Not an Emergency...Marek's in the Flock

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We've got a roo that can't keep his balance. It's like he can't feel his feet. One girl has died from similar symptoms, and now the roo's daughter is having trouble holding her head up unless she pulls it way over her back. Is that how the paralysis starts?
 
PeepersMama said:
We've got a roo that can't keep his balance. It's like he can't feel his feet. One girl has died from similar symptoms, and now the roo's daughter is having trouble holding her head up unless she pulls it way over her back. Is that how the paralysis starts?
Click to expand...
Often it is how it starts.

-Kathy
 
*sigh* She is seeming a little better, but do you think it would be better to send her to heaven tonight, before it gets really bad, Kathy?
 
casportpony said:
Often it is how it starts.

-Kathy
Click to expand...
Kathy's right - it can often start like that. One Sunday morning I had a roo that started to stumble when he walked - he spent most of the day standing still rather than move and fall over. It came on very quickly, and by the end of the day he was so bad that he was being attacked by the rest of the flock, so in the evening we chose to dispatch him with an axe to end his suffering. (Not a pleasant experience, but we didn't really have much option.)

36 hours later one of his younger sisters started to stumble, and by the time I got her to the vet in the late afternoon she was struggling to stand up. By the time I left the vet 20 minutes later she was laying on one side - the vet euthanised her and did a necropsy. She told me that inflammation of the nerves was a strong indicator of Marek's, especially given her brother's history. I chose not to spend the 100€ for further blood tests to prove Marek's definitively, especially since there's nothing I can do to protect my existing birds as they are already exposed.

Marek's is a horrible disease, but it has several different forms and can affect birds iin different ways. In the end it comes down to the form of Marek's that a bird has, how they react, and how you are able to care for them. Some people have nursed birds through paralysis and out the other side, others have tried without success. Some (like myself) haven't been able to dedicate the time necessary and have had no choice but to euthanise to avoid unnecessary suffering.

No-one is right, no-one is wrong - you just have to deal with the situation you are faced with in the best way that you can.


Edited for syntax and punctuation - being an English teacher can be a curse! ;)
 
Last edited:
If I can figure it out
wink.png
 
casportpony said:
The one I just euthanized had been unable to get around properly for many months. In hindsight, I should have done the deed months ago. FWIW, mine also have the ocular form, though she could still see.






-Kathy
Click to expand...
That looks a bit like Finch's eyes
hit.gif
Since she is still alert, my sister wants to wait till we leave for AZ on saturday for daddy to cull her *sigh* Thank you all for the input.
 

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