Information Vent Gleet! Oh, Vent Gleet! I hate you! You stink!

[Jaye]

please be careful using the applicator.

[windwalkingwolf]

You sent your partner? BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

[Birdock co-op12]

Hey folks!!

How do you know when vent gleet is recoverable or not? I have a red sexlink hen who I have been giving daily baths and also making sure she's eating and have given her a bit of canesten near her vent.

However, It's not looking great. there is a large swollen area under her vent (underbelly). It's not quite as big as a tennis ball. Is this common? if so what is it? is it backed up ? or just swollen intestines? An egg?

Today was the first day that she did not want to eat the liquefied rations that I tried to feed her. She's still drinking water.

Any thoughts on when it's humane to euthanize or whether it's possible she might recover?

Thanks for any insights.

[Jaye]

@Birdock co-op12 , I really can't tell you what's going on with your hen, other than it's almost definitely not vent gleet. If you if you have been giving daily baths with no improvement and have found a large swollen area under her vent, it's something else. It could be any number of things; maybe prolapse, or she may be egg-bound, ors he may have some sort of cancerous tumour in her abdominal area, or something else - and I don't know.; I'm not an avian vet and have had no real life experience with anything similar. I don't think there is any way you can know for sure unless you do a post-mortem necropsy.
As for when it's time ... well, unfortunately you will have to make that decision alone, but based on what you have said - not eating, only drinking - I'd say it's definitely decision time. What I can say is that I have never looked back on cases when the decision to euthanize was made and said to myself "I should've waited a bit longer"; in most cases I have said " I should have done it sooner - too much unnecessary suffering before the inevitable".
Sorry.