To consider not taking my lame pet to the vets?

[THERhubarb]

Before you all tear me apart let me explain....

This is a 2 week old chick. We have 3 of them and this is the youngest. I paid around £3 each for them and they are being cared for by one of my hens.

Yesterday I noticed this little fella was limping but was still getting around. I checked its foot, couldn't find anything stuck in it so let it go back assuming it would get better by itself.

Today it cannot put any weight on the foot. I have taken it indoors and examined it and it's not any of the usual foot diseases I've so far googled. I can't feel any broken bones so could just be a sprain, but obviously I don't know for sure.

The chick is a Pekin bantam so its tiny still and difficult to treat I would imagine. I've not put it back with it's mum or the others but have brought it in as it was not coming out of the hutch for food or water, at least this way I can make sure its eating.

I've just phoned the vets and they charge £10 consultation fee plus whatever else for treatment/medication.

Now when all is said and done, it is just a chick and doesn't appear to be in constant pain, it just can't walk around as it refuses to put the bad leg down. I am tempted to just pop it back under mother hen tonight, then take it out again tomorrow and do what I'm doing today, which is to keep it in an egg box with food and water and hope that the leg gets better with plenty of rest so it can eventually join the other two and mother hen.

Would this be totally unreasonable?

[candycoatedwaterdrops]

All the people with farm and animal handling experience on this thread have said that they would not rush the animal to the vet but would not leave it to suffer either. Hopefully, the chick is now either getting better or has been put out of its misery.

[OhDearNigel]

necessary - Im amazed, or maybe im just too used to the speed of responses on here ! i do go on an allotment forum sometimes and am always surprised how long it takes for a thread to be answered, here it would be argued over, fight over and 10 pages long in 3 hours !

lots of small animals are more stressed by receiving vet treatment than they would be otherwise. i have to agree with mrsdevere. and can you all imagine the cost of your food if farmers had to call out a vet to every chicken with a limp ?

[InSpaceNooneCanHearYouScream]

OP I think you're very sensible. As the chick is clearly not suffering I would see how it goes. If it was suffering I would humanely despatch it. It's very silly of people to say it should receive vet treatment whatever the cost. Treatment would probably cause it pain and suffering and most factory farmed chickens are killed at about 12 weeks old anyway!

[ItsAllGoingToBeFine]

megsmouse: vegetarian so hypocritical. Educate you self about the cruelty in the dairy and egg industries
...

[LegoDragon]

I agree MrsDeVere - the bright lights, the noise, the handling from a stranger- and often unnecessary treatment for the owner's sake more than anything is incredibly harmful. The lights and noise can cause physical pain to small, young and disorientated animals.

What happened, OP? Did it need to be put out of it's misery, or had it improved at all?

[THERhubarb]

Oh I seriously cannot be arsed reading some of the posts calling me cruel and I stopped completely when one ludicrous poster compared the chick to a human with a broken leg.

Animals get put to sleep for afflictions that humans would always be treated for - always. Can you imagine an animal being kept alive in a coma? Or being treated for a broken spine and paralysis?

Sorry, but there is a difference between animals and humans. Some people don't think so but I happen to think there is.

Also, if I didn't give a shit about the chick and was happy to watch it suffering then I would not have posted on Mumsnet asking for advice would I? I do wish some people would stop and think before the post their judgemental and patronising bollocks.

In any case, do you think I am going to take any points on board from anyone who is being personally offensive and overly patronising? Of course I'm not!

For those interested, the chick is still with us but she's not out of the woods yet. I managed to acquire some painkillers and antibiotics for her which she has in the tinest amounts in her food. Most other hen owners told me they would have euthanised her over the weekend but as she was eating and drinking well I decided to give her a chance. She still cannot walk on that leg as yet but she is now putting it down on the floor and can just about stand on it. The toes are now uncurling (they were curled up before) and look a little more normal.

