Strawberry hen with prolapse

tammieb · Post by **tammieb** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 7:37 pm

I was just in checking on my birds and discovered my elderly Strawberry hen has a prolapse. She routinely becomes egg bound and I have had to hospital cage her and administer Calciboost so many times I've lost count. She has access to oyster shell, cuttlebone and egg shell 24/7 but it doesn't seem to be helping.

I'm afraid there is not much that can be done for her though. At the moment she is flying, eating, drinking and otherwise acting normal. I wonder how long a bird can survive in this condition.

I'd get a photo but she is a flighty little thing and I don't want to stress her out.

Any suggestions?

Thalia · Post by **Thalia** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 8:31 pm

hmm, maybe a little vaseline or other lube around the vent to try to help it return to it's normal position?

tammieb · Post by **tammieb** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 8:40 pm

Yeah, I know the usual treatment... try to push the cloaca back inside her using a water based lubricant. Administer calcium and antibiotics, provide supplemental heat.

She's still flying quite well in the aviary and I know it's going to be very stressful on her to be caught. I don't know if it's worth attempting since I don't hold out much hope of treating her successfully. I don't believe she's been in this condition for more than 12 hours though, as I checked them this morning and she was fine.

I will try and catch her, wish me luck.

tammieb · Post by **tammieb** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 9:17 pm

Okay, she's been caught, cleaned up and photographed. It is worse than I suspected. I don't believe this could be fixed even by a vet.

I have given her some Calcium directly in the beak and have started her on an antibiotic. She is in the hospital cage with heat source and in a quiet part of the house.

What do you think of her chances?

Thalia · Post by **Thalia** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 9:36 pm

holy dina! That's awful Tammie

So I guess the old lube didn't work, SO what about a little preparation H to bring down any swelling and maybe it'll slip back in? Or preparation H then if you notice the swelling going down then try a little lube? I know that with bigger birds when they prolapse the vet will push it back in once maybe twice then after that they'll spay the bird, usually prolapses are causes by the hen pushing trying to expell a stuck egg, so if she's spayed no more stuck eggs.
I hope she pulls through for you.

Thalia · Post by **Thalia** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 9:38 pm

Oh I showed the vet your picture and his eyes got all big and he just shook his head. He's not a bird vet though so maybe a bird vet could fix her?

tammieb · Post by **tammieb** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 9:54 pm

I don't know about Prep H. What does your vet say about that?

The thing is, these birds are so darned tiny. Just holding them in your hand without crushing them is difficult.

Thalia · Post by **Thalia** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 10:00 pm

the vet just left for the day

Umm a lot of prolapse protocols for other animals suggest prep H the active ingredient in US prep H is Phenylephrine, I'll see if I can find anything about phenylephrine and avian toxicity.

tammieb · Post by **tammieb** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 10:04 pm

Well she's still able to perch. I just checked on her and although her breathing is a bit rapid she is sitting upright, not slouching.

I will see what the bf has for hemorrhoids.

Thalia · Post by **Thalia** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 10:07 pm

OH what about sugar water? that's supposed to help shrink the prolapse too, it's recommended for reptiles
Ok and according to avianweb prepH may contain too high a concentration of phenylephrine for little birds

tammieb · Post by **tammieb** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 10:10 pm

Sugar water? Hadn't heard of using that to treat a prolapse. I did give her calcium earlier and will again in the morning.

We have a Prep H gel that contains 0.25% phenylephrine... not good huh?

Thalia · Post by **Thalia** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 10:17 pm

well I read about them using phenylephrine to treat a parrot, and it apparently recovered but the problem with the cloaca is it's so darn vascular it might absorb a whole lot more of the phenylephrine that is needed. Oh and for clarification, you put the prolapse in the sugar water lol sorry I was a little flustered. one article I read on geckos suggested mixing the prep H with lube to dilute it, but then again you're dealing with a larger animal than a finch. I mean if you think she's not going to make it you could give it a try you've not got much to lose, however if you think she can last til you can get a hold of a vet you can wait. Maybe try the sugar water first?

tammieb · Post by **tammieb** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 10:17 pm

I remembered this condition had been discussed once before on this forum. Here's the link to that thread...

http://www.finchforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=26

I'm not very hopeful for this ol' girl.

She's been through so much. Sh'e always getting egg bound. I should have moved her and her mate out of the aviary and kept a closer eye on her.

Thalia · Post by **Thalia** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 10:19 pm

oh dear, well that thread wasn't very helpful for you right now. I could give you the number of the vet school near me and you could call them for advice, it'd be a long distance call but they might be able to give you some better advice

tammieb · Post by **tammieb** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 10:20 pm

Well like I said, she seems to be resting and not getting worse. But then again, she could be dead by morning. These critters are hard to read. I will wait and see if Crystal has additional advice or call out to the local vet clinic in the morning, none of them are avian vets though.

Thanks for your help Thalia.