Ascites?? Swollen, squishy abdomen - WITH PICS & VIDEO (page 9)

[tamtam84]

guesswhatchickenbutt - Oh that's fabulous! Please share any knowledge you get from the vet. And let me know if I have been doing anything wrong! I might need to revise my video haha. Good luck!

 

[guesswhatchickenbutt]

guesswhatchickenbutt - Oh that's fabulous! Please share any knowledge you get from the vet. And let me know if I have been doing anything wrong! I might need to revise my video haha. Good luck!

Our vet was great. I told him I'd been researching online like a madwoman and I suspected it was - and he cut me off and said "egg yolk peritonitis?" I said yeah.... He said he was impressed I'd figured it out online and that he suspected it a month ago when I was describing her symptoms, but hoped it was not because it is uncurable once the symptoms show up.

He brought her into an exam room and said her belly is very full. He showed me different needle types and said that smaller needles are easier on their skin, but the fluid often has chunks in it, which can get stuck and then prevents the needle from draining her. The first one he tried didn't work (it was a butterfly type needle with flexible tubing on it which he said is better for jumpy animals and birds since it has give to it and won't pull out of them if they move). It was too small and no fluid was drained. He then switched to a 20 gauge and a large syringe. He had a hard time pulling out much fluid at first. He showed me the bits of floating egg yolk in it. The fluid was brownish-yellow with floaty bits. He left the needle in and held it in with his hand and disconnected the syringe, then squirted the syringe into the sink to empty it, then hooked it back on to the needle and tried again. He got quite a bit out, but he said it's probably too far along and "chunky" to get much more out.

I asked him if I could hurt her by putting the syringe in the wrong place. He said to AVOID putting it in the puffiness in straight line under her vent because that can easily pierce the colon, and she'd die within hours. He said to always do it off to one side - kind of like where her skin would touch the ground if she were sitting - either on the left side or right side. We both agreed that if I punctured her colon it would only speed up the inevitable anyway and it was a risk worth taking, but obviously I'll do my best to avoid that.

He also said to drain her no more than every other day at most. He said to be on the safe side, never re-use the needle and clean her skin before and after with an alcohol swab. He said the poo bacteria from the rear end can be on the skin and when you poke it you can introduce a bit of that bacteria, which won't help things along.

He also said that the reason she's opening and closing her beak all the time is because the fluid is pressing on her organs and making it harder for her to breathe. He said the way a bird's organs are arranged makes it great for flying, but not good for dealing with any kind of internal peritonitis.

So he gave me 4 needles and a syringe and told me good luck and to call him if she stops eating and drinking and we'd put her down. He spent 45 min's with us and charged me $4 total for the 4 needles. How lucky am I?

Here she is in the exam room waiting for the vet and vet tech to come back with the needles for us.




I asked him about my BR because she's skinny and not laying. He said she's either in the early stages of EYP or there are some cases where a hen will have EYP and reabsorb the fluid and then he said something about scar tissue building up and blocking the oviduct, sort of sterilizing the chicken. If this is the case, she'll be sterile, but can't lay anymore eggs and may fully recover from EYP (since no more yolk can travel into her abdominal cavity). If her belly starts to swell we'll know that didn't happen.....

So I guess that's it. I have spent months not knowing what's wrong... and here I am today knowing what's wrong, having it confirmed by a vet and learning how to make her more comfortable while we wait for the inevitable to happen. I'm sad, but very glad that I've learned from this.

Hope this helps someone else out there too! Sheesh - there should be an EYP support group

 

[tamtam84]

guesswhatchickenbutt - That is such great information, thank you so much for sharing! Your vet sounds incredible. It can be hard to find a vet that will even see chickens.

I had been kind of worried thinking I was draining Buttercup too much, but I feel much better now. I usually have to drain her about every 2-3 weeks, so at least I know that's not too much.

She is such a beautiful girl! And very lucky to have you taking such good care of her. I agree - there should be an EYP support group! I'll have to work on that!

 

[speckledhen]

You're indeed lucky to have such a great vet! Awesome!

 

[RobinZech]

I have a RIR, Ruby, that has been having some problems recently and thought she had issues with worms, she became emaciated so I treated my whole bunch with garlic, yogurt and DE. She seemed to be bouncing back, feeling like she had gained a little weight but wasn't laying, or least I didn't think so until recently I have found broken super thin shelled eggs. When I picked her up yesterday she felt swollen.
Today her feathers appear dull and her tail is slightly down and she's not her usual friendly " come running when you see's you" self.

I have read the entire post and decided to drain her. I have a very small gauge needle & syringe, so it took several pokes. The first several
syringes were full of light yellow fluid and only once did I get a darker amber mixed with a bit of blood sample, this was a very small amount. I think I might have hit something?? She did drain slightly on her own and appeared a bit stressed so I stopped. What is heartbreaking to me is she is now hiding from me under the deck. Normally she's the first one to meet me. I hope I haven't made things worst and now she
will avoid me totally.

My group ( 5 total) seem to be on strike, I have only got 2 eggs in about 4 days. We are having beautiful weather so I know that's not it, I think molting could be the issue with 2, do they have sympathy pains? I'm open to any suggestions.

