Chook

Chook’s original name was Joseph, but somewhere along the line he became Chook.  Don’t ask.  His original carer found him standing on the road beside his dead mother, and took him home and did a good job of raising him, except for one thing, she wouldn’t let him outside.  She had very little fencing, and was afraid to let him out in case he took off, which was very understandable.   So she would go out each day and pick stacks and stacks of grass, and take it inside to him.  She came to the realisation eventually that he would have to go somewhere else, when he got to the stage of outgrowing his pouches, and she had to use cut down sleeping bags for him.  He was getting quite big, and under normal circumstances, should have been going into prerelease.  But of course, never having been outside, he was nowhere near ready.  I hate to think what the inside of the poor woman’s house looked like with all that grass……

 

Anyway, eventually he came to me, and of course the first thing I did was introduce him to the great outdoors.  Well what a culture shock for him!  He really didn’t know what to make of it, so his first bout was fairly short, as I didn’t want him to stress out too much.  Each day it was a bit easier, and he spent more time out each day, although still getting back in his pouch at night.  Eventually though he progressed to being outside all day.  This took, I suppose, about two weeks to get to this stage, and then disaster struck.  The guy a couple of doors down started his mower, and Chook was terrified, and ran into the fence.  Most roos would get through this with a bleeding nose and a bit of a headache.  Not Chook, however, he tried to jump the 5′ fence, and caught his leg and broke it.  Well, I went down and tried to sort him out.  He was standing up, but it was obvious his leg was broken.  So I got his pouch and in he went, quite willingly, and I got a couple of old school rulers, and tried to splint his leg.  I got it fairly immobile, and got in touch with the vet.  Normally you would not try to set the leg of a roo this size, because they’re not normally in a pouch, and they need to be to take all weight off their legs, so it can knit.  I discussed this with the vet, and said I thought I could get him to stay in a pouch seeing he’s so used to it, and off I went.  Walked into the waiting room with this rather oversize roo, in a rather oversize pouch, to the stares of the other “patients”.  I always find vets waiting rooms are very interesting places, and of course everyone was interested in my patient…. In due course it was my turn, but the roo wasn’t interested in letting anyone look at his leg, he was in his pouch and that was that.  So the vet had to give him a rather large dose of valium, which sent him off to lala land.  He wasn’t quite asleep, but he certainly wasn’t with it either.  Anyway in this relaxed state, the vet was able to set his leg.  He used some “quick set” plaster, which was also not as heavy as the usual plaster of paris job.  As this was a new enterprise for both of us, the vet and I agreed to keep in touch, so that I could get advice as I needed it, and so he could broaden his experiences.

 

So I took home a very dopey roo, with instructions to keep him off his feet.  I found an old sponge rubber mattress, and settled him off on it.  His grass was put on a tray in front of him, and he went back onto a bottle three times a day, the vet thought that would help give him extra calcium to help the bones to set.  He also thought he was probably lacking in vitamin D, seeing he had spent so much time inside, and was suffering from “brittle bones”.  Chook settled into this new routine very quickly and very well, and seemed to thrive on all the attention.  Any visitors that came into the house would do a double take at this roo lying in state on the mattress.  I had to watch his foot constantly for any sign of pressure sores under the plaster.  I asked the vet how would  I tell, he said he would start to smell like rotten socks…..

 

All went well for 2 weeks, he just lay around like Lord Muck being waited on hand and foot.  Then he picked himself up and moved off down the hall to my bedroom.  He used his two front legs in their normal “crawl” movement, where they move around slowly, using their tail as a fifth leg, but he dragged his injured leg behind him, so he wouldn’t have been putting much weight on it.  I went into a panic because everytime I picked him up and put him back on his mattress, he just moved off again.  I rang the vet and told him what was happening.  He listened quietly and said, he’s actually started himself on physiotherapy.  The broken bone takes a week to bond, then forms a callous.  After that time, a small amount of pressure is needed to strengthen that join.  So Chook was actually doing the right thing.  So I just moved the tray of grass to my bedroom, and he allowed himself to be moved back to the mattress at night time, and every morning he would move up the hall to my room.

 

Another two weeks passed, and again he changed his method of ambulation.  He was still doing the 5 legged crawl, but now he was “pushing” his leg, and putting a bit more weight on it.  Again, I phoned the vet, and was assured that all was well.  The six weeks passed, and back we went to the vet for the removal of the plaster….the moment of truth, and I would know whether all that work had been worthwhile.  Again, some valium, because the removal of the plaster was  noisy, they had to use a little circular saw.  And there was his leg, looking wasted, but healed.  The callus formed a large lump under his skin, and the vet was delighted, and I took Chook home to sleep off his valium.  As soon as he woke up, he was allowed to stand up, and I took him outside.  He seemed delighted to be back out there, and of course I watched him like a hawk when any noises started.  I had to give him some physio exercises for a few days to strengthen his leg, but he quickly outgrew the need.  As far as he was concerned, he was back to normal.

 

In due course, he was taken to prerelease, where he met another roo, who had also undergone treatment for a broken bone.  Eventually they went, and disappeared in the local mob.  Many years later, a very large roo appeared inside the gate of the enclosure.  He ambled straight up to where the food supply was kept, right into the shed.  There he met the man who owned the place, who was himself over 6′.  He told me afterwards this roo was almost looking him in the eye, with massive shoulders, and powerful legs.  He decided to let him eat all the food he wanted……We think it was Chook, but we can’t be sure, because other males had been released from there.  However, it was definitely one who was familiar with the surroundings, because a wild kangaroo wouldn’t be so comfortable inside a shed, and Chook was a little bit bigger when he left, and had known humans for a little longer.  We’ll never know….