I have been struggling with what to do for the best for Sienna. Over Easter I considered taking her to the vet but then she seemed to bounce back again. My youngest son and daughter in law visited over Easter and went in the run to see the girls.
I explained my dilemma and Sienna made what I had thought was her sneeze sound. My daughter in law said that it didn’t sound like a sneeze but more like a hiccup. I decided to leave Sienna until after Easter. We then noticed that the hiccup, squeak, sound she was making was becoming much more frequent. I started to think that it wasn’t a sneeze after all. The other girls make a sneeze sound which is similar to us sneezing but Sienna was making a squeak sound.
I thought that maybe I should take her to the vet for her to listen to because if it was a sneeze I would have to think about the myco and the other girls but if it wasn’t a sneeze maybe I could just leave her be and maybe it was an egg problem as she wasn’t laying.
I got an appointment today and put Sienna in the cat box and drove the five minutes to the vet. In that short time Sienna went rapidly down hill. Sienna was struggling to breath and making a wheezing sound. The vet said that the stress of putting her in a cat box shouldn’t have caused this much of a reaction. The vet listened to her and said that she was in heart failure.
The vet said that she must have hatched with a heart defect and she was lucky to have had a happy year with us. She said this was why she wasn’t laying and that the squeak was also being caused by this. The vet said she had rapidly become stressed because her heart couldn’t cope with something as simple as being put in the cat box.
The vet said she had a crackle in her breathing and her heart was beating so hard that it could be felt by putting my hand under abdomen. Her heart felt as if it was beating out of her body. The vet said that if I hadn’t bought her in today it would have happened some time soon and there was nothing that I could have done for her.
We agreed that the kindest thing was to put her to sleep right away. I held Sienna while the vet tried to find a vain in her wing but because she was shutting down there were no veins to inject. The vet gave her the injection in her breast and Sienna didn’t even wince or show any sign that she noticed. Sienna went really quickly which the vet said was a sign of how weak her heart was.
We have been so unlucky lately but on the other hand I felt relieved that it was heart failure. It wasn’t the dreaded myco, wasn’t contagious and there wasn’t anything I could have done for her. The vet said that Sienna had been lucky to have had a year with me.
Sienna yesterday
I had a feeling this day was coming soon so I tried to get a good photo of Sienna yesterday. This was the best one.
We have lost two girls in the space of two weeks. I really hope that things will settle down now.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
Sorry to hear about Sienna – you really have had a rough time of it!
At least it was an easy decision this time.
Onwards and upwards and here’s to a healthy flock from here on!
Thank you. You are right. I hope now with this behind us we can continue with a healthy flock.
Oh Carol, I’m soooo sorry to read this! 🙁 I think this was the problem with Vi too – she had a heart attack and died whilst I was holding her. You so did the right thing and like Jenny said hopefully you will have some luck now with the rest of your flock. Sleep tight Sienna xx
I’m still feeling a bit shell shocked at the moment. I think these little girls are less robust than bigger girls. I thought Sienna was going to die while the vet went to fetch the injection. I hope now we can move on. I will do a tribute to her tomorrow, I was rather shocked today and rushed the post out to keep everyone informed.
I am so sorry. It hurts.
It does hurt and I am missing her presence in the run today. I am just putting together some photos of her. She was such a pretty and gentle girl.
So sorry to hear this news, and so soon after all your last heart break.
I hope so much that this is the last of your girls problems.
I really hope this is the end of our run of bad luck and things can settle back to normal now.
I suppose that the lack of egg laying had to be an indication of something wrong – how sad for her that it seems something congenital. As with all your girls, Carol, past and present, hyou give the veery best of care and Sienna has enjoyed a lovely life with you, albeit short. So sorry.
I already knew that something must be wrong because she wasn’t laying. I kept willing her to lay to prove that she was okay but it wasn’t to be. I guess we were lucky to have had her a year.