peahen gaping in spite of treatment with 4 diff meds., ideas appreciated

allbirds4me

Songster
8 Years
Jun 12, 2015
167
121
161
ok, she's def. gaping and lets out a honk every now and then.
Not shaking her head but def. gaping.
Not my first rodeo with this type of thing but what I've tried treatment wise before has worked...this time it's not.
Have tried fenbendazole for 5 days ( 2 cc 1x a day liquid goat wormer ) and also baytril for 3 days...1cc 2 x a day.
Have tried levasole ( prohibit) for 3 days ( 1 x day ) and now am trying just albendazole ( valbazen ) ( 2cc 1 x a day) (in spite of it prob. being as effective as fenbendazole would be )
but the gaping persist.

Her appetite is very good which makes for easy dosing on bread, she seems well other than the gaping. ( no runny eyes, sneezing odd looking poop etc. )
Any ideas what else she may be dealing with if gapeworms or respiratory can be ruled out ? Are my dosages off in any of the above meds?
The levasole is a powerful med it seems and hard to pin down the correct dose per bird dose so I just do a pinch on some bread..if anyone can be more specific on the correct dose for that med. please let me know.

Taking her to the vet is out of the question...no bird docs. around here.
Can't get a video of her but trust me, this is classic gaping .
I have tons of antibiotics I can try if I should... ordered many kinds due to them going RX only recently. Clindamycin, Cipro, amoxicillin, penicillin, sulfa trimeth, etc.
Hate to go the shotgun approach but can only do what I can without a bird vet around.
Could this be a sign of liver or other organ problems ?
She doesn't eat an overload of corn so crop issues not suspect, nothing in her diet has changed over many years and they have good quality mixed grain feed.
She is getting some age on her, around 12 years old.
Thanks for any random ideas anyone may have I can try.
 
They were quibbling over Esophagus / trachea. Yes you can find gape worms in the trachea with a long swab, a Q-tip may be too short. This is the same procedure vets use to test for AI or any other ailment inside of the airway. In fact, if you suspect MG in your bird the swab you get from the vet and mail to the state is the same exact swab. The swab is about six inches in length and is inserted down the trachea and with a twisting motion it is brought out with upward pressure. If there are gapes they will look like short red threads, if there is a mucus it should be sent to the state lab for analysis.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom