- Mar 22, 2016
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My 4 and a half year old house rooster,Popcorn, has been slowly getting more ill for the past couple of months. He was fine until he started his annual moult in July. He always moults slowly, over about 3 months.
However this year, mid moult i noticed his comb started to go floppy and a bit pale. This has never happened before but since he had no other symptoms i figured maybe it was due to moulting and being 4 years old now.
By September i noticed he had lost weight and his comb was fully flopped over. And his wattles and earlobes have also gone pale. By the end of September he was just about done moulting but the comb/wattles/earlobes were paler than ever. And he had lost more weight. And had become noticeably less active, crowing and generally moving around less. Before his moult he weighed 890g. At the end of September he weighed 780g. A few days ago 730g. Today 710g.
Until the end of September his appetite and poop were completely normal. However for the past couple of weeks i have noticed a sharp decline in thr quantity of his poop. For around half the day today his only output was white fluid. However there is no sign of worms and no blood. Before today's fluid, his poop has been completely normal healthy solid poops, only less and less in quantity.
Over his life i have treated him every 4-6 months with ivermectin. Earlier this year he had mites but i eradicated them. I can find no signs of mites on him now. There is absolutely no other symptoms. His crop is normal. His beak and mouth and inside throat are normal. His cloaca is normal. There is no swelling, no respiratory symptoms, no sign of infection, nothing. He lives with a hen who is showing no signs of any illness.
However i can see clearly that his health is declining rapidly. He has very little interest in his poultry grower pellets which he has eaten for most of his life. But he still gets excited for treats and will eat them readily, although he doesn't run/jump for them with much energy now.
What on earth could be the problem? I suspect some kind of organ failure or cancer since his decline has been ongoing for at least 2 months now. Therefore i am reluctant to take him to a vet for tests as this will be very expensive and i fear there will be no treatment.
Can anyone help with ideas?
However this year, mid moult i noticed his comb started to go floppy and a bit pale. This has never happened before but since he had no other symptoms i figured maybe it was due to moulting and being 4 years old now.
By September i noticed he had lost weight and his comb was fully flopped over. And his wattles and earlobes have also gone pale. By the end of September he was just about done moulting but the comb/wattles/earlobes were paler than ever. And he had lost more weight. And had become noticeably less active, crowing and generally moving around less. Before his moult he weighed 890g. At the end of September he weighed 780g. A few days ago 730g. Today 710g.
Until the end of September his appetite and poop were completely normal. However for the past couple of weeks i have noticed a sharp decline in thr quantity of his poop. For around half the day today his only output was white fluid. However there is no sign of worms and no blood. Before today's fluid, his poop has been completely normal healthy solid poops, only less and less in quantity.
Over his life i have treated him every 4-6 months with ivermectin. Earlier this year he had mites but i eradicated them. I can find no signs of mites on him now. There is absolutely no other symptoms. His crop is normal. His beak and mouth and inside throat are normal. His cloaca is normal. There is no swelling, no respiratory symptoms, no sign of infection, nothing. He lives with a hen who is showing no signs of any illness.
However i can see clearly that his health is declining rapidly. He has very little interest in his poultry grower pellets which he has eaten for most of his life. But he still gets excited for treats and will eat them readily, although he doesn't run/jump for them with much energy now.
What on earth could be the problem? I suspect some kind of organ failure or cancer since his decline has been ongoing for at least 2 months now. Therefore i am reluctant to take him to a vet for tests as this will be very expensive and i fear there will be no treatment.
Can anyone help with ideas?
