More Turkey Troubles

Poor Betty had already earned herself a ride to the vet after cutting her foot, but then it got worse. She became lethargic, struggled to seem like she was getting enough oxygen, and then her face began turning an upsetting shade of blue.
There are few things more panic-inducing than watching an animal you love struggle to breathe.

The back seat of the car became the sick bay with the oxygen tank in place, Betty bundled up with us as we rushed toward emergency care. Ryan came with me, despite the fact that his own knee has been in terrible shape. Three separate times on the drive, it locked up so badly he was left writhing in pain. Thankfully, I was able to drive while he sat in the back with Betty, cuddling her as she fought for her life. 

With clues but no definitive answers, we left our local vet's office and made the long trip to Stahl Exotic Animal Veterinary Services in Northern Virginia, desperately hoping for answers.

After more than $1,000 in vet bills by the end of the day, we finally got them.  Betty is very anemic.  That diagnosis, combined with the very suspicious BB-shaped object visible in her digestive system on X-rays, points strongly toward metal toxicity.

Turkeys, like many birds, are unfortunately fascinated by shiny things. It’s not hard to imagine Betty finding something interesting while out exploring, swallowing it, and accidentally poisoning herself.  The anemia explains everything: the exhaustion, the weakness, and most frighteningly, the blue coloring from poor oxygenation.

The treatment plan now is intense. Betty will need injections in her chest twice a day for the next 3–6 weeks to help bind the metal leaching into her body while we hope she passes the object on her own. If she doesn’t, surgery may become necessary - but we are hoping very hard it won’t come to that.

The good news is that if treatment is working, we should start seeing noticeable improvement within about 48 hours.  She is not out of the woods yet, but for the first time all day we are feeling very hopeful.  

And because apparently life enjoys dramatic timing, this all happened on our 5-year anniversary.  Not exactly the romantic anniversary celebration we had imagined.

Ryan also had to skip his own doctor’s appointment for his knee to make the emergency trip with me to Fairfax. By the time we got there, he was limping so obviously that even the vets took pity on him and brought him ice for his knee.

Not the anniversary we were hoping for, but there truly isn’t anyone else I could imagine living this wild, exhausting, beautiful life with.  Animal sanctuary life rarely cares about your plans.

Please keep Betty in your thoughts. We are very hopeful for a full recovery, but these next couple of days matter.
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I truly do not wish seeing your turkey love’s face turn blue on anyone.

If that wasn't enough, we noticed a large lump on Louisa's chest and added her to our already scheduled appointment the next day.  With Ryan's knee hurting badly from the long car rides the day before, I had to make the trip by myself with a goose, a chicken, and now a turkey.  

Louisa's previously infected but thought to be healed poke-injury on her chest had resurfaced - but this time was being closed in on by her body so that it had to be reopened by the vet.  She now has an even larger, open wound on her chest which requires cleaning and antibiotics daily, as well as pain medication, until it heals.  

And of course, Louisa wanted to clean and scratch it herself as it feels very uncomfortable, so she began pecking at it in the barn overnight.  Luckily we checked on her later that evening and were able to catch it in time - and fastened a particularly fashionable and effective shirt for her to cover the wound.  So far it seems to be working - please keep your fingers crossed for us!