Advice for Two Old Quail Hens with Health Problems

[KweallCeypur]

I've got two old quails (both are no longer laying), Octopus and Tsapa, who have quite a few health problems and I was wondering wether anyone has advice for some of their issues.

Octopus has -what we believe is- gout on her feet and we've been giving her chopped salad and buckwheat in addition to her pellet food. Her pellet food is high protein, but we've been having a hard time finding any low protein pellet food. Shes also been losing quite a bit of weight, so Im hesitant to put her on solely salad.

Our second quail Tsapa has been walking a bit strangely (stepping on her own feet, a bit off balance) and keeps scratching her eye. We've also noticed some cloudy blobs in her eyes, so we started spraying colloidal silver and occasionally dropping eye wash. Recently she's also developed a gap in her beak. Tsapa is a big girl, at her peak she was around 320g, but she seems to only eat pellet food and not much salad.

If anyone has advice on what we can do to help them, or even to relieve some pain, please tell me.

Tsapa:

Octopus:

 

[Nabiki]

How old are they? I must admit, they don't look good. Is a vet an option.

 

[le_bwah]

If it is gout, making sure she drinks enough water is important. No-iron poultry multivitamin can't hurt if you have some handy. Comfort-wise, can't really elevate a bird's foot or ice it, but that lower-protein diet is a great start.

I'd ease up on the colloidal silver, as it's use is not well-supported. Cloudiness could be a lot of things, but that eye doesn't look like it has a bacterial infection. A vet is your best bet for Tsapa—her walking funny is concerning.

 

[KweallCeypur]

How old are they? I must admit, they don't look good. Is a vet an option.

They're about 2 years old, but they were in a bad shape when we got them (sketchy seller, all of our quails ended up being sick with something). And they had been through a few California wildfires. Vet isn't a great option because we live in an urban area and none of the local vets are familiar with poultry.

 

[Nabiki]

The poor girls. 2 years old is old, but not extremely so. I agree with @le_bwah 's advice. I would also stop with the colloidal silver since there is absolutely no scientific evidence that is will do anything.

There is an avian vet in San Jose, which isn't that far from Palo Alto.
https://www.forthebirdsdvm.com/

Good luck, and keep us up to date on how they're doing.

 

[le_bwah]

Dang, 2 isn't all that old from what I've seen and read. Poor critters. Glad they're in your care now.

The gout is hard to treat if you can't push liquids and she's not doing well on the new feed. If she's very painful, keeps losing weight, or loses mobility, I'd opt to kill her at home to limit suffering.

That eye, I'm thinking, might have been physically damaged or scarred by a past infection. No laser eye surgery for quail, unfortunately. But as long as it isn't actively infected and she can still navigate to food/water/etc., then I'd leave it be.

• The concerning bit is the unsteady gait. Do you have a video of her walking?
• Notice how her beak doesn't close well, like it's been worn away in the middle? This could be limiting her ability to eat and drink.

Honestly, I'm not sure how to rehab quail in such a state, and I'm upset at the way they were kept before they came to you. If you can't find a vet and they don't improve with care, it would be kind to cull either or both of them.

 

[KweallCeypur]

If it is gout, making sure she drinks enough water is important. No-iron poultry multivitamin can't hurt if you have some handy. Comfort-wise, can't really elevate a bird's foot or ice it, but that lower-protein diet is a great start.

I'd ease up on the colloidal silver, as it's use is not well-supported. Cloudiness could be a lot of things, but that eye doesn't look like it has a bacterial infection. A vet is your best bet for Tsapa—her walking funny is concerning.

Ive noticed Octopus isn't drinking a lot of water, but I've given her a few different sources that are within easy access. I've got some vitamins I can put in there though, I'll try that.

 

[FloorCandy]

That eye looks like old physical damage. I have one hen that survived a rat attack, and when it happened it looked like the side of her face was gone. She healed, but had a V scar on her eye lid as well and the eye was never able to create a good seal when closed, plus the scar tissue rubs the eye, so I think the eye eventually stopped working, she seems blind on that side but otherwise ok.

The beak is concerning. I had a double silver that had a long history of nutritional deficiencies due to being internally off a bit I guess you could say. I added more and more supplements throughout her life to fix the issues as they arose, but at the end, her beak broke on the side in the same way. Over time more and more chipped or flaked off. I tried various supplements, I wanna say methionine and lysine, maybe? In the end, I had to cull her, the beak never was able to recover, it was going cross beaked and the side was open and it was hard for her to eat.

 

[KweallCeypur]

That eye looks like old physical damage. I have one hen that survived a rat attack, and when it happened it looked like the side of her face was gone. She healed, but had a V scar on her eye lid as well and the eye was never able to create a good seal when closed, plus the scar tissue rubs the eye, so I think the eye eventually stopped working, she seems blind on that side but otherwise ok.

The beak is concerning. I had a double silver that had a long history of nutritional deficiencies due to being internally off a bit I guess you could say. I added more and more supplements throughout her life to fix the issues as they arose, but at the end, her beak broke on the side in the same way. Over time more and more chipped or flaked off. I tried various supplements, I wanna say methionine and lysine, maybe? In the end, I had to cull her, the beak never was able to recover, it was going cross beaked and the side was open and it was hard for her to eat.

Luckily Tsapa can still eat and drink fine, but she isn't eating any salad or greens. I don't know how to get her to eat her vitamins

 

[Nabiki]

Luckily Tsapa can still eat and drink fine, but she isn't eating any salad or greens. I don't know how to get her to eat her vitamins

If she's eating a good game bird feed, she doesn't need anything else.