Yesterday morning, her crop was as large as it has ever been, probably close to a small grapefruit. She was acting fine, very alert, poop was a little runny, but at least there was poop. I massaged the lump a lot and made her throw up again, then fed her some Nutri-cal with grit and egg shell stuck in it. Thankfully, she still had her appetite. I called Peter Brown to get his input and he told me to try to flush it and make her throw up.
Teresa came over and she held \"Ruby\" and got her mouth open. I gently stuck a 3-4 inch IV tubing down her throat and syringed in some warm water. Peter told me to use 1 or 2 CCs of water, massage and make her throw up, then repeat in an hour or so a few times...and to be very careful not to put too much water in to where it starts to come back up on its own or I\'d drown the bird.
Okay, so here is where you can shake your head at my stupidity and say, \"Only by the grace of God...\" I didn\'t have anything that measured CCs so I guessed at it by feeling how much empty room I thought was in the crop and I put about 2 teaspoons in the syringe. When I just now thought about the online measure conversion, I Googled to see how much water 2 teaspoons was...= 10CCs...oops!
Teresa and I flushed Ruby 4 times within an hour (yes, I know what the doctor said, but we were pressed for time) ...each time Ruby threw up a little more than what I put into her. After that, you could tell most of the liquid was out of her, but there was still this large squishy ball that felt like loose hay that hadn\'t hardened. I then watered down (just enough water to make it runny) some Nutri-Cal and syringed it into her so I knew she would be fed. (Nutri-Cal is a thick paste-like substance that is full of calories and vitamins. Many almost-dead animals have been revived with this great product.) They seem to like the taste, too.
THIS MORNING\'S UPDATE: The lump is about the size of a lemon and is real soft...Yea! I made Ruby a small quarter size glob of watered down Nutri-Cal, a few bits of bread to soak it up, and egg shells and she gobbled it up. Teresa is coming over this afternoon to help me flush her again. I\'m not sure how much water to use, probably 5CCs. I think its really a matter of using as much as you can without overdoing it. The more water, the better, but also a much higher risk.
I really think this was all cause from a lack of grit. That\'s my best guess anyway. I\'m sure there may be other possible reasons. Thankfully, I caught this real fast. I will give another (much shorter) update again tomorrow. Thanks for your thoughtful concern. And I hope this helps others who may find themselves in this situation.
Sharon