Physical therapy for one gosling that was having a hard time standing. Warm water, deep enough for it to paddle in!
After therapy, drying off and getting some well deserved snuggles!
Same gosling right after getting in the water bowl (oops).
Category: Animal Health Page 1 of 3
I raised cortunix quail several years ago and impulsively bought a bunch of young chicks from a fellow vendor at a farmer’s market. So cute! So small!
I already had a brooder setup, using a watering trough plus cover plus light. Puppy pads were bedding because the first few days I like to make sure they don’t eat the bedding. Chick sized feeders, quail sized waterers (shallow and narrow so they can’t drown). They were quickly snuggled into their spot, shown the water and food, and seemed happy for a couple of days…
….and then they started dying off. Day 3-5 I lost almost half the group. No particular reason! I started asking around and apparently that’s the norm now? Seems they don’t transition to feed and once the yolk sac is gone, so are they. I do NOT remember that from all the babies I raised! I hatched out almost a hundred and didn’t lose that much…so it appears the lines are weaker now.
And the SMELL. OMG. I thought the ducks were bad as babies…but these were worse. Yes, it’s possible. Ducks smelled like wet feed, these smelled like rotting feed. And the FEATHER DUST…my allergies said no more. They were dustier than all the chickens and ducks combined. Below is a picture of the mess from two days…and not that many birds for the area. Ugh.
Found out the breeder I got mine from had lost a bunch due to power outages from a storm…half jokingly offered to sell back the ones I had left. They accepted and a day later…I’m done with quail. Experiment over.
Unless I can find a line that doesn’t have 40-50% chick mortality, and raise outside on wire bottoms, they are not worth it for me…chalk this one up to experience! A disappointing one…but last I checked they were happily being used as breeders so it worked out.
So all those videos claiming how easy quail are? They leave the hard stuff out. You’ve been warned!
I somehow missed this post back then the ducks were hatching! Better late than never 🙂
I had one duck in an egg that just took his sweeet little time hatching. Problem was, the moms were stomping his egg and he wasn’t ready (note the bright red membranes). So I brought him in to keep an eye on him, using the heat from the brooder heat on him.
First coming in after I cleaned off the broken shell pieces:
A better look at him (no, I didn’t peel anything extra, this was the damage from the moms stomping him). I used some liquid coconut oil to moisten the edges of the shell where the membrances were to stop him from getting “shrinkwrapped” (membranes dry and trap the baby). Then I placed him in a small 1 quart cup with damp paper towels underneath and put him in the brooder directly under the light.
He stayed like this for 24 hours!
Caveat…always give them enough time to come out on their own. 24 hours seemed forever for this guy to just be sitting in the shell, but that’s how long it took before the veins in the shell membrane were gone! Had I tried to get him out too early, he would have probably died from blood loss. Make the conditions as good as you can and then wait…
Then…I looked over and he decided he’d had enough and gave a HUGE kick and tada!!! Freedom! I didn’t even have time to get a picture…
However, he wasn’t done yet since the umbilical cord area had not closed up (barely visible here).
I changed the paper towels and removed all the shell/membrane pieces and gave him some freshly dampened paper towels to lay on. I also placed a small amount of triple antibiotic ointment on the open naval area.
He stayed in the cup for another 12 hours until he was dry and the navel dried. The puppy pads were about to be changed in this picture…ducks are messy!
Once dry, a final inspection (including a sniff from Rudy, who never cared about baby birds oddly) and he was added to the group.
A few hours later…Can you tell which one he is? He ended up blending right in and had no issues!
WARNING: VERY GRAPHIC PICTURES AT BOTTOM!!!!!
A good sized (6 foot plus) gator managed to get into the pond without me noticing. Had I know it was there, I would not have let the geese in the yard-but they were free ranging on the property that day.
The gator snuck up on and grabbed one of my geese! Someone was outside and got me after noticing the goose flapping frantically across the pond…and then noticed the gator following it.
I ran outside and grabbed the goose out of the weeds at the pond’s edge, less than six feet away from the gator who was still coming for its dinner! Too late though…the gator had already torn large chunks of skin off my poor baby. Luckily for me, the gator stayed in the water.
After getting the rest of the flock to go into the fenced area (not an easy task while holding one of them), I took her inside to try and treat her. I sprayed her wounds with Vetericyn Wound Spray and put gauze pads dampened with the same spray over the open areas. She ended up with 2 large areas and several smaller areas down to the muscle
I then wrapped her with vet wrap to hold the gauze in place and put her in a plastic carrier with puppy pads in it (bedding would stick to the wounds). She was in the shower enclosure and I closed the door so she’d stay warm, leaving the light on for her and checking her every 20 min. I offered her a bowl of warm water with a little molasses in it, she drank about half of it during the rest of the day.