 

[guesswhatchickenbutt]

I have a RIR, Ruby, that has been having some problems recently and thought she had issues with worms, she became emaciated so I treated my whole bunch with garlic, yogurt and DE. She seemed to be bouncing back, feeling like she had gained a little weight but wasn't laying, or least I didn't think so until recently I have found broken super thin shelled eggs. When I picked her up yesterday she felt swollen.
Today her feathers appear dull and her tail is slightly down and she's not her usual friendly " come running when you see's you" self.

I have read the entire post and decided to drain her. I have a very small gauge needle & syringe, so it took several pokes. The first several
syringes were full of light yellow fluid and only once did I get a darker amber mixed with a bit of blood sample, this was a very small amount. I think I might have hit something?? She did drain slightly on her own and appeared a bit stressed so I stopped. What is heartbreaking to me is she is now hiding from me under the deck. Normally she's the first one to meet me. I hope I haven't made things worst and now she
will avoid me totally.

My group ( 5 total) seem to be on strike, I have only got 2 eggs in about 4 days. We are having beautiful weather so I know that's not it, I think molting could be the issue with 2, do they have sympathy pains? I'm open to any suggestions.

Well I'm by no means an expert, so take what I say with a grain of salt, but is her abdomen full, spongy and swollen? It took our vet quite awhile to get the liquid to start draining. He said when it's been there awhile it gets clumpy it's hard to suck up through the needle. When he first stuck her he got a small amount of blood, but he said that was from the initial needle stick. The rest of the fluid was yellow-brown and speckled with gunk. It definitely didn't come gushing out like I expected. It took him quite awhile of pulling back and waiting for it to come out. If you used a small gauge needle I doubt you hit something as long as you weren't directly under the vent. She may be stressed and will come around tomorrow... How old are your hens? Good luck with her.

 

[tamtam84]

RobinZech - I agree with guesswhatchickenbutt. I don't think she's going to start avoiding you now or anything. If fluid was draining, chances are it will continue to drain for a while longer and she should feel a lot better tomorrow. If you used a very small gauge needle I don't think you could do damage unless you drained in the spot where guesswhatchickenbutt's vet said not to drain, right below the vent. If you poked her off to the side of her bottom it should be just fine.

Hang in there! It's hard to deal with this. I'm not sure if they have sympathy pains, like you said, but it could be possible. You know how when a bunch of females work together their periods tend to synchronize and come at the same time? Wonder if it's like that at all with hens?

 

[RobinZech]

Thanks for your quick responses. It certainly makes me feel better.
Three of the girls are 3 yrs and the other two are 2 yrs old.(Ruby is two)

I just checked on Ruby and she is draining and poked her head out to see me but is still keeping her distance. Perhaps she's just staying away from the group. I'll keep you posted
on how it's coming. My next course of action is to buy some milk thistle and see if that helps.
tamtam84- I forgot to say thanks for your video and your updates, they are truly a huge help. I'm not able to take the girls to a vet at this time so this is truly a "lifesaver".

Blessing to all.

 

[tamtam84]

I think Ruby will be more herself tomorrow. Probably just a little bit of a shock today, but when the fluid is gone she'll feel better and perk up.

You are very welcome for the video! I'm just so happy that I could help. Buttercup will not have suffered in vain and that makes me feel better about the whole situation. I know many people either can't afford the vet or don't have access to one so I'm glad I can help. This forum has been a lifesaver for me, too, that's for sure!

 

[guesswhatchickenbutt]

Well Clementine just passed away. The vet did say that with her labored breathing and chunky liquid that things didn't look good, but that trying to make her more comfortable was the right thing to do. I agreed. When we got home I put her in the run with a little bowl of yogurt mixed with cottage cheese. She staggered over and ate it up. Fast-forward to tonight. We had a massive thunderstorm. Several inches of rain and insane thunder and lightning. I peeked at the chicken run on our webcam and noticed my BR was gone (in the coop) but Clementine was still in the run. I watched her waddle over to the covered part out of the rain, but she didn't go up the ramp into the coop. It was raining sideways so I knew she was getting wet. She's been having a hard time getting up the ramp, but she's been able to do it. I wanted to go out and help her in, but there was way too much lightning and sideways rain. About 20 min's later I peeked at the webcam again and she was waddling over to a dryer part of the run sort of under the ramp. I figured she'd be safe there until the storm let up. It just let up and I went out there and figured I'd lift her into a warm corner of the coop, but she was dead under the ramp.

I'll say this about her dying.... I'm still glad I took her to the vet and had them drain her abdomen. Maybe the car ride and visit was too stressful for her (although she did just sit there). I did it to make her more comfortable because clearly she was uncomfortable. As much as I'm so sad she's gone, in a way it's kind of a relief because this has been going on for months and in the back of my mind I knew I'd have put her down weeks ago if I had other chickens to keep my BR company, which I do not. Tomorrow I'll have to tell the kids and start researching on BYC what I do with my BR who used to be attached at the hip to Clementine and will now be a one-chicken flock. I think my chicks are too young to be introduced to her, so I hope she doesn't get too depressed being a lone chicken for a few more weeks.

Maybe it was the stress of travel today. Maybe it was the intense thunderstorm and her getting wet. I don't know. Regardless it was an inevitability with her - it just came a bit sooner than we hoped, but at least she's not suffering anymore.