Blizzy is Dizzy? (Started out 'dizzy', can't walk, won't eat)

[cowcreekgeek]

Thank you for the link.

I also found another good one here on BYC, both of which I have saved for future reference.
For now, though, there is some hope of her eating without tube feeding! While I was out today, I picked up some 60 mL catheter tip syringes (two in a box) at TSC. I got Blizzy to eat about 25 mL of pureed food (out of the 30 mL I tried) with one of them. (That's about 25 mL more than I was getting her to eat otherwise!!) She also now has a water dish available at all times during the day. She readily figured out how to use it, and was drinking happily while I was preparing her pureed food.
She appears to be trying to walk now, but still can't hold any of her weight. She had her feet forward and toes spread on her own, and had kicked all the straw out from under her! Here's hoping with the ability to drink any time she wants and some food actually getting in her system, she'll continues to improve!

Indeed, promising news; had me very worried, but this sounds ... promising (don't wanna get too over-confident ~'-)

Be sure 'n change her water often (at least daily), and keep the ACV in it, as it will continue to help her purge her system. She should improve considerably over the next day or two; if not, we'll go from there.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

I had a minor victory today in feeding Blizzy. It was an almost mess-free meal! I finally have her to the point at which if I firmly hold her wattles in one hand, she'll sit still juuuust long enough for me to syringe a beak-full of food into her mouth. She ate 30 mL of pureed food with hardly a drop on her paper towel bib! Her crop felt somewhat full at last!

I've noticed that her comb doesn't look as wilty as it had been now that she has water access whenever she wants. I'm hoping she wasn't too badly dehydrated from my inability to get enough water into her. She is fully on ACV water, absolutely no vitamin/electrolyte water in her diet anymore.


Here she is looking grumpy after being force-fed (she's a messy eater--I keep her as clean as I can, but she'll be needing a full-on bath if she just gets a little stronger).

 

[cowcreekgeek]

I had a minor victory today in feeding Blizzy. It was an almost mess-free meal! I finally have her to the point at which if I firmly hold her wattles in one hand, she'll sit still juuuust long enough for me to syringe a beak-full of food into her mouth. She ate 30 mL of pureed food with hardly a drop on her paper towel bib! Her crop felt somewhat full at last!
I've noticed that her comb doesn't look as wilty as it had been now that she has water access whenever she wants. I'm hoping she wasn't too badly dehydrated from my inability to get enough water into her.

She is fully on ACV water, absolutely no vitamin/electrolyte water in her diet anymore.
Here she is looking grumpy after being force-fed (she's a messy eater--I keep her as clean as I can, but she'll be needing a full-on bath if she just gets a little stronger).

She's still got a ways to go, but you've got her headed in a better direction for sure ... she looks like she's savin' a cecal poo just for when she gets the chance to visit her revenge upon you for pullin' her wattles ~'-)

Speaking of which ... do her dropping look more normal now?

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Speaking of which ... do her dropping look more normal now?

Not really. Her droppings are still loose with green solids in them. They appear to be getting more solid over all, but I haven't been around when she's 'dropped' lately, so I couldn't tell you if that's just because they've had the chance to dry out.


Blizzy had another successful feeding today, whether she wanted it or not. She's drinking, but it seems like she only does when I show her the way with a spoon. That spoon seems to remind her that, hey, there's a water dish here! Now, if I just duct-tape it to the side of the dish, she'd drink any time she wanted...

Still getting lots of evil looks from her. I hope she can forgive me for tugging her wattles so much...

 

[cowcreekgeek]

Not really. Her droppings are still loose with green solids in them. They appear to be getting more solid over all, but I haven't been around when she's 'dropped' lately, so I couldn't tell you if that's just because they've had the chance to dry out.
Blizzy had another successful feeding today, whether she wanted it or not. She's drinking, but it seems like she only does when I show her the way with a spoon. That spoon seems to remind her that, hey, there's a water dish here! Now, if I just duct-tape it to the side of the dish, she'd drink any time she wanted...

Still getting lots of evil looks from her. I hope she can forgive me for tugging her wattles so much...