A couple hours later on one of my checks I noticed she was breathing heavily. My heart sank as I somehow knew this was the end. I picked her up and held her and comforted her the best I could, tell her what a good girl she is. She laid her head on my shoulder and calmed down…and then shortly passed away.
RIP girl…you were loved.
I hate this part of having animals.
(and no, no animal is allowed to free range any more until I figure out how to keep alligators out of a pond)
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For those who may be trying to figure out what got their animal, I’m including her injury pictures. Please do not share without permission.
Stay tuned for the secret, magical instrument that keeps my rabbit’s nails from being the Destroyer of Human Flesh (TM)!
I will soon unveil…right here…right for you…my secret. And no books to buy, subscriptions to start, videos to watch (yet).
Are you ready?
Got your wallet out?
Because …it’s….toenail clippers!
Wait…what??? Just regular human toenail clippers?
YES!
But seriously…I prefer the heavier duty nail clippers (like for men’s toenails) to any guillotine type animal clippers. Easier to handle and they don’t slip while you’re halfway done cutting.
My current set is these from amazon…because…they’re cheap enough in price that when I lose them (and I will), it won’t be a huge drain on the finances!
So you don’t need anything fancy. Just grab some nail clippers and go for it!
It rained…a lot ….6 inches in 3 days and still coming down. So the dogs can’t just stay outside and I end up letting them in and out a few times more than normal.
As I’m bringing them in, both of them looked next to the brooder and jump a foot back! Anything that startles the dogs is never a good thing!
So I carefulyyyyy check behind the brooder…and there in the shadows is a red and orange rope that suddenly coils up and tried to look fierce!
I don’t mind good snakes, aka nope ropes. I encourage then to hang out in the yard and am sad when one doesn’t win in a fight against a lawnmower.
BUT…..I draw the line when they go after my animals. There are enough mice and rats and even lizards, so when something eyes a baby quail I am not happy.
I managed to get the dogs inside and get help holding a flashlight to find the red rat snake.
Next thing Mr. Rat snake knows, it’s being grabbed up by a pair of rubber tipped grabbers and unceremoniously ushered out in the yard , rain or no rain.
A quick head count shows that I was right on time as the snake had not gotten into the brooder yet…whew. This snake was small enough that the wire on top would have let him get in for dinner.
It’s for these reason I try and keep some wire on hand…a grinder, tin snips, and 5 feet of 1/4″ hardware cloth later the quail had another layer of wire on their brooder. Then I did the same for the chick brooder to hopefully prevent any successful snake snacking!
Update: It’s been a month and no missing chicks of either type 🙂
I’m not sure which one of us was more scared at the end me or her… It was just a normal feeding time. They get a small handful of pellets at night only because the smallest one needs the extra nutrition and there’s no way to feed her without giving the other two a little something.
I stay pretty close to them while they’re eating to keep the big two from pushing the little one out of her bucket. I was feeding the other animals and watching them and noticed Lizzie dad started shaking her head. As I watched her she started flinging it more frantically but was not crying. She is a very vocal goat so this made me realize something was wrong.
I ran over and scooped her up into my arm-luckily she only weighs 20 pounds at this point. I put her head along my left arm and thumped her sides with my right hand while tipping her facing downwards. I then slung my arm toward the ground hoping to dislodge whatever she was choking on. The 2nd time I did it a huge wad of powdered powdered pellets and slime flew out of her mouth.
She started yelling bloody murder and freaking out despite my attempts to calm her down so I ended up setting her on the ground. She staggered a distance away and stood there pitifully yelling sounding like she had a very hoarse throat. From the way she was swaying on her feet it was clear that she was close to having passed out.
About 5 minutes later later she decided that she wanted the rest of her dinner and slowly approached me approached me to get more pellets. I only gave her a little bit because I figured her throat would be sore after all that.
But 20 minutes later she was more active and ran for the hay feeder although she was not still her normal hyper self. I’m hoping everything’s OK but I’ll feel better after some time has passed. Managed to scare the heck out of both of us. I’ve had to do the sling method to clear the throat of a choking duck before but this is the 1st time I’ve ever had to do it on something that big. I’m thankful she’s small enough I could pick her up.
Update: I watched her closely the next few days and she appeared to have no ill effects. I asked my vet about it and he said if she’s not coughing or running a fever, she’s good. Next up, finding a way to slow her down from eating huge mouthfuls.
This sucks. I know some people consider that a curse word but there’s no other way to put it.
(If you’ve been through this with a beloved pet I’m going to warn you now this may bring back memories and not necessarily pleasant ones…don’t read if you are affected easily)
I’m on second day and everywhere I look, everything reminds me of him. Everything I do…every daily routine…there’s a hole.
