Neurologic symptoms in 5yr old rooster

[julieolsen118]

Hi all,
I'm looking for some thoughts or recommendations regarding my 5 year old Araucana rooster.
About 2 weeks ago he presented with a puffy eye, some lethargy, and drooping wings. I treated him and the rest of the flock (who also began developing puffy eyes and mild respiratory symptoms) with 1/8 dropper of oregano oil 2x daily and poultry-cell in their water. The respiratory symptoms cleared up and he seemed to perk up a bit. He still had some slight changes in behavior like not venturing out as far while free ranging, his clucks sounded more like hen sounds, he has some feather loss. Other than these vague symptoms, he seemed to be doing well. He was eating and drinking fine. 3 nights ago my husband saw him in the nest box rather than on his roost. He had some mites on him, and seemed to have very mild neurologic changes (head tilt, very mild tremors). I thought he might pass that night.

Day 1 A.M:
The following morning he was still in the nest box with worsening neurologic symptoms. He had moderate head twitching, when his eyelids were closed you could see his eyes were having nystagmus the eyes moving side to side, and was unable to stand on his own.
My husband brought him to the Vet that afternoon test results as follows
+ fecal for coccida (no prior manifestations of bloody stool)
slightly elevated WBC
slightly elevated heterophils
- blood toxicity

Treatment provided and recommended by the vet:
Subcutaneous fluid (admin at vet), clavamox (which we are supposed to continue every 12 hr for 1 week), and recovery formula that we are supposed to feed 11ml 3 times a day. I am keeping him in a box and trying to decrease environmental stimuli.

Mr. Potato (the patient in question) is unable to eat or drink, so I have been tube feeding him. He has received a total of 4 doses of clavamox (the first of which was administered by the vet)

Day 1 P.M :
Mr. Potato has increased tremors, gross motor function highly impaired. He can curl his toes and straighten them, unknown if voluntary or involuntary. He opens eyes, pupils are dilated. Pupils remain dilated and are not reactive to light. No swelling around eyes. His head twitches frequently side to side. His neck circles at times. At other times his head and neck are hyper flexed with his beak pointing upward. He seems to have increased spasticity from previous night. He received 1st dose of clavamox after the one the Vet provided. 11ml of formula.

Day 2 A.M:
Mr. Potato is still alive. The head twitching is still present but appears less strong. Whether it is decreasing in intensity, or he has less energy is unclear. Mr. P receives his 2nd dose of clavamox and 11ml of formula with oregano oil and poultry-cell vitamin mixed in. he has 2 stools, first is green, second is watery.

Day 2 P.M :
Mr. P seems more weak than this morning. His head twitching is decreased. He closes his eyes more frequently, but still opens them on his own. He receives 3rd dose of clavamox and 11ml of formula with oregano oil and poultry-cell vitamin. He has 2-3 stools this evening white/tan/some green mixed in. He still has gross motor impairment. He circles head and will flap his wings if he leans too far to one side. he is unable to stand and seems most comfortable on his side. I see no worsening of symptoms, but also little to no improvement.

Day 3 A.M :
Mr. Potato is still alive, his head twitching is markedly improved. Still unsure if the improvement is related to treatment or increasing weakness. He received 4th dose of clavamox and 11ml of formula with oregano oil and poultry-cell vitamin. His eyes remain dilated. Comb and wattle are red. No swelling around eyes. Today will be the first day I can do a midday feeding because I am off of work.


So, this is where we are. I am a nurse, and I am struggling with the ethical decision to keep trying, or to be merciful and have him euthanized. The Vet recommended 48-72 hours to see effects of the antibiotics. Today, Day 3 P. will be 48 hour mark. He is a beloved rooster and I want to give him the best care I can. We continue to closely monitor his condition, we see minor improvement which is why we are continuing his treatment.

The pictures I attached should be in sequence. Standing up about 1.5 week ago with a little puffy eye, in the nest box was Day 1 A.M, and eyes closed was day 2 P.M.

Our ideas on what this would be are few. Could it be Newcastle? Mareks? I don't think the coccidia is causing the neuro changes.
Any thoughts, ideas, recommendations?
Thanks in advance.

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC in spite of the bad situation with your rooster. His condition sounds pretty bad, and I would suspect something causing brain inflammation. Mareks can do that, and certain serious respiratory diseases can progress to wry neck (torticolis) and brain involvement. Newcastles is the one respiratory disease that causes neurological signs, but it is not usually found commonly in the US, except for an outbreak in the last 2 years in southern CA. Where are you located? I would euthanize him, so that he does not suffer, and then send his body to your state poultry vet for necropsy and histology. Testing for Mareks and other diseases can be done. Most respiratory diseases can make carriers of the whole flock, so it would be good to identify which one he had. Here is a list of the state vets to contact:
https://www.metzerfarms.com/PoultryLabs.cfm

You can put him down yourself, keep the body cold but not frozen, and take it in today or early tomorrow. Your vet could euthanize, and send his body as well, but most labs are open only M-F.

