6 week Australorp - potential blockage?

[Lewis648]

Yes, as informative as it was I didn't see anything much covering that topic. Looking back I see it kind of did. Just wanted to help and maybe put it more clearly. Sorry if I did anything wrong.

Though with the aid of @azygous' wonderful instruction and encouragement I got the syringe properly in place down to the left of Dolly's airway, my slight misstep was then administering a bit too much too fast, so that it pooled back up near her airway, causing me momentary panic. @InterestingChickens' added info about panting and coughing helped me feel reassured since Dolly had no negative reaction at all; it had seemed to me that very little, if any, likely actually entered her airway, and learning more about what a potential reaction might be was a very helpful reinforcement.

The more info the better!

Also appreciate @aart wanting to be sure info is clear and non-repetitive, esp for a noobie like me!

Just the fact that each of you are taking your time to help educate others, and to care for countless birds throughout the world in need of dire help...truly lifesafers! I am fairly certain you all have saved my chicken's life. I hope you take a moment to really feel the depth of my gratitude. If not for you and what I have directly learned on BYC, I would absolutely have blindly followed an insufficient treatment, not knowing any alternative nor recognizing the red flags. And there is no doubt that last night Dolly would have died contorted, agonized, and alone in that cold little plexiglass ventilator. Her condition was truly appalling. Instead, tonight my spunky little chick is thriving, cuddling at this very moment with her EE buddy and cleaning her shiny little breast feathers.

That is because of BYC and each of you.

Thank you ALL!!!

 

[azygous]

Well, I'd say Dolly has a pretty determined chick keeper. Good call to bring her home and treat her yourself. That took courage and decisiveness.

Was this an avian vet or an all animal vet? I'm wondering if their oxgenation treatment was the right one for a mammal but the wrong one for a bird since birds have air sacs that distribute oxygen to their tissues rather than just their lungs.

 

[Lewis648]

Well, I'd say Dolly has a pretty determined chick keeper. Good call to bring her home and treat her yourself. That took courage and decisiveness.

Was this an avian vet or an all animal vet? I'm wondering if their oxgenation treatment was the right one for a mammal but the wrong one for a bird since birds have air sacs that distribute oxygen to their tissues rather than just their lungs.

Thank you for your kind words! In that moment, it was purely the knowledge I've taken from BYC - and the pointers you all had directly given me earlier that day - which empowered me.

It was an all-animal emergency clinic, with "exotics" specialists, and, yes, I'm sure the vast majority of patients are mammals. There were several indications that the staff may not have had the deepest experience/expertise with chickens, including that the potential of an egg-related obstruction was mentioned repeatedly. For a six-week old chick. I kept explaining I would think that quite unlikely since she won't begin to lay for at least two or three more months, so ???

But not to disparage them too greatly, I could tell they truly believed they were offering the best care they could. I am grateful for that. And while some of their poorer decisions led to Dolly's shocking and near-deadly decline, perhaps a couple of the better ones also helped her to fight through her primary ailment...whatever it is!

But I will definitely still need to keep hunting for a tried-and-true Denver-area vet for my chickens!

I just read a bit about air sacs. Would the increased amount of oxygen in the ventilator not really make a difference then, since the bird is already basically using max efficiency in absorbing oxygen from the air regardless?

 

[azygous]

It's merely a hunch that the chick may have received too much oxygen and perhaps had oxygen toxicity which is a "thing". https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3915523/

 

[aart]

It's merely a hunch that the chick may have received too much oxygen and perhaps had oxygen toxicity which is a "thing". https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3915523/

I was wondering the same.
I would think they'd have it balanced at a certain percentage of oxygen,
but might be different level for birds than mammals.

 

[Lewis648]

I was wondering the same.
I would think they'd have it balanced at a certain percentage of oxygen,
but might be different level for birds than mammals.

It's merely a hunch that the chick may have received too much oxygen and perhaps had oxygen toxicity which is a "thing". https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3915523/

Sounds very plausible and very scary. My poor little bird. I hope there won't be further pulmonary complications as a result. Perhaps I should get on the schedule of a reliable avian vet, even if I have to wait a few weeks, just to have a fuller check done on Dolly...

 

[Lewis648]

I finally caught Dolly in the act! She squatted a bit but did not seem to particularly struggle to expel this. It perhaps has a hint of a bile yellowishness to it? But maybe there was a bit of cecal secretion as well? They were also outdoors for several hours yesterday since they are transitioning to the coop and run, so everyone does have greener poop at the moment accordingly.

If course it was right on top of an older little poopy which is darker in color. I took pics with and without flash, hopefully it is coming through fairly clearly. The solid part of the dropping there is about a half inch diameter, and including its depth probably about the size of two pencil erasers.

A touch watery, and no white urate cap, but doesn't really look particularly abnormal, right?

Does anything stand out as odd to anyone?

Also just snapped a shot of my very much improved and very-much-suspicious-of-a-cellphone Dolly:

 

[azygous]

Dolly is a rock star. The poop appears to be the result of the oil she's been given. It's a good sign things are moving in there.

Look at her behavior. Improvement in that area, means more than the appearance of the poop.

 

[Lewis648]

Hi all. Despite doing great these past few days, today Dolly again stopped eating and drinking. She has had several seizures like the one I observed last Wednesday. She cries out with fear, attempts to back away, then falls rigid, with her legs stretched out and her head curving toward her back. The rigidity lasts 30 seconds or so, then she appears to be semi-conscious for several minutes, and then she regains motility and awareness.

I gave a dose of nutridrench in the hopes it would help again. I believe it was a bit longer before the next seizure, but it still reoccured. I am going to syringe-feed her some sugar water next since she isn't drinking and it is about 80 degrees in the brooder area on this warm day. I was given an antibiotic by the emergency vet, but seeing that some of the vet's decisions had done more harm than good, I did not use it. The vet had mentioned with a hint of uncertainty the potential of "mild pneumonia," which was why she prescribed the antibiotic.

I would greatly appreciate advice on this latest development. Do the seizures help point at a few probable ailments? Does it sound ok to try the antibiotic? Anything else I should try as well?

Thank you!!!

 

[azygous]

Try vitamin E 400iu. If you can try to get her to eat a little soft boiled egg, it will speed up the absorption of the E.

That poor little gal has sure been through a lot. So have you.

That she recovered from the seizure, tough, should be a sign of hope.

I don't see the value in an antibiotic at this time unless she's showing signs of respiratory problems.