Baytril or Cipro?

[Fontaine]

She's a Silver Spangled Hamburg. And yes, she's always sweet. Doesn't make trouble with the other chickens. She was always a little skittish out in the yard, but if I managed to catch her she'd let me hold her. So yeah, I'd say she's calm. She never runs around squawking like some of them, that's for sure. I'd highly recommend the breed. Very nice birds.

And she's even sweeter and snugglier as a house pet

My flock is fine, but my oldest hen is dying, and I'm trying to give her supportive care in her last days. She's nearly fourteen.

13+years . I’m sure you will feel her absence . I’m sorry for your loss.

 

[AmyJane725]

She's a Light Brahma named Lady Di. She was one of my very first chicks. She developed a tumor over her eye at age seven and it's only just recently started causing issues, torticolis being the main problem. I suspect the tumor has finally affected her brain and it's shutting down her organs. Up until today, she's has normal periods where she gets around the run and eats on her own. But today, she has been semi-conscious and won't eat. Overall, she's in decline. But this is not unexpected at her age. I'll miss her fiercely when she goes. This thread is about my aging chickens. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/issues-with-advanced-age-chickens.1379757/

I will check it out. I see the photo of them all sitting on the feed bag. Too cute

I suppose the tumor couldn't be removed or you would have done it, huh? She lived a super long time even so. It's amazing.

 

[azygous]

The tumor was slow growing and appeared to be benign, never metastasizing. But it was growing. I knew someday it would affect her. Removing a tumor in a fragile location such as the eye region was not advisable even by an avian vet. It did cause that eye to go blind a few years ago, but she adjusted well. It's now causing neurological issues but it wasn't until a month ago. She's had a long, healthy, comfortable life as head chicken of the flock until recently.

 

[Banana01]

Sorry you are having to endure this. There are not unfortunately a lot of resolved cases with eyes like your hen has. The recurring theme in the threads is that the abcess always keep coming back. They all seem to follow this same treatment of lancing, antibiotics and none I could find are cured. Often the bird is culled.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/above-eye-severely-swollen-please-help.611367/page-3

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/abscess-near-chicks-eye-help.634935/page-2

Im wondering what sorts of alternative treatments may be available for you. The microbiologist made a good point about the anaerobic nature of the infection.

https://www.merckmanuals.com/profes...robic-bacteria/overview-of-anaerobic-bacteria

Cancer only exists in anarobic environments, similarily an ecoli infection that is anaerobic is growing out of control like cancer may. So you could be considering some anticancer type treatments to make her body more oxigenated. Also an anaerobic infection would not benefit from oral antibiotics because the medicine would never reach the infection.

Consider trying:

-potassium iodide (iodine) supplement
-vinegar + baking soda supplement
-Vet injecting hydrogen peroxide aka oxygenation therapy. Maybe your vet can consider using hydrogen peroxide if he drains it again.

Hopefully your hen lives a long and healthy life. If the bacteria is anaerobic, increasing oxygen in the body may help, its an alternative medicine for cancer treatment that may apply to your hens eye.

 

[Banana01]

Also exercise and some outdoor time like another poster said, to help increase the oxygen in her body.

 

[BY Bob]

Better late than never, lol. I appreciate any help I can get, especially from someone so qualified.

Tylosin is the same thing that's in Tylan isn't it? Because we tried that while we were waiting for the Baytril to arrive, and it didn't seem to do anything.

Tynan and tylosin are the same thing. So you have treated with it then already. That's good then.

 

[BY Bob]

-No worries. Are your chickens doing ok?

-Well, I'm glad there's still an option out there maybe. Even if it's expensive I'll do it. I'll start selling plasma or something. I have an Etsy store. I should start advertising harder...

-The vet mentioned that he's afraid that if what originally infected her (a splinter or something) got lodged under the skin and then worked it's way down to the point where it's impossible to remove and it's going to keep re-seeding the infection, so no matter how many times we beat it back, it'll always come back from that source. I'm really hoping that's not the case. I mean, her eyebrow was swollen for maybe a week before he saw her and cleaned it out, and then it was cleaned out again two more times after that. I feel like it wouldn't have had enough time to go that deep in the first week, and if he had seen a foreign body in there he would have removed it.

-I will definitely keep on with the Baytril. My vet even admitted that it's the ideal medication/what he always used to prescribe for pet birds back before it was illegal, but now he "can't comment" on if I should try to use it or anything. He says he'd lose his license for prescribing it. I wonder if that's just in my state, because I've seen other members say that their vets prescribed Baytril for them, and that was recently, not years ago.

-And yes, she is. She's way too sweet to die too. Such a gentle girl. Even though she feels crappy she painstakingly makes her way over to sit with me/on me. She's so quiet. Doesn't bother anyone. I love her so much.

Could the vet do an xray to see if there actually is a foreign body? If there is something still in the wound, they are right. Until it is removed the infection will likely continuously recurr. Although eventually it will become resistant to the baytril and untreatable. Although if it is not lodged somehow, over time the body will push the object towards the surface in order to get it out.

I recently had a hen xrayed to see if she had arthritis and my vet only charged $100. It might help to know. I also would keep the wound drained if I could easily do so. That provides easier access to the infection for the antibiotics.

 

[BY Bob]

My flock is fine, but my oldest hen is dying, and I'm trying to give her supportive care in her last days. She's nearly fourteen.

What a wonderful life span. You must take amazing care of your chickens. A life to be celebrated for certain. I'm sorry that she is failing.

 

[AmyJane725]

Could the vet do an xray to see if there actually is a foreign body? If there is something still in the wound, they are right. Until it is removed the infection will likely continuously recurr. Although eventually it will become resistant to the baytril and untreatable. Although if it is not lodged somehow, over time the body will push the object towards the surface in order to get it out.

I recently had a hen xrayed to see if she had arthritis and my vet only charged $100. It might help to know. I also would keep the wound drained if I could easily do so. That provides easier access to the infection for the antibiotics.

I could have him do an xray, but there are only certain things that would show up (like metal). If it's just a tiny splinter of wood it's not going to show up. I'm not against doing it just to check, but I'm trying to be smart about the money at this point. I'm over $800 in so far, and I don't have a job right now, so it's pretty hard.

As far as drainage goes, she heals super quickly, so unless I literally soak off the scab and pull the opening back apart she heals it closed in like 2 days.

 

[AmyJane725]

Cancer only exists in anarobic environments, similarily an ecoli infection that is anaerobic is growing out of control like cancer may. So you could be considering some anticancer type treatments to make her body more oxigenated. Also an anaerobic infection would not benefit from oral antibiotics because the medicine would never reach the infection.

Since the sulfa drugs (oral) nearly got rid of the abscess (after having the pus removed), doesn't that mean it's an aerobic infection? So more oral antibiotics (Baytril) might still work?