Meet Ralphie Wiggum.

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Ralphie was much better yesterday, but he had a bad night and this morning his eyes were gummed up again, he hadn’t been eating or drinking, and he was very sluggish. I swabbed his eyes again – he hates that – and I’ve been hydrating him with an eye dropper. Frankly since all the RIR chicks are perfectly healthy I wouldn’t normally care what happened to this one but Landlady wants him so he’s worth some effort.

He was apparently feeling better early this afternoon but I couldn’t go over to Landlady’s twelve times a day so I brought him home in the Jeep.

Um…that’s kind of a bumpy ride…
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Oooh, that’s one traumatized chick. If he lives, I’m going to be paying for his counseling forever.

We’ll just have to see how it goes. Landlady’s talking about treating his eyes with Neosporin, which I don’t even know what that is, plus I can’t get back to town before Saturday and I’ve a feeling this will have resolved itself one way or another before then. But I’ll keep working on him the best I can.

About Joel

You shouldn't ask these questions of a paranoid recluse, you know.
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9 Responses to Meet Ralphie Wiggum.

  1. MamaLiberty says:

    Good luck! Poor little mite. The neosporin may very well help. Do you have some triple antibiotic ointment in your first aid kit? That would probably do as well. Just put some on a qTip and smear it around his eyes.

    And it is much better to keep him separated from the other chicks.

  2. Joel says:

    ML, yeah, I’ve got antiseptic ointment – have some right here, in fact – but it specifically says don’t put it in the eyes. Do they make an ointment you can put in the eyes?

  3. Robert says:

    Two words: Mobile Target. Er, no! I mean, tell LL yer allergic (like me) to triple whatsits and you can’t safely minister to the little fuzzball without gloves and a mask and um, baby wipes and stuff, as Personal Protective Equipment. Oh, who am I kidding, I couldn’t not try to help him, either.

  4. Judy says:

    Do you have any saline solution for contacts or a saline solution as an eye wash that you use after a dust storm? That would work to keep his eyes rinsed out and lubricated while his body heals itself. We have used neosporin/triple antibiotic ointment around the eyes, not in them, on our old dog that had eye problems. It helped along with the saline solution.

  5. Matt says:

    I have used Neosporin type triple anti-biotic ointment around my own eyes. It works. In the eyes burns like hell. I have put around dog and cat eyes as well. I think it soaks into the skin.

  6. Mutti says:

    Not that you are likely to ever need it, but there is a Puffer Bottle which is used to “puff” an anti-biotic Powder into the eye. Works super for Pink Eye or Conjunctivitis on critters from Poultry to Cattle. It’s an old Farm remedy which can be had for about $3.99 at a Farm Store and will last a long time.

  7. Joel says:

    Unfortunately the feed store didn’t have any antibiotic powder. I went there specifically to get some.

  8. Mutti says:

    Well – I’ll take a gander later this week. Maybe you’ll get a weirdo box.

  9. MamaLiberty says:

    Don’t put the triple antibiotic ointment IN the eyes, but as was said above, AROUND them. With a qTip. I’ve done it for kittens and calves, but never a chick. Sounds like a job, but at least the chick has no claws!! And a calf can be very difficult to hang onto. 🙂 Especially if the stuff burns. Makes sense they’d be less than enthusiastic patients.

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