4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[Egghead68]

Hi,

 

I have a nearly 2-year-old Rhode Star (like an ISA) who has had sterile peritonitis for the past two weeks. She is behaving and eating normally aprt from not laying and sitting on the nest more. I took her to the vet's yesterday and they put her on baytril and metacam but suggested that I think about having her pts because the condition is uncomfortable for the hen and usually goes septic.

 

Does anyone have experience of hens "living with" sterile peritonitis (maybe following hormone treatment/spaying or on long-term antibiotics/regular draining)? Is it cruel to keep them alive like this or do you think they can have a decent quality of life?

 

The other two hens and I would be very sorry to lose her but I don't want her to suffer.

 

I would be very grateful for any advice, thoughts or options.

Edited November 6, 2011 by Guest

[Egghead68]

Well I've found another thread saying that they never really recover so I will probably just have her pts. Hard when she seems so perky but best not to let her suffer more.

[gongladosh]

one thing you could do is try her on an implant and if you reckon her quality of life has suffered, then make the call about PTS or not.

[Egghead68]

Thanks Gongladosh. My first choice was to drain the fluid and then use an implant but the non-specialist vet I saw wasn't keen. I am potentially seeing a specialist this Thursday (unless I have her pts locally beforehand) so can discuss this with him. Have you had any experience with this?

[Olly]

If you search 'implant' on here you'll find some threads on this. It seems they can last for months, but I know one person discovered that the implant only lasted for a few weeks.

My personal view would be pts, there is no long-term cure for this sadly, only things that can alleviate the symptoms, but your vet will be best placed to advise you.

[Egghead68]

Thanks Olly. It is a difficult decision.

[gongladosh]

Thanks Gongladosh. My first choice was to drain the fluid and then use an implant but the non-specialist vet I saw wasn't keen. I am potentially seeing a specialist this Thursday (unless I have her pts locally beforehand) so can discuss this with him. Have you had any experience with this?

 

We had this earlier in the year with our top hen, Kiki. http://club.omlet.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=75752

 

We had a couple of complications, and sadly we lost her - it turned septic before the implant (on order) was delivered - she ended up very ill so we had to have her PTS, that said, we were probably unlucky. If luck had have gone her way, we'd have had the implant fitted, then who knows?

 

I'd be inclined to give the implant a go, but I totally understand why others would have the hen PTS.

[Egghead68]

Thanks Gongladosh. At the moment I am inclined to try the implant too (for a very limited period). The vet has them in stock and is willing to give it a go.

[laurmurf]

My meg had sterile peritonitis for over 2 years and when she died, aged 4, it wasn't that she died of. She was never in pain, or uncomfortable that i could see as she never changed her behaviour. She was happily waddling round eating and drinking for the whole time. I did find that the bulge got smaller each winter as her internal egg laying reduced with the shorter days.

 

It doesn't always get septic, it doesn't always cause discomfort. Just be prepared to take action IF and/or WHEN it does. If she's happy now... why pts?

 

I have to say i never had her drained or used an implant either: although she had a wicked John Wayne waddle it never got worse than that to require intervention.

 

good luck with it!

[Egghead68]

Thanks Lauramurf. That is good to hear.

 

Colin is still very bright and happy, jumping and flying around, eating ravenously, dust-bathing etc. However her tummy felt warm when I took her out of the coop this morning for meds, so maybe not a good sign...

 

Vets tomorrow. I will go for hormone treatment unless feels strongly that she should be pts.

 

I have another who was diagnosed with peritonitis last summer and has never had a recurrence, but I am not totally sure the original diagnosis was accurate.

[Egghead68]

Colin is definitely less lively now, sadly. I thought that the specialist vet would want to put her down but he said she's still not that ill and he wouldn't consider it at this stage if she were his.

 

So... she and my other hybrid (who had peritonitis in the past) both now have suprelorin implants. They should take 4-5 days to kick in. The vet reckons they will last 6 months but that seems to be at the upper limit of people's experiences. Colin (2.8kg) is still on 0.9ml metacam and 3.4ml 2.5% baytril daily too. The vet wouldn't drain her as he said (a) they just refill within hours and (b) the risk of puncturing an air-sac is too great.

