Jump to content
igobarefoot

One eye closed and trouble breathing

Recommended Posts

Hi

 

I've got a lovely little French Copper Black Maran called Olive. She's still quite young (November POL). On New Year's Day I noticed that her right eye was closing a bit more than normal but didn't think too much of it until Saturday when she really wasn't looking right and so took her to see my very good chicken vet.

 

The upshot is that he thinks she could have a respiratory tract infection, which is causing her eye to close and why she is breathing through her beak. He gave her an antibiotic injection, and also some soluble antibiotics to put in the water for the rest of my girls.

 

He also thinks it could be a lung/gape worm, so she's on the 1st stage of Panacur.

 

My worry is that she doesn't seem to be responding to the antiobitcs, her eye is still half closed and she's still struggling to breathe. She hasn't eaten anything since Tuesday and is hardly drinking at all so I'm syringing water in her beak on a regular basis. She's done a couple of poos that have had some horrid wriggly worms in them- is that a good sign that they're coming out and should I give her the 2nd stage of Panacur a day early? Will she be able to cope with that in such a weak and wobbly state? Or will she not get any better anyway if I don't?

 

She's putting up such a good fight and I'm desperate to get her through this, but I am just so worried about what to do for her for the best? I think we'll take her back to the vets again tomorrow and get his opionin, but I'm scared he will advise we put her to sleep. She's so young, its too soon to say goodbye to her :(

 

If any of this sounds familiar, I'd be really grateful for any advice.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Are her eyes 'bubbly'? I've heard that's a sign of mycoplasma (resp infection), treatment by Baytril or Tylan.

Googled a little and got this....Mycoplasma gallisepticum: signs can include foamy eyes, sneezing, nasal discharge, swollen eyelids and sinuses, reduced egg production and gasping in chickens, turkeys and pheasants, swollen sinuses in waterfowl.

Sounds likely? Antibiotics should improve her if so, keep her warm and isolated, and help her through it as it sounds as though you are.

Hopefully she feels a little better enough to drink tomorrow.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi - thanks for your replies. She's still hanging in there, despite it being a week now since she fed herself. Syringing critical care formula and watered down baby food and weetabix in her on a regular basis which seems to just be about keeping her alive. She is so light and thin though bless her.

 

The good news is that her closed up eye is now almost completely open again, but she is still breathing through her beak - and not feeding herself which I know is a really bad sign :(

 

She had a shot of Tylan last Tuesday in case it was a respiratory infection and the vet gave her some Amoxycilin and Vitamin B on Saturday to try and stimulate her appetite, which did work briefly as she ate some worms I dug up for her!

 

We talked about the possibility of it being Mycroplasma but he still thinks it's a gapeworm. She had the last stage of Pancur on Friday though so surely the worm must be dead now? How long does it take to kill the pesky thing?! He did say that he thought we'd caught the worm early enough and it won't kill her - but the lack of food could :(

 

Just don't know what more I can do.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well the vet is convinced the worm is dead and gone by now and she is still breathing through her beak and not eating cos of the damage the worm has caused to her throat. She's so young as well which doesn't go in her favour.

 

Some more vitamin B to stimulate her appetite and a steroid injection and if this doesn't work we're going to have to make that awful decision to say goodbye to her. I think it's going to go that way now to be honest, trying to prepare myself for it as I'm not sure she's got much strength left to get over this.

 

Am absolutely heartbroken, it's so unfair for her, just 5 months old so no life at all and she's such a sweet and friendly little thing with lots of personality.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well she's hanging in there but still not eating. Not seen any noticeable improvement since the steroid injection. Breathing through her beak is getting less pronounced but did notice yesterday that the eye that had completely closed and is now back open - the pupil is fully dilated all the time. She's not blind in it but she can't focus. Guessing that its either damage from the worm or from the infection, but could be something else entirely. Struggling to figure it all out now to be honest :?

 

So we're persevering with syringing weetabix porridge in her for now. She has bright, alert moments when she pecks a bit of grass and scratches the earth and that's giving us hope. Not sure how much longer we should give her though if she doesn't start eating properly for herself soon.

 

Its been two weeks now :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know, its really only fair that she recovers from this now as she's been fighting for her life so valiantly!

