Emu Half of Face Swelling! Very Lethargic, not eating, diarrhea. Please Advise!

[RebbyB80]

Hello, I have 2 adult male emus that are just over a year old. Last night I noticed that my one guy, Rocky was sleepy and settled in for bed much earlier than normal. This morning I saw that he was still in the same spot he fell asleep in last night. He normally runs with his buddy Bebop, to meet me at the gate for morning blueberries & veggies but he only slowly walked over and did not eat a single bite. I noticed that one side of his face was slightly swollen, the corner of his mouth, cheek and near eye. He pooped in front of me but it was mainly water and the little bit of solid in it was pale yellow. He is so sleepy and is letting me pet and palpate him which is not normal. He is a very nervous bird that does not like very much human interaction. Bebop on the other hand is very in-your-face, a big eater, and he is acting completely normal.

Has anyone ever experienced this combination of symptoms? The only farm vet in my area refuses to see emus. I had their feces tested for parasites a couple months ago and the results were negative for any eggs. In case it is a bacterial infection I would like to administer a broad spectrum antibiotic orally. I am not familiar with IM injection, I have only given subcutaneous shots to goats in the past but I read that is not possible with birds.

This is what I have on hand atm: Amoxicillan trihydrate capsules, Oxytetracycline HCl tablets, Tylan 50 liquid injection, Duramycin 72-200 liquid injection. If anyone has advice on which of these, or another medication I could pick up at local Tractor Supply would be most effective, I would be so grateful! I would also greatly appreciate advice on best administration method of the medication. I am hoping to trick Rocky into ingesting the medicine by hiding it in a green grape or two. I do not want to tube feed it to him, but will if it comes to that. Again, my only experience with tube feeding has been with small poultry that you can easily hold.

Please let me know if intramuscular injection is best route. And advice on how to do that!

 

[RebbyB80]

Ok, thanks

 

[Stravager]

Your best bet might be to call an avian vet and see if they could tell you what to use for antibiotics or how to use it. It might be an infected or blocked sinus.
Don't have any other recommendations outside of that, sorry, aside from maybe try and see if you can get electrolytes into him and some food if he has an eating reflex...
Good luck.

 

[tripletfeb]

@Wyorp Rock @casportpony these members are great and should be able to help. Sorry no one has responded yet

 

[tripletfeb]

@Pyxis is the other member I couldn't think of before

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm sorry about your Emu.
I'm not that familiar with what diseases/conditions affect them, so hopefully someone like Pyxis will respond.

If you can get some photos of him, his face, poop, etc. those may be helpful when she comes on.
If possible, take a look inside his beak for any lesions/canker.

 

[Pyxis]

If you can post pictures of the swelling, that would help. Depending on where you are in the world, is there a chance he got bitten or stung by something?

Are there any symptoms aside from the swelling and lethargy, and yellow poop? Is he vaccinated against encephalitis and west nile?

 

[lost-duckling]

where are you located?

 

[RebbyB80]

Thank you everyone for reading and answering. We are in New Jersey, United States. No, we did not vaccinate for EEE or West Nile. I am going to see if I can buy the injections at Tractor Supply and administer to them today, even if I am too late for my sick boy, in hopes to save his buddy if this is viral.

Rocky's swelling was bad on Saturday (1st 2 photos) and went down a bit, then on Monday the eye on the swollen side of face got what looked like conjunctivitis (last 2 photos). Both eyes had bubbling in the corner, but then the rain came and washed it all away just as I tried to photograph it, so no bubbles in photos. I thought that he had made a miraculous recovery yesterday as he seemed back to normal, alert and running away from me. His appetite also came back. So I foraged some garlic mustard leaves for him. He has been enjoying pecking and tearing at those for a few weeks now. But this morning he was lethargic and sitting alone again. I think it may be the garlic mustard. I had stupidly assumed that this was a great "Eat the Weeds" initiative that I was embarking on, but it turns out to contain high amounts of cyanide. I think I have been indirectly poisoning my poor bird.

If this seems like it could be causing any of his symptoms, is there a chance that I can try to counteract the cyanide/nitrate poisoning?

 

[tripletfeb]

Thank you everyone for reading and answering. We are in New Jersey, United States. No, we did not vaccinate for EEE or West Nile. I am going to see if I can buy the injections at Tractor Supply and administer to them today, even if I am too late for my sick boy, in hopes to save his buddy if this is viral.

Rocky's swelling was bad on Saturday (1st 2 photos) and went down a bit, then on Monday the eye on the swollen side of face got what looked like conjunctivitis (last 2 photos). Both eyes had bubbling in the corner, but then the rain came and washed it all away just as I tried to photograph it, so no bubbles in photos. I thought that he had made a miraculous recovery yesterday as he seemed back to normal, alert and running away from me. His appetite also came back. So I foraged some garlic mustard leaves for him. He has been enjoying pecking and tearing at those for a few weeks now. But this morning he was lethargic and sitting alone again. I think it may be the garlic mustard. I had stupidly assumed that this was a great "Eat the Weeds" initiative that I was embarking on, but it turns out to contain high amounts of cyanide. I think I have been indirectly poisoning my poor bird.

If this seems like it could be causing any of his symptoms, is there a chance that I can try to counteract the cyanide/nitrate poisoning?View attachment 3541800View attachment 3541801View attachment 3541802View attachment 3541803View attachment 3541804View attachment 3541805

Ok, I know nothing about emus so excuse me if this is stupid but is this his ear? Or is this a bite?