I\'m really not sure what\'s going on with Ruby and/or what I \"should\" be doing at this point. The golf ball size lump is still there and was real hard this morning and felt like it had no room to move around and was stuck against her. She\'s acting a little quiet, but still moving around and pooping. I did notice her stopping several times to move her head and neck in an S shape, trying to move the lump. Yesterday, was about the same. I put a half of a crumbled up hard boiled egg in front of her. She acts like she wants to eat, and does a little, but soon loses interest. I even tossed her a few Cheerios. She ran toward them and ate a few, but then quit and left the rest. If any of my birds turns away a Cheerio, there\'s something wrong! I considered the fact that penning her by herself may be bothering her since she paces the fence when she sees her sisters. So, right or wrong, this is what I did...
I put Tonya & Tucker in with her last night and gave them all a couple of handfuls of their normal food. With a little competition, she did grab a little before turning away. I also seen her take 12 sips of water with ACV in it, which made me feel better. This morning, the weather was nice so I opened the little door and let them out in a 5x12 (no grass). An hour or so later, I dripped a little liquified Nutri-Cal in her mouth, waiting for Teresa to come over this evening so we could tube her again. About 3:00pm while Teresa was on her way, I put Ruby in the garage, sat on the inside step, and her and my blue healer took turns waiting for me to toss them a piece of bread. She ate a few real small pieces, then walked away and left the rest. I had a dog crate with shavings sitting in the corner and she actually went inside and fluffed up the shavings. I thought maybe she was going to finally lay another egg, but she didn\'t. She then casually toured the garage, pooped a couple of times, then came to see what I was doing. I don\'t know what she\'s pooping, since she\'s not really eating, but it seems fairly normal. And the only reason I offered her normal food was because she doesn\'t appear to be clogged up and I don\'t want her to lose energy by starving her.
When Teresa got here, we tubed in 2 and a half tsp of watered-down Nutri-Cal in her. It filled her crop up a little and made it much easier to massage. I made a judgement call on the amount of liquid and think I made the right call. I left the liquid in her (since sour crop is no longer an issue) and at least I know she won\'t get dehydrated and has nutrition. I\'m hoping the mass eventually breaks up and dissolves. I\'m just not sure why she has lost her appetite. Maybe her throat is sore from tubing. She holds very still and I enter it slow and pull it out slow. That\'s where were at now and that\'s all I know (guessing) to do.
Sharon
Below is a picture of Tonya and her bodyguard while she was in quarantine after the fair last year. We spotted coyotes nearby several times so someone had to stand guard.
