The time has come to bid our sweet Ember farewell, and send her over the rainbow bridge... I'm a terrible mama, she's been suffering for months but I just haven't been able to let her go.
She's visibly in agony now and we have no choice :-(
Her abdomen has been swollen like a water balloon fit to burst, she's been like this since last spring and I don't know what it is or how to fix it. I figured as long as she was roosting with the girls, free-ranging and eating normally I'd let her be.
The past two days she's been waddling around like a penguin, I can see her great discomfort with every tiny step she takes. She cannot roost anymore, she looks so tired... and she has a huge tumor on the back of her neck that the other hens occasionally pick at, she bleeds everywhere, it's horrible.
I adopted Ember in August 2009, I was her 3rd home and I have given her the best possible life all this time - so why does it hurt so much to say goodbye?
I hate this part of pet ownership, I really do.
And I'm angry at myself for hurting so much.
Thank you Vegas, my dear husband, for being the brave one - taking a life may be easy for some, but it's hell for us.
RIP my sweet angel...
You are loved, now and forever.
9 comments:
:( I'm sorry. :(
Sweetie, you said it all...you did your best and you love her now & forever. Don't beat yourself up for feeling sad and for having a hard time letting her go. That just shows the depth of your love & your pain. Let it hurt, it should. Just don't allow the pain to define you. You're a great Chicken Mama!
I'm so sorry... It always hurts to let go of a loved one, doesn't matter if it's a two or four legged one. Just remember you gave her a good home and a good life.
This is sad news. I am so sorry. I know that it breaks your heart. ((HUGS))
Sorry you are losing Ember.
Education material: What she has is commonly called water belly. That is just an outward symptom. The cause of it is Right Ventricle Heart Failure. The heart is not pumping well and they start building up fluids in the abdomen. If you drain it should be a straw colored fluid that can sometimes have some blood in it. This can go on for months or they can go quickly. It just depends on how much damage their is to the heart. One of the biggest causes of the heart problem is salt poisoning. Too much salt raises the blood pressure and the bird has a heart attack. Other causes can be stress, disease, or old age. The outward symptoms may not be visible for several weeks.
In 90% of the cases there is NOTHING that can be done to fix this. Sometimes you can drain the fluid from time to time, but that just prolongs the end. Rarely a bird will recover, but that would have happened within the first few weeks.
You are doing the right thing by letting her go. I have dealt with this a few times over the years. Only one recovered.
~~Matt~~
So sorry to hear this. That is the hardest part of owning chickens, I have two chickens that have a similar situation, it's just heart breaking.
i'm so sorry to hear this. you did the right thing but that's not always easy. and, you gave the girl a good life. hope you're feeling a little better.
My condolences, it is so hard to let a loved one go. :(
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