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Sick Emu

post #1 of 4
11/8/11 at 7:24am
Thread Starter 

This morning I found one of my young emus (6 month old or so) acting sick, kind of hot to the touch , a bit of foam/vomit , and a swollen esophegus. 

I gave a shot of LA 200 and also some down the throat.  Gave some wormer just in case.  Also , some fluids/gatoraid.

I did a forum search and found another thread that recommended some metamucil flush, so I will be trying that shortly too. 

Has anyone else delt with this and does anyone have any other ideas on what I should do?

Maybe she swallowed one too many foreign object?  Maybe too much dirt? I dunno.  I really hope this problem can correct itself, because I am not digging the surgery option.

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post #2 of 4
11/8/11 at 11:26am

A Sick emu seems to be a rare thing, how I don't know with all the stuff they consume......  Is your emu still pooing? Does it eat and drink water? Any chance of it getting into poison... ie radiator fluid, plants, mushrooms, choke weed...?  Any other animals with fiber like llama or Alpaca, sheep or long hair goats? ( Sometimes they can choke on the fiber if they eat it)  If it is drinking and eating I would add some oil to it's food or try and squirt some in its mouth.. They don't have a crop like a chicken so it's hard to tell if something is lodged without feeling down it's throat or an x-ray.....

Honestly the best course of action would be to ask a vet or have them do an xray. If no vet, call you closest University that has an animal health dept. Often they can give advice or see exotics.


Edited by chickenzoo - 11/8/11 at 5:08pm
My Heart is Broken... I miss you my Sweet Sophie Puff Diva Chicken....
Living and working on a Zoo farm - 300 plus chickens, fancy pigeons, Sebbies geese, turkey, crested ducks, peafowl, ornamental pheasant and ducks, Black swans, Egyptian geese, African Crowned Cranes, Emu, fainting goats, mini zebu, mini horses,mini donkey, alpacas, llamas, horses, 5 Great Pyrenees and a cat.
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My Heart is Broken... I miss you my Sweet Sophie Puff Diva Chicken....
Living and working on a Zoo farm - 300 plus chickens, fancy pigeons, Sebbies geese, turkey, crested ducks, peafowl, ornamental pheasant and ducks, Black swans, Egyptian geese, African Crowned Cranes, Emu, fainting goats, mini zebu, mini horses,mini donkey, alpacas, llamas, horses, 5 Great Pyrenees and a cat.
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post #3 of 4
11/10/11 at 6:25pm
Thread Starter 

Well she is still alive, and slowly getting better.  I think mostly in response to the antibiotics I am giving her.  Today I noticed a small wound on her neck and a couple even smaller wounds to the sides of that.  All in the location that swelled up bad.  Now I am thinking something tired to attack her in the night, which even though the wounds were not bad, lead to infection.  She really was very hot to the touch for awhile there.

Three mornings ago I found one of my very pregnant 70lbs nanny goats dead in the pasture with a Bobcat on top of her. 

This may all be a series of coincidences, but it does sound fishy to me.  I've always heard cats can give very nasty infections to birds.  Frankly if it was the bobcat though, i'm suprised it did not outright kill the Emu.  Maybe it pounced on her in the night while she was laying down (they both had a bad habbit of going to the far side of their acre yard and sleeping by the fence) and when the emu got up the bobcat freaked out at the huge bird riseing up and ran off. 

Yes I have bobcat on the brain right now, they are beautiful animals but when they kill my animals..they got to go.

Anyways, keeping my fingers crossed, she really does seem better, no longer burning up and staggering around with a very swollen neck.  I'll keep the antibiotics up untill the swelling goes away and the wound(s) heal up well.  Lets just say, I really was expecting her to die that first day, im pleasantly suprised she is doing better.

EMU owners.... keep some good antibiotic handy, like LA 200 and Cipro, because once you notice your bird is sick.. she is gonna be VERY sick.  All birds are very good at hideing their illness untill they are at deaths door.

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post #4 of 4
11/11/11 at 4:06am

Glad she if doing better, I was hoping your post would be good news. Yes, i always keep antibiotics on had.... all the critters seem to get into stuff at the worst times. big_smile  I would def keep an eye out for the predator and try to keep the emu closer to were you can keep an eye on her. A single young emu is no match for them. I have herd of coons taking out younger ones also.

My Heart is Broken... I miss you my Sweet Sophie Puff Diva Chicken....
Living and working on a Zoo farm - 300 plus chickens, fancy pigeons, Sebbies geese, turkey, crested ducks, peafowl, ornamental pheasant and ducks, Black swans, Egyptian geese, African Crowned Cranes, Emu, fainting goats, mini zebu, mini horses,mini donkey, alpacas, llamas, horses, 5 Great Pyrenees and a cat.
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My Heart is Broken... I miss you my Sweet Sophie Puff Diva Chicken....
Living and working on a Zoo farm - 300 plus chickens, fancy pigeons, Sebbies geese, turkey, crested ducks, peafowl, ornamental pheasant and ducks, Black swans, Egyptian geese, African Crowned Cranes, Emu, fainting goats, mini zebu, mini horses,mini donkey, alpacas, llamas, horses, 5 Great Pyrenees and a cat.
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