8 year old hen having difficulty swallowing

[Eddie12109]

Hi there,
I have an 8 year old hen who has been having some issues lately. Starting March of 2022, she developed ascites. A little later I noticed a tumor on the left side of her abdomen, it is hard to feel but I would say it is a smidge bigger than a golf ball.
All is fine until Eddie, my 10 year old hen passes in January. Since Eddie and Dev were my only remaining hens, Dev mourned deeply and deteriorated. She got arthritis in her hocks and her poops were very wet and runny for 2 weeks.
She finally recovered but has been having health issues since. In March her ascites got horrible, she swelled up but I was able to get it down with herbal treatments I will describe later. Then, she couldn't swallow well. I am assuming this has been going on for a month now. It was not too bad but it has slowly been getting worse.
She has been slowly getting skinnier so two weeks ago I took her to a vet who was clueless. She did test for trichomoniasis and said she was negative, although I am not 100% sure she was looking for the right thing. I got a blood test done and she is healthy, her blood count and organs are fine.

Starting Friday, she could not eat any of her feed. She had to shake her head violently in order to dislodge the feed since she could not get it down. I gave her Kaytee baby bird food powder mixed with water.
Today, she was able to eat Kaytee baby bird food this morning and an hour ago, so 5 pm I gave her some more and she struggled eating it. I had to put tiny balls of it in her mouth so she can eat it. She struggled greatly though.
I took her outside afterwards and she just plopped down and slightly open mouth breathed.

At this time I do not have many options. The emergency vet specialist will not be in until Wednesday but there are regular emergency vets who are not specialized in birds but can help.
The vet I previously went to suspects Mareks although I am quite doubtful for such an old bird. She can give me steroid shots on Monday for her though.

She also has some face and lower mouth bumps. I will attach pictures but she also had a very hard bump in between her wattles that is quite hard. Over time it has grown two small hard bumps that now are the full distance between both wattles. She has black dots and her mouth is enlarged from the inside due to these bumps.

I am suspecting cancer but am just not sure. She currently gets flax seed for cancer and hawthorn and ginger for heart issues but the vet did say her heart and lungs sounded fine. Her ascites mix consists of Lily of the desert aloe detox and acv, cinnamon, ginger, and water mixed together then mixed with the kaytee baby bird food mix. She also gets turmeric and dandelion, sometimes metacam.

I do not think she has much longer but want to try everything, especially since she is my last hen. I am going to see if I can get fit in for the emergency vet tomorrow so I am not waiting forever. Any advice would be helpful.

That video is from a few weeks back but shows her breathing difficulty even when not eating.

@azygous @TwoCrows @Wyorp Rock @Eggcessive @coach723 @casportpony @dawg53 @micstrachan

 

[Eddie12109]

And here are some poop pictures that are from the last few days.

 

[TwoCrows]

We've been talking behind the scenes and you've heard all my suggestions, I am suspicious about the test for Trichomonosis, the lesions and the inability to swallow all falls in line with it. This said, my next theory could be a stroke and these muscles aren't functioning properly.

I am not sure on how to proceed with her, tube feeding her will extend her life however what ever is ailing her will continue to progress.

If she gets to the point where her life no longer has any quality to it, you might consider having the vet put her down.

 

[dawg53]

Can you post photos of the bumps on her face, lower mouth, between the wattles, black dots?

 

[Eddie12109]

Yes, these are old photos but show them well, I will try to get new ones but may have to wait until tomorrow morning to use the sunlight.

The last two were from just now, she pooped as well.
It’s hard to see but the area with the arrow in the second to last picture is protruding due to her growing bump in between her wattles. It was one bump but has grown to be much bigger with two smaller bumps attached, growing towards the left side of her mouth. Those can’t be seen from inside the mouth though.

 

[dawg53]

Thank you for the photos. Smell her breath close up and let us know if there is a foul odor.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

We've been talking behind the scenes and you've heard all my suggestions, I am suspicious about the test for Trichomonosis, the lesions and the inability to swallow all falls in line with it. This said, my next theory could be a stroke and these muscles aren't functioning properly.

I am not sure on how to proceed with her, tube feeding her will extend her life however what ever is ailing her will continue to progress.

If she gets to the point where her life no longer has any quality to it, you might consider having the vet put her down.

Heard all my suggestions as well behind the scenes.
It will be interesting to see what others may come up with.

 

[Eddie12109]

I don’t smell a foul odor. The smell was her baby bird food powder. And whenever she eats that she gets air in her crop so I have to massage it until the air comes out and she ‘burps’. When she burps it smells like the baby bird food but fermented a bit but it is sitting in her crop for a bit. But no foul odor.

Her nare also has issues. This is not the side with the face and wattle bumps. She has had this weird issue in her nose for months now. I continually use a toothpick to get the hard growth out or it keeps growing and tries to take over her nare. As this has developed, her nare has becoming misshapen in some ways. And I believe it has cut off air flow in that nare. Not the best picture from tonight but I could try to get new ones.

 

[dawg53]

Okay. My first thought was canker, it's not. My second thought was wet and dry pox, it's not.
The bumps are most likely tumors or cysts. Tumors are hard, cysts can be hard or squishy.

There are too many health issues with Dev and it points to too much stress, the loss of Eddie, Dev's age and the constant doctoring.

The bottom line is that Dev is at her end stage of life at 8 years old. Problems will continue in her age, guaranteed; been there, done that.
Have comfort knowing you've given her a good life. Time to let go and cull Dev humanely.

 

[Eddie12109]

I see, thankfully it seems she still has some more time as she was eating the baby bird food this morning.
But one thing I have been noticing is she is drinking water excessively. She’s stopped to get water four times in the last hour and is taking many drinks from it at each stop. It’s very excessive for her.
What could be causing that?