 

[Sonya9]

Doesn't sound like Marek's unless he has tumors growing in his head? If it is Mareks then something stressful likely triggered it such as an underlying illness or other event (unless you recently added birds to your flock, which you would have mentioned).

Could he have suffered a head injury of some sort?

 

[julieolsen118]

Welcome to BYC in spite of the bad situation with your rooster. His condition sounds pretty bad, and I would suspect something causing brain inflammation. Mareks can do that, and certain serious respiratory diseases can progress to wry neck (torticolis) and brain involvement. Newcastles is the one respiratory disease that causes neurological signs, but it is not usually found commonly in the US, except for an outbreak in the last 2 years in southern CA. Where are you located? I would euthanize him, so that he does not suffer, and then send his body to your state poultry vet for necropsy and histology. Testing for Mareks and other diseases can be done. Most respiratory diseases can make carriers of the whole flock, so it would be good to identify which one he had. Here is a list of the state vets to contact:
https://www.metzerfarms.com/PoultryLabs.cfm

You can put him down yourself, keep the body cold but not frozen, and take it in today or early tomorrow. Your vet could euthanize, and send his body as well, but most labs are open only M-F.

Thank you,
I live in NY.

 

[julieolsen118]

Doesn't sound like Marek's unless he has tumors growing in his head? If it is Mareks then something stressful likely triggered it such as an underlying illness or other event (unless you recently added birds to your flock, which you would have mentioned).

Could he have suffered a head injury of some sort?

I didn't witness any injury occur. I did get chicks from Meyer's hatchery this spring that were vaccinated for Marek's. They were integrated about 6 weeks ago. They live in a separate coop, but have been out to free range in a shared area.

 

[Eggcessive]

Actually Mareks commonly causes brain inflammation, according to Diseases Of Poultry, a textbook. But so many things can affect the brain. A head injury is a common cause of wry neck, but wry neck is sometimes one of the signs of Mareks. Since he had respiratory symptoms as well, that may be a sign that it has affected his brain. Equine encephalitis could also be a possibility. If you do get a necropsy please post the results, since it really helps most of us to learn. Since his pupils are fixed and dilated, it doesn’t sound like he will recover.

Cornell is your state poultry lab. They are one of the best diagnostic labs in the US. So sorry that you are dealing with this.

 

[julieolsen118]

Thank you for your responses, I am planning on getting a necropsy when the time comes and will share the results.

 

[Sonya9]

Thank you for your responses, I am planning on getting a necropsy when the time comes and will share the results.

Where I live (Georgia) we have one of the supposed "top" vet schools nearby and also a state AG vet in the next county. When I first suspected Mareks in my flock 6 years ago I asked my vet to send the body off for a necropsy and it sent it to UVA (Unversity of Athens).

I paid $150 bucks for a worthless necropsy that didn't run tests for Mareks, they only looked for tumors. I was new to chickens and dumb as I should have researched tests and ordered exactly what I wanted. In hindsight the state vet would have been free and accurate as they test for a whole bunch of things (though if the flock has ever come in contact with avian influenza the state will come to the house and kill them all, which I won't risk, so I wouldn't use the state vet).

 

[julieolsen118]

Where I live (Georgia) we have one of the supposed "top" vet schools nearby and also a state AG vet in the next county. When I first suspected Mareks in my flock 6 years ago I asked my vet to send the body off for a necropsy and it sent it to UVA (Unversity of Athens).

I paid $150 bucks for a worthless necropsy that didn't run tests for Mareks, they only looked for tumors. In hindsight the state vet would have been free and accurate as they test for a whole bunch of things (though if the flock has ever come in contact with avian influenza the state will come to the house and kill them all, which I won't risk, so I wouldn't use the state vet).

 

[MoffatChicken]

Hi, I was searching for rooster issues when I came across this thread. My rooster is also 5.5 years old and is going through almost all the same things. He stumbles often, more if he has to go up or down stairs, or bend over to eat and had a hard time keeping his balance and his wings drop often. I have found him sleeping on the coop floor because he can't keep his balance on the roosting bar, that might be why yours might be in the nesting box... safer than falling backward off the bar, which I have witnessed. Mine has been like this for a few weeks and physically he doesn't seem to be getting better or worst but it seems like he is getting more confused. The latest is that I have to guide him back to the coop at night. To me it seem like a brain injury, or heart failure, he seems to be dazed and confused. I don't know if this is much help to you but I wanted to share what is happening with me and I will follow your thread to see if anyone has any golden information. If anything changes with my fellow I will re-post here with an update.