 

Make or break time for Colin - fingers crossed. I will update the thread with how things go.

[gongladosh]

good luck!

[Egghead68]

Thank you - we need it.

[gongladosh]

other side effects may be a heavy moult and a slight shrinkage of the comb.

Effectively it puts them through the menopause.

[Egghead68]

Thanks, Gongladosh. It's 3 days since the implant and both Sarah and Colin are very subdued today and not really interested in eating or free-ranging. I am hoping that this is just the hormones kicking in rather than anything more sinister. It's the first day Sarah hasn't laid.

[brambles]

Good luck and keep going.

 

I had two hybrids who rumbled through peritonitis for six months before they needed their final trip to the vet. It was quality of life that was the decider.

[Egghead68]

Thanks Brambles. Good to know.

 

I think it was the heat that was bothering them today as they both perked up in the evening. Keeping everything crossed...

[brambles]

Mine were definitely worse in the heat. I made the call when could see that their breathing had suffered and they were obviously apart from the others.

[Egghead68]

It's now a week on from the implant.

 

Colin's face and comb have returned to their normal colour and she is completely full of beans (the liveliest of all of them at the moment).

 

She is still quite swollen, although I think the fluid is being reabsorbed slowly. She is a bit off her food and won't eat animal protein.

 

She is on the same high dose of metacam and baytril (the vet will review this on Monday).

 

I am cautiously optimistic but will feel better when the fluid's gone and she is stable off meds - could be a long haul.

 

Does anyone know whether (a) I should/can expect the swelling to go down completely now she has the implant and how long this takes and (b) how long she is likely to have to remain on antibiotics (till all the fluid has been reabsorbed? Longer?)

 

Any experiences/advice appreciated.

[Egghead68]

Well Colin and Sarah both started a very heavy post-Suprelorin moult on Friday ( a week and a day after the implant). Sarah (the one without peritonitis) is now looking pretty miserable - hope she picks up. Seeing what she is going through, I now think it was probably a mistake to have a healthy chicken implanted.

 

Colin (the one with peritonitis) is very bright and active and eating better and so far I am very glad I had her implanted. She's still on high dose baytril and metacam (being reviewed today). She's also still quite swollen, although this is coming down slowly (now 10 days post implant). I'm a little concerned as others have found the swelling comes down within days (but not too concerned as she seems well otherwise, although thin).

[Egghead68]

Both the implanted girls seem really poorly now and completely off their food. Feeling very bad for having had them done (especially Sarah, who was fine before).

[Chucky Mama]

Sorry to hear that they are both so under the weather Are they both on high dose Metacam? It can cause gastric irritation and bleeding at high doses In terms of fluid reabsortion, this doesn't always happen. Antibiotics and non steroidal anti inflammatories (Metacam) will deal with any infection, inflammation and pain associated with it only. Regarding the Suprelorin it is an unproven, unlicensed medication, many swear by it but similar results have been achieved through antibitotics, metacam and/or draining alone (you don't go anywhere near the air sacks ). If both hens are on Metacam I would worry that this may be the problem. If not, I would worry that it was the implant.

[Egluntyne]

I've seen reports on other fora that hens can become quite off colour after the Suprelorin Implant. In quite a few cases it can lead to a spectacular moult too.

[Egghead68]

Thanks so much Chucky Mama. Only one of them is on metacam (I will take her off) so I don't think it's that. They both went downhill Monday following the very heavy Suprelorin induced moult that started last Friday.

 

I will take the one hen off metacam (vet has said this is OK) and try a few days of hand/force feeding her. I will leave the other one be for now as she probably has enough body weight to survive a few days without eating. I am not optimistic at this stage.

 

There is a thread on another forum about 4 healthy ex-bats who became very ill two weeks after Suprelorin implants. Posters on that thread thought that they must have come down with an infection but I am not so sure. Unfortunately that thread was not updated with what happened in the end.

[Egghead68]

Thanks Egluntyne (cross-posts). I really hope it's just a temporary thing and they pick up.