Help! My hen has stopped drinking any water and has barely eaten for 3 weeks.

[HeatherKellyB]

Has she been on any other antibiotics?

 

[HeatherKellyB]

I'm so sorry. I know that was really scary and heartbreaking to find her struggling like that.

 

[BugStalker]

I'm sorry she's having trouble. I had one like that. VetRx seemed to help a little, but it came back worse, later. It was easier handling her during that time, though.

 

[BugStalker]

I'm sorry to see the latest edit. There was hardly anything I could do for my hen, after it came back, and she aspirated. She was necropsied and had cancer. I felt better knowing what it was.

 

[HeatherKellyB]

It's very difficult whenever their crop won't or barely functions. The bird ends up being deprived of the proper nutrition to sustain them and I'm not confident that the meds have a chance to work properly, even if some is absorbed. You've done so much in an effort to help Penny recover from whatever is causing this. I'm so sorry. A while back I lost a hen in a very similar case. She too was beginning to choke and aspirate on her crop contents and that was incredibly difficult to see. Please know that you and Penny are in my thoughts and

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm sorry to hear about Penny.

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry that you lost Penny.

 

[amyduck]

Well, the preliminary necropsy results just came in... poor Penny...

With her cancer, there is clearly nothing we could have done to help her, except for euthanizing her...

I feel very badly that she was in such a bad state, and especially so "emaciated"... in spite of our force feeding her, it seems she wasn't absorbing any of it and was really starving. Oddly, my other chicken's necropsy mentioned her crop and its contents, but there is no mention of Penny's crop being so full of liquid or anything else (maybe it had seeped out before they worked on her.) I was hoping to see that, because I thought perhaps her crop wasn't emptying because it was blocked by grass. Perhaps it was tumors that kept it from emptying, or maybe the intestines narrowed so much they were backing everything up. I might call the lab tomorrow to see if they can give me any info about this.

I'll work on understanding more of this tomorrow, but if anyone wants to comment, please do.

------------------------------------------

L a b o r a t o r y F i n d i n g s / D i a g n o s i s

GROSS AND HISTOLOGIC DIAGNOSES: Ovarian cancer

1. Ovary and intestines: Metastatic adenocarcinoma

INCIDENTAL FINDINGS:

1. Liver: Vacuolar hepatopathy (hepatic lipidosis)

2. Lung: Fibrinous and heterophilic pneumonia


C a s e S u m m a r y
(I placed parenthesis around general info I don't think applied to her)

06/15/2022: There was gross and histologic evidence of ovarian carcinoma, which is the most frequent tumor of the reproductive system in chickens. Neoplastic cells are shed from tumors into the coelomic cavity. They implant on the ovary, pancreas, and other viscera and produce multiple, hard nodules. They may block lymph return (and result in ascites). Ovarian tumors usually don't become apparent until their growth is well advanced. (The bird may have a history of egg binding or oviduct prolapse. They may also have problems associated with egg laying, such as increased infections. ) The tumor in this case had metastasized to the lung, which may have contributed to the development of pneumonia. Lead testing is pending. An additional report is forthcoming.
-------------------
(I wonder if the mention of pneumonia may have more to do with the liquid she aspirated that last night... I hadn't seen or heard any evidence of breathing issues until then.)
---------------

G r o s s O b s e r v a t i o n s
A 6-year-old Easter Egger hen (Penny) with a 1-month history of inappetence that died on 06/11/2022 is submitted for necropsy on 06/13/2022 in fair postmortem condition. The animal is emaciated. The liver is diffusely mottled tan to pale red and friable. The lungs are firm medially with dark red discoloration ventrally. The lungs partially sink in formalin. The coelomic serosa is markedly expanded by firm, white nodules throughout. The intestines are firmly adhered to one another with marked reduction in the luminal diameter. The oviduct has 3 x 0.5 cm discoid mass expanding the wall.

B a c t e r i o l o g y
BACTERIAL AEROBIC CULTURE Liver Swab - No growth after 48 hours

B i o t e c h n o l o g y
Influenza A PCR Oropharyngeal/Tracheal Swab - Not Detected

H i s t o l o g y
Ovary, liver, lung, and intestines are examined histologically. Ovary, lung, and intestines: Expanding the serosa of the intestines are lobules of neoplastic cells surrounded by a scirrhous response that variably form lobules. Similar cells are present within the lung, ovary and efface the pancreas. In the lung some cells have basilar oriented nuclei and eosinophilic apical cytoplasm.

 

[BugStalker]

Thanks for sharing the results.

To me, it sounds like the intestines were the bottleneck. They may have had a secondary infection, which often happens with cancer. In that case, she had some temporary relief when that was dealt with, but it sounds like they were calcifying, which makes it hard to move food through.

It may be she was aspirating lung fluid more than crop fluid. Some kinds of Pneumonia seem easier to hide, especially when we're worried about aspiration from elsewhere.

They don't always mention crop contents. I don't know why.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm glad you were able to get the results back.

Very sad indeed. Unfortunately cancer is quite common in laying hens as are the resulting symptoms you have described.