6 yr old hen - weak & can't stand - eats & drinks normally & poop normal

[cqSue]

I have a 6 year old hen that a week ago started to wobble when she walked and occasionally stumbled. "Rutherford" eats and drinks normally and her poop is normal. She has gotten progressively worse and I took her to the vet the day before yesterday - at that time she was still able to walk on her own. She tested negative for worms and parasites, and everything else appears normal physically. About a month ago Rutherford experienced sour crop, but I was able to massage her crop and if there was an obstruction it was gone within a couple of days. The vet said her crop appeared to be normal during the physical. The vet ran a white blood count and found it to be high, so she gave her a shot of penicillin prescribed Baytril for 4 days. I have been administering the Baytril for the past 3 days and Rutherford is getting progressively worse. She can not stand at all today, but still eats and drinks normally. The vet made no mention of Marek's, but did mention cancer. I have isolated her from the rest of the flock for the past 3 days, because a few months ago I acquired a young rooster, who is getting quite aggressive and I fear he has stressed Rutherford out, possibly leading to her decline. I've been adding vitamins and electrolytes to her water and she has eaten 2 chopped boiled eggs and some cottage cheese already this morning. Any ideas, suggestions? I can't contact my vet again until Tuesday and I'm so desperate to get my girl feeling better! I raised Rutherford from a chick and she is very tame and of course is part of the family!

 

[Eggcessive]

Do you think she has an internal cancer in her reproductive tract? Or cancer from Mareks? I think I would just keep her as comfortable as I could. I think you are doing everything possible, but 6 years is pretty old in chicken years. I'm sure you don't want her to suffer, so you might have to decide at what point to let her go. So sorry.

 

[cqSue]

Thank you for your reply!
I have no idea. At this time last weekend, she was running around the yard chasing bugs and having a grand time. This weekend she can't even stand up. Deep down there's something nagging me that it can't be as serious as cancer. I know you're right about her age and when to let go - but she's always been a tough little chick. One thing just occurred to me as I typed "chasing bugs" - she did catch and eat a small toad the week before last. Could that be it???

 

[cqSue]

I took Rutherford back to my avian vet first thing Monday morning - she has been there for the past 2 days. My vet cleaned and flushed her crop and is administering liquids and steroids. She says Rutherford is very perky, very alert, and eats well but still will not stand up. They even tried to entice her to stand by pulling her food further away from her - all she did was stretch her neck out farther to reach it. My vet did an x-ray to see if there was anything abnormal internally or possible damage from the aggressive rooster I have, but could find nothing out of the ordinary. She called yesterday to get permission to send a sample of Rutherford's blood to the lab ($120 - she didn't want to do it without my consent) and we should hopefully have the results back today. I searched through this forum all night last night and found several threads about vitamin B - I'm going to check that they are administering it with the vitamins and electrolytes that they have been giving her. I'm going to visit Rutherford this morning and hopefully they'll have good news for me!