mystery illness not responding to treatments

[casportpony]

I would get a baseline weight, weigh him daily, and go from there. I would not wait for him to stop roosting.

 

[Waterfaery]

I would get a baseline weight, weigh him daily, on him, and go from there. I would not wait for him to stop roosting.

Thanks so much for all of your advice. Of course I won't wait.

I did weigh the one who died and I did try to correct his hydration before tubing food. I know to focus on that even more now. I didn't get him somewhere warm and I'm not sure how we'll manage that with the next one but I'll start thinking about that now.

Will I bother continuing the Toltrazuril with the flock? They have had it for one day so I could do the second day anyway. But if there's no sign at all of cocci in the necropsy, maybe there's no point?

 

[casportpony]

I think it would be wise to finish the toltrazuril.

 

[KsKingBee]

I still think the black liver is key. Whether it was an infection or something else, I think the kidney worked overtime, causing failure. It may have been sepsis.

 

[Waterfaery]

I still think the black liver is key. Whether it was an infection or something else, I think the kidney worked overtime, causing failure. It may have been sepsis.

I've been searching as hard as I can about the dark liver and I haven't come up with anything in particular but I'm inclined to agree with your suspicion of kidney failure in the end with the one who died @KsKingBee. I still have no idea what caused the illness in the first place. Would you rule out coccidiosis based on the necropsy or do you still think that's a possibility? Or would you think it could possibly have anything to do with the peacock we lost back in October who you suspected could have been poisoned?

The one who I was treating at the same time as the one who died last week seems to be recovering well. I don't know if that's because we caught it soon enough in him or if he was just stronger to fight away whatever it is.

I've been treating the next one who only started showing signs the day after the sickest one died and I'm more confused than ever. He was far stronger than either of the first two ever were and I was hopeful that he'd recover like the other one but that's not the case at all. He doesn't seem to be getting better or worse and it's nearly a week now.

 

[Waterfaery]

Dehydration can cause this.

I think that the fecal material sitting in the ceca caused the ceca to be compromised and leak into the abdominal cavity, resulting in a massive infection.

When I have one that's sick I start by weighing them in grams. That is my baseline weight, and everything I do is based on that number.

Almost all sick birds are hypothermic & dehydrated. After being weighed they are put in a hospital cage in a warm room. Once warm, I tube fluids to correct hydration and this should not be done until the bird is warmed up. Tube warmed (102 degrees) Pedialyte or Gatorade at 14 ml per pound of body weight, wait 60-90 minutes, and repeat. If no poop is produced by 3 hours after first tubing, repeat once more.

Is the other one producing cecal poop?

I've been treating this new one since then and I'm not getting anywhere. My husband ran some power out and we put a heater in with him so he's been kept warm all week. I've been tubing him electrolytes and weighing him daily. He hasn't eaten anything and I haven't seen any cecal poo at all. How long can he survive without producing cecal droppings?

I don't know how, but he hasn't lost any weight. He has stayed at 3.2kg. His droppings are small and liquid, a combination of water and white liquid urates.

I was concerned about his lack of food intake and his low weight and I'm confident we have him well hydrated so I started adding small amounts of Kaytee feed to his fluids. It seems to be coming straight through him undigested. I'm scared to overdo it after what happened to the last guy so I'm not really sure what to do. What would you advise?

You mentioned that the intestines in the last guy's necropsy looked unhealthy. Is there anything specific about them that we should look into? Do you have any photos of healthy intestines for comparison?

 

[KsKingBee]

I am pretty well at a loss as to what is causing this sickness. The intestine and cecal pouches looked healthy to me, not heavily tumored or cancerous like I would see in a bird that has the common cocci, blackhead, or worm load. Only the black kidney tells me there was something wrong with this bird. I think the kidney was working overtime because of infection. I am afraid that lab testing is the only way to solve your questions.

 

[casportpony]

I've been tubing him electrolytes and weighing him daily. He hasn't eaten anything and I haven't seen any cecal poo at all.

How much fluid are you tubing?

 

[Waterfaery]

How much fluid are you tubing?

90ml every 90 mins of an avian electrolyte.

 

[casportpony]

90ml every 90 mins of an avian electrolyte.

How many ml total per day?