Kinder has had a brace on her leg to mend a broken bone. Surgery done by Veterinarian Dr Hein Stoop, from Whanganui Veterinary Services, was done to remove the brace and pins. Kenda made a full recovery.
A Whanganui pet chicken called Kinder has undergone $2500 surgery to repair a broken leg.
Kinder’s owner Vanessa Higgie said the family were distraught after their beloved chicken broke its leg during a challenge to the family pecking order.
“My son had saved a baby starling from a fallen nest and raised it, now every day the starling comes to visit him to be fed.
“The starling and my son were walking towards the back door, Kinder saw the starling sitting on my son’s head and then attacked my son.”
Kinder was fiercely opposed to any additional family pets and had previously attacked Higgie’s 10-year-old son over their new puppy and pet ducks.
An attempt was made by Higgie’s husband to bandage the damaged leg but the family realised they would have to visit the after-hours vet.
“People don’t usually operate on a chicken’s leg they usually say goodbye chicken, but we made the decision if the chicken was all right in the morning we would operate,” Higgie said.
Kinder breathes through an oxygen mask post-surgery. Photo / Bevan Conley
The life-saving surgery was a first for Dr Hein Stoop of Whanganui Veterinary Services.
“It’s a fracture repair technique that we use relatively commonly in dogs, not so much in cats, and I have never done it on a bird,” he said.
Stoop said it would usually cost $2500 but he discounted the price for the family by half.
“People obviously think this is ridiculous when you tell them it’s a drumstick, people eat whole bucketfuls of drumsticks at KFC and then to spend tenfold of that on a single one,” he said.
Kinder was put under anaesthetic during the surgery to remove the brace from her broken leg. Photo / Bevan Conley
The surgery involved inserting a metal pin through the joint in the knee to realign the fractured bones and fixing the leg with a brace, then after eight weeks once the bone had healed the pin and brace were removed.
Dr Hein Stoop, with the pin, removed. Photo / Bevan Conley.
“It’s a technique that’s used in more expensive birds like hunting falcons and they do this all the time in the Middle East and also sometimes at Massey’s Wildbase on native birds.
“Generally it’s just the valuable birds that owners can justify spending quite a bit of time and energy and money on.”
An X-ray shows the broken leg bone and a surprise egg Kinder would lay after the surgery.
Kinder had arrived back home and Higgie said she was being well-looked after with Higgie’s son feeding Kinder antibiotics on his lap and cleaning the chicken’s leg wound.
Higgie said Kinder’s ordeal had made a lasting impact.
“I wouldn’t cook meals with chicken for ages, maybe a couple of months, I felt so bad you can’t sit there eating a chicken drumstick and look after the chicken that’s leg you’re caring for is a chicken drumstick.”