 

Thanks for the tip on the nutri-drops. I saw someone mention them in another thread and ordered some from Flyte so Fancy in the week. I gave her some the day they arrived and she hates the taste! So much so that she struggled out of my arms and knocked the bloomin' bottle over! :lol: Managed to salvage most of it thankfully and will give her some more tomorrow :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know, its really only fair that she recovers from this now as she's been fighting for her life so valiantly!

 

Thanks for the tip on the nutri-drops. I saw someone mention them in another thread and ordered some from Flyte so Fancy in the week. I gave her some the day they arrived and she hates the taste! So much so that she struggled out of my arms and knocked the bloomin' bottle over! :lol: Managed to salvage most of it thankfully and will give her some more tomorrow :)

 

Shame you lost some because it is expensive for such a tiny amount.

I always wrap my girls up in an old towel and then they can't escape.

I also use an old syringe (obs not the needle bit) to dribble it at the edge of their beak. I found the blob on the pipette thing too clumpy to use.

I hope you manage to get some more into her tomorrow and she starts to feel better soon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks guys and for the nutri-drop tips :)

 

Still no eating, just a bit of grass pecking today, but she did squirm and struggle away from the weetabix syringing - not sure though if thats a good sign either though. Did hear her little voice the first time in ages too.

 

Totally at a loss as to what it could be, what more we can do and whether she's capable of recovering now, its been over two weeks now :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Have you tried live mealworms ? maybe she might like to eat something that wriggles.

I had a poorly one once. I bought her cherries, raspberries, strawberries and anything else I thought would get her taste buds going. I even cooked her stuff too - scrambled egg was quite a hit, mashed potato, sweet corn etc.

I hope she starts eating and feeling better soon. xxx

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've tried her with everything and she's just literally turning up her beak at it all and facing the other way :( If only animals could talk and tell us what's wrong

 

I took her back to the vets again today for the fifth time, expecting him to tell me it was time as there's just nothing left of her. I'd prepared myself for it all day and made sure she had said her goodbyes to the rest of the girls and the garden and I'd said my goodbyes to her. Except the vet seems to think she's such a little fighter we need to give her a bit more of a chance, so another shot of steroids and vitamin B, and a syringe full of vitamin B for the next few days.

 

So, she's back indoors keeping me company again whilst the OH is away and I've got everything crossed again for a miracle recovery :pray:

 

I'll keep you posted and thanks for all your replies and support, it really does help x

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm sorry to hear about your poorly girl. It is such an emotional rollercoaster when they're poorly.

 

I recently nursed a poorly hen and things she would eat one day, she wouldn't touch the next. Like luvachicken recommended, you could try live mealworms which I mixed into mushy pellets (she picked out the wiggling mealworms), cucumber, grapes, sweet corn on the cob ( or tinned), natural yoghurt, chopped apple, boiled/ scrambled egg, tuna, bits of boiled rice. This will probably sound really strange but my OH was rolling bits of bread between his fingers to throw into his pond (don't know why??) but she took an interest and ate some rolled bread dipped in her medicated water.

 

I hope she starts eating and is feeling better soon :pray: let us know how she gets on.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I do hope she you are both getting on ok today. I too was just wondering if she is eating at all. When one of my girls was brought into the house because she wouldn't eat, she kept staring at what I thought was the cat - thought she was worried by her - turned out she wanted the cat food :shock: Brought the dish over to her - much to the cat's disgust and she promptly ate some!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

She's still not eating for herself at all. I've tried her with everything to tempt her to no avail. Live maggots haven't worked, but I don't blame her on that one to be fair, they were so smelly! I ordered some live meal worms last night and will try her on cat food today as well, but it's been so long now that I can't imagine her eating again. I sit and watch her and will her to dip her head down to the food and eat just a little bit, but nothing :(

 

There's nothing left of her to inject the vitamins in to, I don't understand how she can still be with us. I'm guessing it won't be long now until her little body starts to shut down. I feel so guilty for not spotting she was Ill earlier, maybe if I'd seen the little signs I could have stopped it getting this bad. And I feel so bad that I can't get her to eat :(

 

Her pupil appears to be dilating a bit now and although she is still breathing through her beak a tiny bit, the outward symptoms she came down with seem improved so I just can't understand why she hasn't got her appetite back.

 

I think it's just a matter of time now, I'm all out of ideas and really losing hope :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.




×
×
  • Create New...