I'm really sorry to hear about your lost lady.

 

I'm facing a possible PTS with one of my girls at the moment due to some unknown illness. The thought makes me feel sick.

 

Hope the rest of your girls are well.

 

Don't blame yourself. x

[hippy chick]

LunaKiw1 so sorry to hear about your 2 girls but I'm glad you got some new ladies, life is definitely not the same without chickens.

 

Oh Nikkichick I hope that your girl gets better

 

Its unbelievable how much these girlie's get under our skin. It never seems to get any easier when they die.

Blooming chickens they really do tug at the heart strings don't they.

[scarlettohara]

So sorry, I dread this happening to my ex-bats. You did absolutely the right thing.