Owners Shell Out $5000 For 'depressed' Chook

[mrmoshe]

Owners shell out $5000 for 'depressed' chook

WHEN Lily the chicken needed urgent - and costly - medical assistance, her owners did not hesitate.

Seven operations and an amputated leg later, Vicky Mills and her husband Sam have shelled out almost £2000 ($4900) on their beloved bird Lily.

They took out a bank loan and have lived frugally for an entire year to pay for the treatment - which included Lily being diagnosed with depression.

But 24-year-old Mrs Mills says it was worth it to see the smile back on her beak.

The charity worker was horrified when her pet Rhode Island red got her left leg trapped in a barbed wire fence.

A vet warned the costs involved in trying to save the damaged drumstick would be more than chicken feed, but he was instructed to do everything he could.

When the treatment failed and the experts said Lily's leg would have to be amputated to save her life, Mrs Mills and her husband dug deep again to meet costs.

Even then her medical bills were not over, as Lily was diagnosed with depression.

Being alone in the house was getting her down, so now the couple leave the television on whenever they leave their home in Cwmbran, South Wales.

And apart from the occasional fall, and having to take extra care when she wants to cross a road, she is back to her chirpy self.

"She's worth every penny," Mrs Mills said.

Three-year-old Lily sleeps on a cushion in the kitchen of their two-bedroom terrace house and has a free run of the back garden.

She turns her beak up at ordinary chicken feed preferring to eat whatever is cooking in the kitchen, especially spaghetti bolognaise.

And Lily returns the favour by laying up to half a dozen eggs a week for the couple.

[bolan]

Yeah............. and one flew over the cuckoo's nest