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loumabel

Any Ideas? Chicken toppling over backwards. Sad Update

By loumabel, in Chicken Clinic

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loumabel Frequent Layer

loumabel

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one of my pekin bantams is poorly. She is having problems standing and she topples backwards sitting on her bottom. I have taken her to the vet (avian specialist) and he is not really sure what is wrong with her. He has given me two types of antibiotics and some metacam for her and I have isolated her in the garage in a cat basket inside the dog crate. She is eating and drinking but has lost weight which I had put down to her moulting and also previously being broody for ever!! I have read some other peoples posts on this forum and don't even really want to say it outloud but could it be Mareks? anyone got any ideas???

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Tweety Chatty Chicken

Tweety

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How old is she? I had similar problems with one of my bantams, and my first thought was Marek's, but she was about 12 months old and my vet, also an avian specialist, told me that Marek's was near the bottom of his list of possible causes because of her age.

In the end, he thought she had had a stroke or was suffering from a brain tumour :(

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loumabel Frequent Layer

loumabel

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Hi Tweety, she is also about a year old like your girlie. Did you have to have your chook pts? I realise now that I have bought my bantams from a very bad breeder, we have had one illness after another with them and it is a constant battle to keep them in good condition. The breeder was recommended to me on an omlet henkeeping course so I thought they would be ok and being a complete novice I didnt have the skills to notice the warning signs. I feel like naming and shaming them on this forum to stop others having the cost and heartache I have had :cry: Sorry to rant but I can't face the thought of losing another one so soon.

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Tweety Chatty Chicken

Tweety

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I'm sorry you have been having such an awful time with your chickens. Have you spoken to the breeder?

 

I think your vet would have considered the possibility of Marek's, and hopefully the treatments he has prescribed will do the trick. It was very obvious with my little girl that she wasn't going to recover so, sadly, she was PTS. :(

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loumabel Frequent Layer

loumabel

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Im really sorry to hear that about your little girl, it is so upsetting when they have to be pts :cry:

thank you for replying, I really appreciate it. :) I think I will just have to see how she goes over the next few days and make a decision as to whats the kindest thing to do. I havent been in touch with the breeder, it is nearly a year since we bought them so i don't know what she would say. I may send an email to the breeder, especially if I get a proper diagnosis from my vet.

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loumabel Frequent Layer

loumabel

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Well its nearly two days on now and no real improvement :anxious: she is eating a bit and drinking and will eat some corn too when its offered she even got up to walk to the corn. I have her in my garage in the dog crate with a snugglesafe pad to keep her warm. Should I bring her in the house, will she be cold in the garage? I am at a loss at what else to do, should I carry on as I am for a bit or go back to the vets and face the possibility of having her Pts. I don't want her to suffer but also don't want to give up on her if she could recover. She really is seriously skinny, is their anything I could give her to tempt her to eat more.

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loumabel Frequent Layer

loumabel

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well, I took her back to the vets this morning and saw my favourite vet at the practice. He said he is not ready to give up on Little Mary yet and he is going to keep her until saturday and inject her with high doses of antibiotics and also get some fluids and food into her and see how she goes. If there is no improvement by Saturday then he will have no choice but to Pts. Please all keep your fingers crossed for Little Mary :pray:

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loumabel Frequent Layer

loumabel

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Well, Little Mary has been in the vets since Thursday of last week and I picked her up this lunchtime and brought her home. The vet felt that she had improved a bit and has sent me home with Baytrill and told me to keep her seperate from the other girls and keep nursing her and see how we get on. I have her in my office in the dog crate and she has eaten a bit of mash and also had a bit of Tuna. She still topples back a bit but she is walking around a little now and making cooing noises so I am encouraged. The vet thinks she may have a bacterial infection of some kind, but I was wondering if it is a very bad reaction to her moult?, she has lost about 50% of her feathers and I have been following other posts on this forum about walking issues relating to the moult. Fingers crossed I can nurse her back to health :pray:

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loumabel Frequent Layer

loumabel

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Sadly Little Mary my beautiful little lavender pekin was PTS this morning :( . After a few more days of not being able to stand and needing assistance to eat and drink I felt it was the kindest thing to do. I could have kept her going like this for longer but I just think that her quality of life was zero, she couldnt do any chickeny things and was seperated from her other girls, so with a very heavy heart I took her back to the vets and sent her off to the great flock in the sky. RIP Little Mary: October 2010- November 2011

Vet is doing a post mortem, so post result when I have them.

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