Caramel’s visit to the vet

I am going to update even though I know I have covered a lot of this in the comments but I want to give the full story.

Yesterday we had our busiest day for a long time and I felt torn about wanting to take Caramel to the vet and needing to get the work done. We were flat out all day in the heat and I worried about Caramel all day but I felt glad that at least she was still eating.

This morning I was really worried because Caramel wasn’t eating and I know that if a chicken doesn’t eat they go down hill fast and she is too small to not eat for long. I decided to give her sugar water from a pipette to the side of her beak and it did seem to give her a burst of energy.

I then rang my usual vet and they said that the guy I usually see, who is the only one with chicken experience, was on holiday for a couple of weeks. They said they couldn’t help me and I should try somewhere else.

I remembered that I had taken my friend Jackie to a vet in Bourne End, which is near me, when she had to have her old girl, Clover put to sleep.

I rang them and explained the situation and they told me to bring Caramel in right away. They were amazing and I have now registered with them and will use them in the future. They had told me that they had their first appointment at 10.00am and if I went in straight away, it was now 9.00am, they would get me in first.

They were so good with Caramel. They weighed her first and then the vet sluiced her eye with saline and cleaned around it with a cotton bud in saline. She then gave her antibiotic eye drops to start treating from the outside. She then gave her baytril, antibiotic, through her beak and then a pain killer through her beak. She then gave her lubricant drops to her eye.

She has given me lubricant drops to give her twice a day and the baytril, antibiotic, plus the pain killer, to give in her beak once a day. She asked me to return at 9.00am tomorrow so that she can check on her.

I was pleased that when I returned her to the patio area she went straight to the food dish but I then had to go out to do my lunch deliveries.

On my return I separated Caramel and gave her sunflower seeds and corn and realised that she is having trouble picking them up. She wants to eat but pecks and misses a lot of the time, only swallowing a few seeds. She seems to be struggling to see them accurately.

I gave her some more sugar water to her beak to keep her strength up.

Unfortunately she is scratching at her eye which is probably what is adding dirt and making it worse every time it starts to get better. I am thinking of letting the vet clean it again in the morning.

At bedtime she went into the chicken shed first once more and was later followed by Pebbles.

My plan of action is to give the medications and drops but also to put her in the cat box a few times a day with a choice of food items. I will put in water and chopped pellets, sunflower hearts, corn and chopped grapes, to give her a chance to eat what ever she can without any competition. I will also give her sugar water each time I give her her meds.

I hope this will help to keep her strength up. The next few days will be crucial. If she can continue to eat enough she could recover but she must eat.

She has been sat by the water which is a typical poorly chicken thing.

She is staying by the water

She is trying to eat

She has been trying to eat pellets which is good. She has her eye open sometimes and closed at other times and I have noticed it closes when she tries to eat.

The next few days are going to be crucial to her. If I can keep her eating enough she has a chance of beating this but I know from past experience that she mustn’t give up on eating.

I will update again once we have been back to the vet tomorrow. I am keeping everything crossed.