More adventures of Freebie

Freebie's Bath!

I don't want to insult Freebie and of course it's not her fault but she did
smell truly awful, I guess because of the puss that had been leaking
from her poor face onto her body. During my journey home with her I
felt the need to open the car windows frequently to let in some fresh air!

Freebie had been living with us for some days before I decided that we
would rather not live with the smell any longer and that Freebie was
strong enough to have a warm bath.

I'm sure Freebie thought that I had gone quite mad and she
squawked at me to say so when I stood her into my kitchen sink. I held
her gently and washed her feathers in the warm soapy water using a
muslin flannel. I whispered to her that she was fine and she seemed to
understand because she quickley settled down and relaxed.
Freebie was then wrapped into a soft towel and dried with the warm air
from my hair dryer set to the gentlest level.

I am pleased to say that her feathers are much smarter and she smells
95% better. I say 95% because she still has some congealed puss
under the skin on her face. I consulted my vet about this and on
Tuesday (1st December 2009) he is going to clean out Freebie's
sinuses under anesthetic to help prevent the possibility of a nasty
bacterial infection setting in.

The vet also gave me some sad news though in that Freebie does not
have an eyeball on her left side, possibly caused by an injury when she
was younger. Nevertheless she should be able to manage very well
with only one eye.

P.S. Freebie will also be having a pedicure on Tuesday. She literally
has fallen on her feet hasn't she!

Freebie does have two eyes!

Even though I trust my vet completely, I felt a little nervous when I dropped Freebie at the surgery for her operation. I need not have worried though because when I picked her up in the afternoon, she was in her cage looking sprightly and pecking up the grain from the floor. Apparently Freebie had done very well under the anesthetic.

Tim her vet had done a wonderful job. The nasty swellings had virtually gone and she had a neat tiny stitch in each cheek!
The brilliant news is that she does have a left eyeball. It is a little sunken into her head but I have a feeling that she can see quite a bit with it.

On arriving home I released her back into my conservatory when she immediately looked around and started to scratch the floor for the very first time. Previously she had always fed directly from the lovely bowl that Linda and Robert had given her.
Within days her John Cleese "silly walk" had gone and she continued to look and behave much more like a normal hen!

I was so delighted with her progress that I began to wonder if she could be integrated with the three new girls that Linda would be rescuing for me on Saturday 5th?