Quail with foggy eye

[Kingbobkingdom]

Hello! After a quail recovering from malnutrition just a few days ago, I have yet another quail which has a foggy eye. I was gone for a couple hours before I found a 2 (+a few months) year old female coturnix-pharaoh mix quail closing her left eye. I will wash the eye with saline as soon as possible. I'm not sure if I have saline.
It could be a cataract or injury, or Marek's even.

• Her neck is twisted in a way so that her injured eye is facing forward.
• She can open her eye - it's foggy - when there is some sort of interference, such as me coming close to the tote (she and 3 other quail are living in a large tote since we just moved and have had no time to build a proper enclosure. We will, I promise!) The eyelids are seem a bit swollen to me.
• She eats some food and I gave her a drop of nutridrench.
• She mostly just stands near the food. She does move if I come close.
• Her other eye is open and normal, but it seems like she wants to sleep.
• She pants once in a while, but it's a cool day and none of the other quail are. She's the only quail like this. She still chirps.
• It doesn't appear like if there is any thing coming out of the nares and mouth.
  
  

 

[Kingbobkingdom]

Can someone send me the link of the type/brand of saline and ointment they use? Thanks!

 

[Eggcessive]

I know very little about quail. Others such as @Kiki or @Wyorp Rock might have advice. I suppose it could be an early sign of a respiratory disease, such as MG, or an eye infection or peck. Any type of saline is okay, or you can make your own. Terramycin eye ointment from the feed store or plain Neosporin ointment can be put in the eye twice a day. To make saline, add 2 tsp of table salt to a quart of water in a saucepan, heat to a boil, turn down to simmer for 15 minutes. Pour it into a clean jar. Bausch and Lomb sells Eye Relief Eye Wash for around $4 at Walmart and other pharmacies. It works well.

 

[Kiki]

I'd not mess with the eye. I'm more concerned with what you said about malnutrition.
What happened?

The 'neck twisted' sounds like it could be from malnutrition too.

 

[Kingbobkingdom]

I'd not mess with the eye. I'm more concerned with what you said about malnutrition.
What happened?

The 'neck twisted' sounds like it could be from malnutrition too.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/very-weak-quail-that-is-always-trying-sleep.1583726/ <<Here is the thread for that quail who had malnutrition
Previous to the move, and a few days afterward (before I purchased game bird feed), the quail were eating solely chicken feed (they were living at a friend's house). I think that combined with the stress from the move (13 hours) and the little eaten that day, one of the quail, which was not as strong as the other ones, grew lethargic. Their poop (as a whole) was green. So, I changed their feed, gave nutridrench to the sick quail, and put nutridrench in their waterer daily. The quail that was sick recovered, and their poop now looks normal.

For the quail with the blurry eye, her neck was not wry before. In the morning, it looked fine. When I came back in the afternoon, it was twisted and her eye was shut.

 

[BastyPutt]

@Nabiki is a quail champ. @007Sean - @eddie_van_quailen will also have some good input here.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm not seeing a twisted neck in the photos - can you get a photo of that?

I'd direct dose her with the PND at 1cc per 3pounds of weight once daily.


She's had a couple of weeks(?) to acclimate to being in a new home correct? Has she acted this way since you got her or?
How was the housing where she came from? Plenty of ventilation? A bad ammonia smell?

Was she laying eggs before you got her? Has she laid an egg since?

She's 2 1/2yrs old. I'd focus on her getting hydrated and eating a balanced feed. I see you had a thread where you were going to get them on GB feed, that should be fine.

 

[007Sean]

It's possible that she has MG, or some other respiratory disease. I don't see any sign of wry neck in the photo! but if she does have wry neck, it's probably due to malnutrition.

 

[Kingbobkingdom]

I'm not seeing a twisted neck in the photos - can you get a photo of that?

I'd direct dose her with the PND at 1cc per 3pounds of weight once daily.


She's had a couple of weeks(?) to acclimate to being in a new home correct? Has she acted this way since you got her or?
How was the housing where she came from? Plenty of ventilation? A bad ammonia smell?

Was she laying eggs before you got her? Has she laid an egg since?

She's 2 1/2yrs old. I'd focus on her getting hydrated and eating a balanced feed. I see you had a thread where you were going to get them on GB feed, that should be fine.

The twisted neck only lasted for a while. This morning, her head is not twisted, and her bad eye is open, although I can see that it is a shade darker than the other eye.
I just moved in 2 weeks ago and she seemed fine until last evening. She was also laying eggs, but only began a couple weeks before I moved.
She was staying in the tote for a few months before I moved. Previous to that, the quail were staying in a wooden, brooder-like enclosure, but larger. All this was in a large shed that is big enough to be a barn.
Thanks for the advice!

She eats and drinks like a regular quail now, and it doesn't look like the eye bothers her

 

[eddie_van_quailen]

Could be an injury/corneal ulcer, bacterial/viral/fungal infection, parasites, cataracts, or any number of respiratory illnesses. The bad eye appearing "a shade darker" than the other eye... could it be that the pupil is larger on that side? If so, that symptom could be indicative of a head injury or (more rarely) glaucoma, although slight differences can be normal.

I would give time for hydration and nutrition to improve before trying too many things at once. If there is infection present she may need ointment for the eye or systemic treatment, but it's hard to say what exactly, and you don't want to overwhelm her with unnecessary stress because that will almost certainly make things worse. If it's a head injury, only time will tell if/how she will recover.

I would allow time for the hydration and nutrition to improve, see if that helps, and go from there. 2.5 years isn't exactly young for coturnix, either, depending on the care she's received over her lifetime.