Started this morning with my alarm randomly deciding not to go off and he wasn’t my backup. He used to start walking around me, making sure to get close enough to my head the second or third loop to step on my hair. Somehow he managed to stiff leg himself and thump thump thump pointedly by…whereas normally you barely noticed he was there.
There was no “get up now” paw to my head…then to my nose.. and if I really ignored him I’d get a soft paw on the eyelid. Next up would be a single lick to the head…then cheek…then nose…and I learned quick not to let it get to the eyelid. Nothing weirder I can think of than having a cat lick your eyelid at 5am!
Now I’m up and in the bathroom. There’s no one sitting at my feet waiting for me to pet his head and remember to change his water. No one dashing ahead of me out of the door to the kitchen.
Even the routine of feeding the dogs is different. Used to be, they got fed and back in their play area while I fed him, and then they got to get their Kongs outside. This morning I brought them in and realized…now there’s no reason to put them in the pen. I did anyway but it was odd.
Every time I eat, I’m not being given undivided attention by a pair of yellow eyes. No paw patting me on the arm or leg asking for a taste or seven or heck, the whole thing. At lunch I tossed my paper plate on the ground for him to clean off and felt like the world’s biggest idiot .
Decided to try and take a nap to maybe forget for a little while how I was feeling…laid down on the couch and found myself making room for him to join me. We took naps many times together with him at my feet, against my leg, or curled up against my stomach. This time…I just couldn’t do it and gave up on a nap.
It’s put trash out day so I decided to dump his litterbox…and found out I couldn’t. I just couldn’t throw it away when I could see the little divots his paws made in the silica litter. I felt dumb…I can’t keep a litterbox….so I compromised. Got a baggie and scooped up the clean litter where his paw divots were. The rest went out and the baggie went back in the box until I can let that go too. It’s clean litter, I had just changed it.
Seeing his spot on top of some boxes I made into steps for him to see out of the window was breaking my heart every time I walked by. I decided to clean up and rearrange the stuff there…and broke down when a clump of his loose fur was in the corner. I am dreading house cleaning as I know how much fur is still around.
Dinner time was quiet and I had to throw away my crumbs and remembered not to drop my plate on the floor. Went to take a bath and put my towel on the tub like I always did so he could jump up without sliding off and then realized what I was doing. The last few years, Rudy loved to sit on the side of the tub and I would wipe him down with wet hands and rub his fur until he was slightly damp. Then he’d spend the next half hour putting his fur back in order while I got ready for bed. I figured he had trouble reaching some areas and appreciated the help.
Now it’s bedtime. Caught myself waiting for him to run down the hallway for his nightly snack of treats. Found myself looking down coming out of the bathroom so I didn’t trip on him. Worst of all…I’m laying in bed realizing I’m waiting for him to join me.
I know this is going to take some time…but in the meantime…this Sucks. Capital S.
I miss you buddy.
Day 2. I woke up and Rudy was sleeping on the floor-odd for him as he preferred soft surfaces and was usually either in my bed, my chair, or my laundry basked. I took care of the dogs as usual and checked his litter box…nothing. Not even much pee. Usually he drank water like a camel and peed twice as much. He got his third dose at 8am and was really not happy with it.
He still had not asked for food…and that was always my tipping point. I always told myself if he stopped eating that would be when I would know it was time to let go.
I offered him some beef broth, he turned and walked away. I tried heating it up, same thing. I finally opened a can of canned chicken meat and offered him the juice. He did drink all of that but stopped and didn’t want anything else…even more juice or chicken broth. This is the cat I fondly called “a stomach on four legs” or “self propelled eating machine”…refusing food.
This is when I realized we were in trouble. His stomach was now tight and when he laid on his side looked like a small basketball. He was walking a weird high step walk, I’m thinking from the pain/bloating. He would not jump up onto his favorite window spot and barely made it up onto the couch. He had only groomed a small part of his side. I got the brush out and brushed him shiny while listening to him purr. I decided to spend the day hanging out with him and everything else would have to wait.
What did we do? We took a long nap on the couch…him sleeping more than me. Watched a movie (I can’t remember what). I petted and cuddled him until he had enough and put his paw on my face and then we went back to just being on the couch. His breathing was getting harder and the suspected nasal polyp was making him “snore” even when awake. He was obviously uncomfortable and not happy.
At my lunch time he finally expressed a real interest in something….my steak. It was delicious and smelled great and he kept putting his paw on my arm and staring at me…I was happy to see his old self shine through for a little while. Heading the vet’s advice but having a bad feeling about how the day was going to go, I gave him a tiny sliver of the fat and let him have the juice of the plate. He only wanted one of the two slivers I offered him, when normally we’d be sharing it a lot more.