I know it is not splayed foot or anything she was born with because she was hatched just fine and walking around perfectly well before she developed a limp. Also on closer examination I could see that the leg was bruised from the thigh down, so she had definitely damaged it.

That bruising has now gone so I am going to give her until Wednesday when the course of antibiotics will have ended. If she is no better then we'll have to make a decision as a hen which cannot forage for food may not have a good quality of life. It all boils down to whether or not she is able to move around on that leg.

FWIW most farmers would just kill any hen which is injured. They are not like cows or sheep as they are considered more "dispensable". I have a barren hen which would have been killed a long time ago but which I have kept anyway as I thought it was a little unkind to kill a perfectly healthy animal. And also fwiw whilst dh may be from farming stock, I am a townie, not that it makes any difference whatsoever. If I see an animal suffering then I will try to allievate that suffering, if an animal has lost any quality of life then it's no good keeping it alive as that would be purely selfish. As for vets, all well and good for large animals that are hard to treat yourself or perhaps pets, but as other posters have confirmed, there is little a vet can do to treat a tiny chick that weighs less than 25 grams. Common sense tells you that.

I posted on Mumsnet because I knew I would get some immediate replies from people who have experience with all kinds of small animals and I knew that some of that advice would be invaluable. I needed to make a decision and reading some of the experiences and opinions helped me to make that decision.

As for the rest, well luckily as it's a forum I can just ignore it. I knew I would get some outraged responses so that's fine. They haven't affected my decision in the slightest and I wouldn't take any notice of an outraged post anyway. A reasonable one I would listen to.

[ExitPursuedByADragon]

Glad to hear that chick is feeling better.

[THERhubarb]

I've uploaded some photos on my profile so you can see the problems we had with it being so tiny. The leg in question is the one stuck out in the first photo but as you can see in the second, the chick is able to put the leg down now and stand although it's still using its wings to balance. Other than that, it's not in any pain and is eating very well. It's very alert and chippy.

[lljkk]

I wonder how many of the people insisting the animal see a vet have a clue how most livestock they consume were treated.

Doesn't sound miserable, I would have left it and see how it goes. More likely to end up as casserole than something you can sell, though.

[THERhubarb]

IIjkk, if it recovers we'll probably keep it as I have a feeling it's a hen. The other two are most likely to be boys and we will attempt to sell those. They are pure Pekins so we are hopeful someone will want them to breed.

And yes, farmed chickens as a general rule are not treated well. Even free range chickens often fight and are left with terrible injuries. Those chickens which are too injured to be sold whole will end up as chicken nuggets. Some chickens have their beaks cut so they cannot peck at each other. My mother in law recently got a load of ex-battery hens and they were in a terrible state with hardly any feathers due to being constantly pecked at and stress and they had never seen grass or daylight before. They were very traumatised and would drop eggs anywhere in the garden.

My hens have the run of my garden, they are not caged up at all. They can perch, have dust baths, forage for food, etc. I mainly keep them for the eggs but have recently decided to try and get a few chicks because pure breeds can be sold for up to £45 each, although cockerels either go for a nominal fiver or for free.

Bantam cockerels won't make a very substantial meal but there's always someone who will take them for that very purpose. Killing it yourself is much more humane than allowing an abbatoir to do it as they are hung upside down for a while before their throats are cut as it's the best way to bleed them. You can then buy them at Tesco for around £3.

[StuntGirl]

I like how you're pulling the moral superiority card. Fwiw I didn't think you were acting like a cruel, heartess bitch, just an idiot.

[lljkk]

I lived on a farm for awhile. They raised turkeys and found an unexpected hen (rest all boys). Shortly strung up by feet, neck snapped by stepping on it, immediate plucking while still very warm. I swear she did that just to test me. One time DH rescued a cute baby rabbit from the farm cat; took it to the farmer who promptly smashed its head in. No sentimental-ness whatsoever.

[THERhubarb]

That's me, all idiot!

Love how it's not long before the personal insults start once again from so called animal lovers.

