[ SECRET POST #3861 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #3861 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 00 pages, 00 secrets from Secret Submission Post #553.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

Dammit! (Pet illness and death TW)

[(Anonymous)]

So I've been raising a bunch of baby chicks that I ordered from a hatchery. They survive shipping because they live on stored yolk for 2-3 days after hatching, but sometimes one doesn't make it. This time, one had died by the time I got them from the post office, and another didn't make it 48 hours once I got her home--and as I later found out, was showing signs of a severe thiamine (B1) deficiency.

One of the other chicks lost her ability to walk over a few days, and when I took her to the vet, they splinted her legs and told me to start giving all the chicks extra thiamine, because the deficiency causes lameness and slipped tendons. I started adding a tiny fraction of an adult human dose B-complex vitamin to their water, and the limping chick improved and started putting on weight and walking, a bit stiffly, but still.

Then all the chicks moved outside for most of the day, and came down with Coccidosis. It's caused by a protozoa kind of like Toxoplasmosis (which only affects humans, goats, sheep, and cats) and makes them lethargic, not eat much, and can make them crap blood and in severe cases, die. One of mine died the day after I started treating them with Amprolium.

Amprolium isn't an antibiotic, and I bought it on the vet's advice. You add it to their drinking water over the course of 5 days or so. It's also routinely added in smaller amounts to chick feed so baby chicks get some exposure to the protozoa, enough to develop immunity.

I didn't know how exactly it worked since the vet didn't tell me, presumably she didn't know and it's not on the package. It works because it mimics thiamine and the protozoa metabolize it instead of thiamine and die. Which can also happen to the animals being treated because they develop thiamine deficiencies too. I stopped adding B vitamins to the chicks' water because I didn't want to mix a bunch of different supplements into it in case they stopped drinking because of the taste, otherwise the meds wouldn't have worked. But I didn't know that.. I still added a vitamin supplement to their food. And I have to start giving thiamine to my limping chick tomorrow or she might die of thiamine deficiency. She's back to her legs not working and her claws and feet are starting to curl up in tight balls.

And when I dose her I'm terrified the Coccidosis will come back. I ordered a different medication online that isn't commercially available in the US (but it's not illegal either) that doesn't affect thiamine metabolism, but it's not supposed to get here until at least August 3rd. Argh.

Re: Dammit! (Pet illness and death TW)

[(Anonymous)]

I'm so sorry, nonny. I hope they get better!

Re: Dammit! (Pet illness and death TW)

[(Anonymous)]

I'm sorry anon, it sounds like baby chicks are a lot of work and you are doing the best you can. I hope the rest of your chicks do well and that the limping chick is able to recover.