Dislocated turkey wing

[threehorses]

My turn to ask advice. I've dealth with broken bones before, but never this. And of course the vets in our huge town are non-existent at the moment. No one's in, no one knows who'll be in tomorrow until 3 in the afternoon. Basically in a city of 2.2 million there are 0 avian vets on call tonight.

I have a turkey poult hen approximately four months old. She's on grower with just a cup full of grains. She had a few lice on her, no apparent problems, good weight.

The issue is that we were treating the flock for lice - we put her down on the ground (holding her body, not even the wing-hold) and her wing joint popped out of her skin and dislocated at the joint.

I have a call in to TA&M's poultry division. I guess I just wanted to find out if anyone else has ever dealth with this sort of thing?

Time to learn something new -the hard way.

Thank you in advance.

 

[chickensioux]

No, I'm sorry I have not dealt with that. I suppose you could bind it somehow until you get help. So sorry this happened to the little one. Good luck with it.

 

[threehorses]

Update: Finally this morning, there are vets alive in Houston. TAM and I decided to try for this morning because of the three-hour drive out that way and her possibly losing blood if she stresses during the trip.

She ate, drank, and pooped. Last night right when this happened, I did pack her opening with some Neosporin and was able to wrap it with a vetwrap bandage and secure the edge with duct tape to cover the opening. Then took her inside to the bathtub where she wouldn't move around much. Then got her to drink and eat before turning off the lights to get her to sleep.

At least she slept.

I feel like I'm in a weird dream as I didn't get much of the old zzz's last night.

My regular avian vet isn't in, but her boss is and he does avian surgery. So we're off to him later this morning. Wish us luck, and prayers are always welcome. I'll let you guys know how this goes.

I'm still interested to know if anyone else has been through this - so let me know if you have.

Thanks a million.

 

[threehorses]

We're back from the vet. We're doing an amputation as at her age she'll probably just keep popping that wing out, and the risk of putting the bones back together (infection) was too high versus that of just making a clean cut where the bones are already apart and stitching things up.

For anyone else who ever needs this, this is what's being done:

The bird is being sedated for radiographs. The anesthesia is one that is particularly efficient for birds. (I had looked it up years ago). Too tired to remember the name.

After the radiographs are examined, the surgery is taking place to amputate between the humerus and the ulna/radius. (That's where the dislocation took place). So it's higher than a pinion, same concept.

She will thereafter be in isolation in our..... bathtub. That's right, bathtub. Welcome to the nuthouse.

She'll be given an injection each of Baytril and Metacam. Baytril (systemic antibiotics) will be given orally thereafter for at least 10 days. Metacam ( an anti-inflammatory) will be given at the same time for at least the first part. (I don't have the scripts yet.)

She'll have a recheck in a few days to see if the wound healed cleanly.

 

[starting.from.scratch]

Oh wow. Is that a 3 hour drive for the recheck?
I'm sorry to hear about the wing-thank goodness you did go and it sounds like your home will now be upgraded to include the Official Bathroom Turkey.

So she's there now? I'll continue to send good thoughts your way.

 

[threehorses]

Oh silly me - I wasn't clear.

I didn't take her to TA&M because it was 3 hours. My vet that I thought might not be in til 3 p.m. actually got in first thing in the morning (well her boss did) so we were in there at 10:30 after making sure everyone here had enough water for the day. And I had a shower to wash the barnyard off of me!

He's only 30 minutes away. YAY And I even had a turkey-sized carrier. (Unlike the time I bought a goat - well ok, three times I bought a goat, and she had to travel in the car.)

LOL Official Bathroom Turkey! Yes, indeedy! I guess so.

At least she'll be cleaner than the pekin drake I had in there once after a dog attack. /sigh

So yes, she's at the vet now - just had her wing amputated, the vet said it went "perfectly". We pick her up in an hour or so. I feel so horrible. A turkey without a wing. But she's such a love, and our place is really probably the best place for a wingless turkey, so what the heck. One more special baby.

Thanks for the hugs, and the good thoughts. Now when I get her home and tucked in MAYBE I'll get the nap I've been trying to get all afternoon but can't seem to get my body to do.

I'll take pictures. Everything like this, to me, must become a learning and teaching experience or else you're stuck with lemons and not lemonade.

<3 and /hugs!

 

[chickensioux]

Well, I'm so glad everything went smoothly. Poor little thing. Good thing she has a loving mom to take care of her and see that she gets good care. Post pics when you can.

 

[threehorses]

Quote:
Thanks! I have some of her on my lap in the vet clinic, and a pretty portrait of her, and some of all of them. I just have to figure out how to get them off my phone without my beating my phone to pieces in frustration. >

Also need to post some home-made pox pictures. yay!

Thanks, Chickensioux! You were my earlybird friend today, and I appreciate it. I was feeling so anxious.

 

[AmyBella]

Oh my gosh, I can not believe that you are going through this too! So sorry! I am very interested to hear about your turkey's recovery process. Keep us posted.

 

[threehorses]

Today's update: Miss Ella came home from her surgery yesterday. The anesthesia came off very very quickly, much more so than dog and cat surgeries. She was fully awake, aware, and functional when I picked her up a couple hours after surgery.

They totally removed the wing. She just has a stub as the first joint. There was a clean joint on the end of that bone, but apparently if you leave a joint in an amputation, it keeps secreting joint fluid and will fill the space with fluid which isn't good. So they cut the ball off of the joint.

Bird bones are "pneumatic", air filled. So a consequence of this is that the air is leaking into the stump making it a bit like a tiny flesh balloon. But apparently it's nothing to worry about and I'm to leave it unless the stitches or wound look bad.

Very interesting process. He clipped the muscles that attached to the next bone (to make it move) and wrapped them over the new bone-end to protect the skin from the bone. He stiched them together with internal stitches which will not be removed. He then took the skin flap and ran it under the "armpit" to where she's least likely to get to the stitches and stitched it there. It's really rather like plastic surgery hiding the scar, only for a different reason.

If you look at her, it's like she was born without a wing. Just a bit of the base. It's beautifully done and I have a photograph but can't as of yet get it off of my phone. I will do in time.

She's on Baytril and Metacam (an anti-inflammatory pain killer used for arthritis in mammals, and inflammatory illnesses in birds) for seven days til her recheck.

The area looks bruised today, but that's because it was traumatic - amputation is rough.

She's eating well, had great poops that are very easy to just pick up and flush - except unfortunately two cecal poops. /sigh Which are always just gross. She's lonely though, sadly. She was very excited when I woke her up this morning - PEEPed at me, and trilled and ate. She was way less thrilled with the medicating process as was I.

I've discovered that the turkey, when given sufficient reason, can shut it's beak so tight that you can't even get a fingernail in there - much less a dropper without considerable effort. h

In the mean time, all is on track. Thanks to those who are following the post and those who sent well wishes.