Then I got out an ice cream bar…strawberry shortcake type. He sat next to me looking at it…when I realized it was technically not a solid food I let him have some. And he took full advantage and licked half away! I said well, what the heck…and got another one to share.
By the time half of that had been licked clean, it was time for the vet visit. I put him in the carrier and headed back into town.
This time I only had a wait a couple of minutes before they came in and took him back for a follow up x-ray. Upon hearing the news that nothing had come out, and he wasn’t asking for his food, the vet tried to hide his wince but I noted it.
A couple of minutes later he came back in without my kitty and asked me to come look at the x-ray. With a sinking feeling I followed him. Rudy was still on the table looking at me with huge eyes while the vet assistant was petting him. I took one look at the x-ray and my heart fell… It showed oversized air filled intestines and even looked like it was pushing into the lung area. The vet pointed to one area and said “he’s developed mega colon”.
I’ll admit it…I started crying right there. I knew there was no easy coming back once this had developed. I had a good idea of the seriousness of it from my research into it in rabbits. Rudy was looking at me with even bigger eyes so I picked him up over my shoulder like he liked to be carried and tried to talk to the vet through tears. I asked again, just in case, if there was anything other than surgery…vet said the lack of fecal matter after that much laxative meant the medicine path wasn’t going to work. By then I was having a lot of trouble talking due to being upset so we went back into the examination room.
Once there, I was able to calm myself down enough to talk. Once again we discussed surgery and the risks and unlikely positive outcome at his age and condition. I looked at the vet and said OK, then it’s time. He asked me if I wanted to take him home and let anyone say goodbye and bring him back tomorrow. The look on my face must’ve been like shock and I blurted out the first thing in my mind-“he’s in pain, how can I knowingly let him suffer like this longer????? Who would do that?!?!?! “The vet looked at the assistant and said ok, we’ll be back.
I have to stop here. The next part is not for the faint of heart and breaks mine just trying to write it. But the decision had been made.
(Part 1 here, when it started)
At 215pm, I was in the vet’s office with my cat worried and dreading what they would find. I suspected he was blocked, and since it had never happened before (not with bowel movements) I knew it was not good.
His regular vet was not available but the other vets that are there have been good so finally it was our turn to go in. I explained what happened to the vet assistant and had brought along the baggie of plastic pieces. She thought they looked like a twist tie too, but I told her no metal found and I haven’t had anything with that kind of tie in the house in weeks. At first she thought I had found them in the litter box so I had to re explain it was in his throw up. I also emphasized that he had never eaten non food objects before except grass and straw!
A few minutes later the vet came in and felt around his stomach. I explained the symptoms again and how he was uncomfortable looking to me, even though if you didn’t know him he looked OK. Since he did not feel anything outwardly wrong, he asked if I wanted an X-Ray and blood work, which I agreed to. One thing I like about this vet office is they do not push services on you and always ask what you want done.
They took him back and did the x-ray and blood draw and then brought him back to me. As typical of most animals, he was not a fan of the vet office and liked to retreat into his carrier, so I let him hang out in there while we waited.
A few minutes later, the vet came and asked me to come look at the X-Ray with him as he wanted to show me something. This is usually not a good sign in my experience! Upon looking at the X Ray, I saw large sections of air in his intestines in several places. There was nothing visible as a blockage, but only metal or bone would show up on an xray and not plastic. His stomach was also still full of food, despite having thrown up so much and not eating enough for me to be able to tell.
The bloodwork was ready and there was nothing “off” indicated in it at this point. The vet said he wanted to try a strong laxative and give him 24 hours and redo the x-ray to see if anything had moved along in his system. I asked what options we had at this point…he winced and said basically just the laxative. I already knew a 16 year old asthmatic cat was not a good candidate for invasive surgery and he confirmed it. I asked about massages etc and he said to try it…but no solid food, only liquids as he needed to see if the food progressed along the track.
The vet asked about his litter box as I had mentioned it was the auto type and asked how I would keep an eye on what he did. I explained I had already unplugged the box and put down a puppy pad, and Rudy was good at using the litter box even like that. This satisfied the vet.
So we went home with 3 doses of Lactulose (laxative) and a strict “no solid food” order. Upon arriving home, instead of running around like he normally did, Rudy just went up on the couch and went to sleep. I woke him up for the first dose of medicine which did NOT go over well-apparently it tasted bad. He did not once ask me for food, which was not like him-usually 2 hours and he’s begging.
Later that night when it was almost time for bed and I was reading in bed, he came up and laid down next to my leg. I started petting him and realized his stomach was getting harder and he was breathing a bit harder than normal, even taking into account his asthma. I petted him as long as he would let me and fell asleep with him against my head.