[throckenholt]

I am tempted to say putting it in AIBU thread and putting pet in the title was asking for trouble !

It is not cost effective to pay for vetinary treatment (for you) and you did what you could to give it a chance. It is doubtful the vet would have been able to do much (but would probably happily have taken your money). You new that before you posted :)

If you don't want to engage with the every life is sacred type of posts just ignore them - no point in argueing - the pragmatic approach is not going to wash with the rose tinted specticals.

FWIW - my approach is generally if it is not screaming in pain then leave it somewhere quiet and warm and see if it can mend itself. I would only pay for vet treatment if a) likely to be effective, and b) cost is in line with value of animal (and what is in my wallet). I have friends who spent £50 on treatment for a hamster - it worked - hamster has lived for at least another year - but I would not have done that - couldn't have justified the cost. Personal choice.

[tabulahrasa]

It's nothing to do with all life being sacred, or sentimentality.

It's about the fact that it's not using it's leg because it is in pain and that doing nothing is in fact the cruelest option.

It's had painkillers so that's not not treating it, but when the options are do nothing, take it to a vet or kill it...doing nothing is not the choice that anyone should be making.

[THERhubarb]

So you think I should just kill it then tabulahrasa, in spite of my recent posts? Oh ok then.

throken yes I know that about AIBU and I have explained my reasons behind that. I needed to make a quick decision on that Friday afternoon and where else would I get fast responses? I regret the use of the term 'pet' in the title and have apologised for that, but again I was trying to get responses to help me make a decision.

I'm not bemoaning the fact that the thread has attracted some rather colourful responses though, I brought that on myself so that's fine. It was worth it for the good responses I did get which helped me to make what I believe was the right decision.

[sparkle12mar08]

Ah Rhubarb, just shrug it off my love - I said on pg 1 you were going to get bbq'd and was right, eh! Still, at least it was you, not the chicken... Is that too much bad taste?!

[THERhubarb]

[tabulahrasa]

"So you think I should just kill it then tabulahrasa, in spite of my recent posts?"

I did say, it's had painkillers so that's not not treating it...

[THERhubarb]

Did you not read the rest of my post where I said that there appeared to be an improvement? It is now able to put its leg to the floor and stand, albeit awkwardly, on both legs. So in spite of that and the fact that it is eating well and is generally very curious, alert and chippy, you think I should kill it? Because by reading my posts you have come to the conclusion that it is in pain and not likely to get any better?

[TiffanyAtBreakfast]

Regardless of what OP eventually decided to do, the bit I didn't like was the refusal to pay £10 to have the chick checked over. If you can afford to pay for a coop / chicken feed / presumably a reasonably big garden to keep them in, you can afford to spend a tenner as a one off to find out whether to end the chick's life or not, surely.

[TiffanyAtBreakfast]

I am glad it's starting to look a little better though.

[THERhubarb]

Ah I see, my brain only read one 'not' instead of two.

I don't think even my earlier posts stated that I was not treating it.

Treatment at the very early stages included isolating it from the mother hen and its two siblings. Keeping it warm and fed and ensuring that it was resting the leg and not putting any weight on it.

I don't really class that as ignoring it. But I am resigned to the fact that many posters would happily see me charged with animal cruelty. Hey ho

[THERhubarb]

Tiff, money is a consideration in these things. Not that it should concern you but we have a garden because our house is an ex council house and was a repossession so we got it on a mortgage of around £50k. The hen coop was given to us by a friend and chicken feed costs around a fiver for a bag that so far has lasted 3 months.

The reason I did not want to pay £10 for a consultation fee is because I was wary of any treatment fees and I also questioned as to whether or not a vet could actually tell me anything of any use - which is why I posted on Mumsnet you see? To see if it was worth paying £10 to take it to the vets or whether this would be a complete waste of my money and time. It was confirmed to me by a few people, including a vet's assistant, that yes it would.

Does that help with your presumptions?