Sydney Acres
Songster
I am so inspired when I read about your efforts to save him. You clearly love him dearly. Don't become discouraged. Sometimes the flame flickers before it extinguishes, and sometimes the flame flickers before the fire roars into a huge blaze. If he's not suffering terribly, then as long as there's life -- there's hope
With prolonged tube feeding, sometimes the lack of fiber can be a problem. The gut needs fiber to slow things down and digest properly. Also, sometimes animals will eat their natural food before they will eat the commercial food that we make for them. Have you tried feeding him grass? Depending on where you live there may not be any in your yard this time of year, and old grass may not taste good or have much nutritional value, but you can buy sprouted organic wheatgrass in most health food stores, and most large markets with organic produce. People add it to their smoothies. If he won't graze it directly, you can puree it very finely, strain it with a cheesecloth, or several layers of gauze, so that it will go through the tube feeding eyelets, and give it to him with your tube feeding formula. That type of fiber can sometimes help the digestive process. Other things that might help would be sweet potatoes or pumpkin or winter squash. If he won't take those in small chunks (cooked), then you can add some canned pumpkin (not the pre-made pumpkin pie filling, but the pure canned pumpkin) to his tube feeding mix. It's pre-strained, so no worries about it plugging up the tube. About 1 tbsp twice daily should be enough for the canned pumpkin, or more if he will eat the chunks. But any kind of new grass would be my preference. My free range girls spend much of their day grazing. Large amounts of grass in the diet is how their gut is set up to function. The tube feeding formula is great for calories and water, but there's just not enough fiber in it for long term use.
Does he like bananas? Most chickens do, and most turkeys don't. But bananas puree easily, and too many can cause constipation in people. A little bit pureed into his tube feeding formula might help slow things down a bit. Maybe a teaspoon or two twice daily -- you don't want to add too much sugar to his diet, which could feed any yeast that might show up.
Oh, I almost forgot about the Oxbow company. They cater mostly to small herbivore pets like rabbits, guinea pigs, tortoises, etc, but they do make a critical care formula that is based on timothy hay meal. That might/should have enough fiber in it to help stabilize his gut motility. It's meant to be syringe fed, so it mixes up into a slurry. I don't know if it can be tube fed or not, but you should be able to if you run it through a spice grinder for a while to powderize it, then strain it carefully. Your vet will need to be sure that there's not an unfavorable vitamin/mineral mixture in it that would be unfriendly to a compromised liver. Your vet will have to order it, or prescribe it for direct purchase. http://www.oxbowanimalhealth.com/products/type/detail?object=1608
I just saw this product the other day: https://smile.amazon.com/Wild-Baker...qid=1486680629&sr=8-3&keywords=cricket+flower It's something from their natural diet that could be added to the tube feeding formula. You do have to be careful about protein levels and protein sources in pets with liver disease, so ask your vet if this is ok. I would think that if you added this AND the grass, the high protein of the crickets would balance out the low protein of the grass, so probably a win:win. If you vet doesn't know, she can probably call one of the big prescription diet manufactures, like Hill's Prescription Diet, ask to speak to one of their consulting vets about L/D (their prescription liver diet for dogs), pick their brain about the characteristics of L/D, then ask them to help her decide if crickets plus grass added to tube feeding formula is a plus or a minus. They get so many routine questions, I'm sure that one of the veterinary consultants would enjoy something a little different and challenging.
Will he eat mealworms, or any of the other live wigglies that you could get at a reptile supply retailer (if you live near a large city with a store available)? Even dried meal worms might help a bit with fiber, although not nearly as interesting or tasty, according to my ancient old rooster.
Also, Lafeber is a company that makes tube feeding formulas for many different exotic animals, and has wonderful nutritionists on staff. Their formulas are expensive compared to Kaytee, so they aren't always practical to use for large birds like turkeys, especially if lots of birds are affected during an outbreak. But their nutritionists might be willing to talk to your vet about tube feeding formulas that might be beneficial for birds with liver and cecal disease, ingredients that you can add to help the digestive process, that type of thing. Lafeber started out as an avian nutrition company before it branched out into other species, so they really do have a lot of expertise. If cost is not a concern, then one of their tube feeding formulas may have a slight advantage over the Kaytee formula, or possibly not. You or your vet would need to compare the options.
https://lafeber.com/
https://lafeber.com/vet/
Also, there is a prescription diet for birds with liver disease, made by the Roudybush company. Your veterinarian would need to order it, or possibly prescribe it for direct purchase from the company if they have it set up that way. It is intended for parrots, macaws, etc, but may work well for a turkey with Blackhead on a short or long term basis. I had a pet chicken with kidney disease years ago, and fed her their kidney prescription diet plus specific table foods. She lived 6 years longer than expected!! Your vet, or possibly you, can probably call and talk to Tom Roudybush, the owner of the company, about your tom's specific nutritional needs. If I remember correctly, Tom Roudybush started out in poultry nutrition before starting his company, so he has tremendous expertise in these types of issues. It's been 20 years since I talked to him about Sydney (pet broiler chicken with heart failure and kidney disease), but he was a really nice guy when I had a million questions. http://www.roudybush.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=orders.group&group=careline
I'm really hoping things turn around for you. Let me know if there's anything I can do to help.
