Lost my young Zebra hen to a burst tumor

[WrenNAustinTX]

It looked just like egg binding. Exactly like it. Swollen abdomen near the vent, splayed legs, puffed, all the signs, looked like every egg bound picture ever, so I jumped into action and did all the egg-binding stuff. I thought we were doing well, because by day three she was still passing droppings, eating, drinking, moving around freely...but still puffed and still relying on her heat lamp. She just wasn't getting better, but she wasn't getting worse.

So we went to the vet.

Vet felt around, and then drew some liquid from her abdomen with a needle. That's when I knew it wasn't an egg: it was either a burst tumor or a massive infection.

He spun the sample, and we both looked under the microscope: tumor cells and a normal white blood count. He told me she could come in once or twice a week to have her abdomen drained and maybe buy her a few weeks or a month, he'd done that with a tame chicken, but it was that or let the tumor swell and eventually suffocate her, or block her up.

But just taking her away from the heat lamp to visit the vet, plus the weird environment, plus being handled and having the needle stuck in her...she looked upset and bad. Worse than she'd been all week. I couldn't imagine putting her through that every week, when she wouldn't feel that much better in between times.

So I made the choice to put her to sleep; a little gas, a little needle when she couldn't feel it, and it was all over.

A really nice lady hugged me in the waiting room when I was on my way out; I was (and still am) a mess.

It was really, really bad carrying her mate home with him all alone in the cage, and her in a box.

I've called her breeder to let her know what happened; Cassandra was only ~10 months old. Way too young. Poor little thing. I'm so messed up right now, and I only had her a month.

[KarenB]

Oh, I'm so sorry. How sad to lose her so soon.

I just had to put down my Boston terrier, and I'm still kind of numb about it.

[Sam007]

I'm so sorry for your loss.

[Jen]

I'm so sorry for your loss....so sad.

[Jen]

Oh, I'm so sorry. How sad to lose her so soon.

I just had to put down my Boston terrier, and I'm still kind of numb about it.

So sorry to hear about your terrier....prayers coming your way.

[lovezebs]

WrenNAustinTX
What beautiful birds... So sorry about Cassandra, way too young. Let the breeder know, they may not want to breed Cassey's parents, if there is possibly something not right in that line.

It is very difficult and traumatic to lose a pet like that, and I'm sorry she had to suffer, and sorry you had to go through that.

~Elana~

[lovezebs]

KarenB
I'm sorry about your little Boston. Have gone through this more times than I care to remember in all the years. It just never gets any easier.....

~Elana~

[cindy]

So very sorry for your loss, she was beautiful.

[Celebrian]

WrenNAustinTX
I am so sorry for your loss. She was beautiful. What a sweet girl.

@KarenB
I am so sorry for the loss of your beloved Boston. Such a sad day.

[Sally]

So sorry for your loss. At least you were able to spare her more suffering.

And also sorry to hear about your dog, Karen. It is so hard to lose these pets, it takes time to get over it.

[MiaCarter]

I'm so sorry to both of you.

It *sucks* to lose one of your furry or feathered children and it never gets easier.

She was a beautiful, beautiful girl.

FWIW, I think you did the right thing, Wren. I would have done the same. It would have been postponing the inevitable without giving her any real quality of life with such a stressful trip each week.

I've dealt with my fair share of tumors over the year with my rats. I ultimately had to stop keeping them as I couldn't stand losing them every 2 years. My last guy had osteosarcoma - a bone tumor - that couldn't be removed because it had so utterly destroyed his pelvis and leg. There was only tumor holding him all together.
We just did lots of pain meds and kept him happy (and incredibly, mobile) up until the very end (ironically, the tumor never killed him; he passed from a respiratory infection.)

Tumors are just so terrible.
I'm glad you notified the breeder, as they really need to know about those sorts of things. Succumbing to a tumor at such a young age is often indicative of some genetic predisposition.

How is her mate doing? Sometimes watching the mates grieve can be even more difficult.