Viggo Can't Help Being a Boy

Poor Viggo. He's just being a boy, and after all, that's what he is. But boy + chicken = ROOSTER, and when that is accompanied by an attitude that won't quit, well, something has to change. He is a handsome thing-and he certainly knows it. We have a whole slew of chickens, his little band of girls, and I'm not sure if he thinks he is protecting the ladies or if he is just being a butt head (much more likely) but he has started attacking us lately-and it hurts! Viggo hurls himself up and slams his 6+ pounds against your thigh or whever he can contact-and then he rakes his evil spurs against you. The spurs are actually bony appendages on the legs of roosters. They are very sharp, and yes, they sure can do some damage. I had a bruise that lasted for a week after his last unexpected attack. I'm getting pretty good about watching for him now, and (don't tell the animal cops!) he has received a few well placed kicks in the hind end when he was caught flying towards me. I even bring Verbal with me when I go to feed the chickens-she loves to chase them and her favorite sport is tumbling them head over heels (do chickens have heels?) as they squak and flutter. She has never attacked or hurt one-she just loves the chase and I'm sure she likes the noise they make. But Viggo doesn't back down, from me or from Verbal, and I'm afraid he is going to hurt her or maybe some unsuspecting visitor to my little farm one day.

So today our hospital sounds like a barnyard at 4 am-a very perturbed rooster is crowing at the top of his lungs-and won't shut up! Clients this morning have a very puzzled look on their faces, and everyone has smiled when we told them yes, we treat roosters, too, not just cats and dogs at this hospital. Noodles and Twitchy, our hospital cats, are just fascinated with this giant bird. They know they are supposed to be the predators, but Viggo stands taller than them and that voice-wow. Twitchy, especially, is going to need some time to get used to this.

The plan for Viggo was simple. We were going to place a mask over his beak and administer a gas anesthetic and oxygen mixture. Birds usually fall asleep very quickly with little struggle due to their very rapid metabolism. They generally have large tracheas, so we should be able to place an endotracheal tube for better anesthetic safety. We'll monitor him as we do any patient, and maintaining body heat is particularly important. Then I'll basically amputate those spurs or extra "toes." I had asked an avian specialist about this procedure and he said there shouldn't be much bleeding, but I could place some light wraps for a day or so if there was. He told me meloxicam would be fine for post-op pain relief and gave me some doses appropriate for a mature rooster. I'm not looking forward to chasing down that darned bird every day to stuff meds down his throat, but I will if I have to. Oh joy.

Here is Viggo getting his pain meds. He was a good boy for his medications, so maybe it won't be such a chore after all.

Well, the procedure itself was pretty quick, but I don't know what the specialist was talking about-those spurs bled like a son of a gun! I had to place some pretty tight little wraps over the surgery sites to get the blood to stop. Viggo started to pick at the wraps when he woke up and was kind of dancing a bit-I felt like the pain medication wasn't enough for him, so gave him an extra dose. That seemed to do the trick-he stopped dancing in his kennel and left the wraps alone after that. Pain control is important for all of us, even roosters.

So, we'll see how this goes. Taking away his weapons should at least make us safer around the barn yard, but maybe it will humble that cock-o'-the-walk, too. I can hope!

One other funny thing happened as a result of Viggo being in the hospital today. A sweet patient named Roarie, here for her own surgery and recovering in the cage right next to Viggo, was barking and howling and basically calling back and forth to him all day. It really sounded like she was trying to crow just like he was! Her owners were great about it, laughing when they heard her as they came to pick her up. I sure hope they are still laughing when she starts crowing at the 4 am wake-up call!

Peace,
DrReneigh