--April
With prolonged tube feeding, sometimes the lack of fiber can be a problem. The gut needs fiber to slow things down and digest properly. Also, sometimes animals will eat their natural food before they will eat the commercial food that we make for them. Have you tried feeding him grass? Depending on where you live there may not be any in your yard this time of year, and old grass may not taste good or have much nutritional value, but you can buy sprouted organic wheatgrass in most health food stores, and most large markets with organic produce. People add it to their smoothies. If he won't graze it directly, you can puree it very finely, strain it with a cheesecloth, or several layers of gauze, so that it will go through the tube feeding eyelets, and give it to him with your tube feeding formula. That type of fiber can sometimes help the digestive process. Other things that might help would be sweet potatoes or pumpkin or winter squash. If he won't take those in small chunks (cooked), then you can add some canned pumpkin (not the pre-made pumpkin pie filling, but the pure canned pumpkin) to his tube feeding mix. It's pre-strained, so no worries about it plugging up the tube. About 1 tbsp twice daily should be enough for the canned pumpkin, or more if he will eat the chunks. But any kind of new grass would be my preference. My free range girls spend much of their day grazing. Large amounts of grass in the diet is how their gut is set up to function. The tube feeding formula is great for calories and water, but there's just not enough fiber in it for long term use.
Does he like bananas? Most chickens do, and most turkeys don't. But bananas puree easily, and too many can cause constipation in people. A little bit pureed into his tube feeding formula might help slow things down a bit. Maybe a teaspoon or two twice daily -- you don't want to add too much sugar to his diet, which could feed any yeast that might show up.
Oh, I almost forgot about the Oxbow company. They cater mostly to small herbivore pets like rabbits, guinea pigs, tortoises, etc, but they do make a critical care formula that is based on timothy hay meal. That might/should have enough fiber in it to help stabilize his gut motility. It's meant to be syringe fed, so it mixes up into a slurry. I don't know if it can be tube fed or not, but you should be able to if you run it through a spice grinder for a while to powderize it, then strain it carefully. Your vet will need to be sure that there's not an unfavorable vitamin/mineral mixture in it that would be unfriendly to a compromised liver. Your vet will have to order it, or prescribe it for direct purchase. http://www.oxbowanimalhealth.com/products/type/detail?object=1608
I just saw this product the other day: https://smile.amazon.com/Wild-Baker...qid=1486680629&sr=8-3&keywords=cricket+flower It's something from their natural diet that could be added to the tube feeding formula. You do have to be careful about protein levels and protein sources in pets with liver disease, so ask your vet if this is ok. I would think that if you added this AND the grass, the high protein of the crickets would balance out the low protein of the grass, so probably a win:win. If you vet doesn't know, she can probably call one of the big prescription diet manufactures, like Hill's Prescription Diet, ask to speak to one of their consulting vets about L/D (their prescription liver diet for dogs), pick their brain about the characteristics of L/D, then ask them to help her decide if crickets plus grass added to tube feeding formula is a plus or a minus. They get so many routine questions, I'm sure that one of the veterinary consultants would enjoy something a little different and challenging.
Will he eat mealworms, or any of the other live wigglies that you could get at a reptile supply retailer (if you live near a large city with a store available)? Even dried meal worms might help a bit with fiber, although not nearly as interesting or tasty, according to my ancient old rooster.
Also, Lafeber is a company that makes tube feeding formulas for many different exotic animals, and has wonderful nutritionists on staff. Their formulas are expensive compared to Kaytee, so they aren't always practical to use for large birds like turkeys, especially if lots of birds are affected during an outbreak. But their nutritionists might be willing to talk to your vet about tube feeding formulas that might be beneficial for birds with liver and cecal disease, ingredients that you can add to help the digestive process, that type of thing. Lafeber started out as an avian nutrition company before it branched out into other species, so they really do have a lot of expertise. If cost is not a concern, then one of their tube feeding formulas may have a slight advantage over the Kaytee formula, or possibly not. You or your vet would need to compare the options.
https://lafeber.com/
https://lafeber.com/vet/
Also, there is a prescription diet for birds with liver disease, made by the Roudybush company. Your veterinarian would need to order it, or possibly prescribe it for direct purchase from the company if they have it set up that way. It is intended for parrots, macaws, etc, but may work well for a turkey with Blackhead on a short or long term basis. I had a pet chicken with kidney disease years ago, and fed her their kidney prescription diet plus specific table foods. She lived 6 years longer than expected!! Your vet, or possibly you, can probably call and talk to Tom Roudybush, the owner of the company, about your tom's specific nutritional needs. If I remember correctly, Tom Roudybush started out in poultry nutrition before starting his company, so he has tremendous expertise in these types of issues. It's been 20 years since I talked to him about Sydney (pet broiler chicken with heart failure and kidney disease), but he was a really nice guy when I had a million questions. http://www.roudybush.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=orders.group&group=careline
I'm really hoping things turn around for you. Let me know if there's anything I can do to help.
--April