Slightly darker picture than the last, if I recall, but her comb my be a bit brighter; for certain, it's standin' more ... good sign. And, I've found chickens forget just about everything w/in two ~ three days.

Duct Taping the bowl to the side of her head might work, too (just for causin' you so much trouble 'n heartache ~'-)

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

(It occurred to me that I won't be able to edit the title much longer, so I changed it a little.)

Last night, Blizzy was fed at about 9 pm EST. I gave her some extra to hold her through the night. She ended up with about 35 mL of food in her. Her crop was FULL.

This morning, I just now went to feed her and her crop still had quite a bit of food in it. It has emptied quite a bit, but it still feels like there's half of a normal feeding in there. It was not hard, but firm.

She has pooped a lot over the night. I'm hoping that this means there's no blockage?

I've helped her drink (she drank quite a bit!), but decided against feeding her under the circumstances.

I'm keeping an eye on her and will report in at her mid-day feeding about the progress of her crop and the contents within.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Her crop still feels awfully full, but a little bit more loose, like maybe some food has passed and been replaced by water..? I went ahead and put just a few mL of food in her to keep her going, but I didn't push it too much.Her crop is not like just-finished-free-ranging-full, but probably about as full as it has been after being fed 30 mL of food. She will drink like she's very thirsty when I show her the water, so she must not feel too full...

Her poops do appear more solid now, but still on the loose side of normal and still green.

She is still 'walking' all the straw out from beneath her, and starting to get herself off-center in the sling. I've noticed that her toes are looking thinner. I'm hoping that this is just because she has lost weight from refusing to eat and not a sign of something worse. Her comb is wilting a bit again, and looking dusky at the very back. When she was healthy, her comb would get dark at the back sometimes, so I'm not sure if that is even relevant.

 

[cowcreekgeek]

Birds that aren't able to continue w/ the ordinary outdoor activities of the flock tend to continue their decline, in regard to overall health ... that's why such long-term care becomes almost impossible. Nobody wants to throw in the towel, and I'm not suggesting you do, but it's time to consider other treatments, so as to give her the best of chances for recovery.

The more frail and thin appearance could be the result of such limited movement, but is more likely to be indicative of internal parasites. The green poop may also be caused by them ... and that's possibly why she's not improved more than she has. There are a number of options for treatment, but I'm gonna argue for my two favorites when dealing w/ sick birds:

1. Amprolium blocks thiamine, to which coccidia are 50 times more sensitive to than the chicken.

2. Fenbendazole is proven safe to 100 time the suggested dosage, and effective against gapeworms at a dosage of 20 mg/kg body weight.

Often, folks suggest verification of the possible infestation, but I say one visit to the vet pays for all the treatments for the life of the bird, and that they cannot rule out the presence of some worms. I used to be most concerned w/ medications, but I've studied these closely ...
I believe not treating to be by far the greater risk: If either is present, treatment should begin immediately, as they are continuing her diminished condition. If they're not? Then, her condition has continued to decline, despite every good thing you've done for her, and she'll only continue to get worse.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

I've made that call before, and I will again with Blizzy if I need to. I would hate for her to have to linger here just for my own comfort.

Should I be concerned that her crop has not yet emptied? She has only taken in about 5 mL of food today, but it still feels like there's at least double that in there. She has been drinking, but it definitely feels like food in her crop.

I'm not sure if I should feed her at this point or not. She doesn't want to eat and I don't want to add sour crop on top of everything else...

Her comb has become blueish at the very back, where it folds over (if you're looking at her pictures).

In spite of all this, she's still looking around, bright eyed as normal, if maybe just a little more sleepy than she has been. No evidence as far as I can tell that she's uncomfortable in any way.

I will look into fenbendazole the next chance I have. I have amprolium on hand because I've treated coccidiosis in chicks before. If it's present where the flock ranges, though, won't Blizzy have become immune to it? And won't there have been blood in her droppings?

I've got school tomorrow, but it's my last day of the semester. If she can just hang on that long, I can really focus on treating her.


EDIT: Her crop still has food in it after 24 hours. She has kind of fluffed her feathers out. She doesn't appear to be able to hold her head still anymore, but is perfectly able to drink with some guidance. She's still got that bright-eyed Blizzy attitude, though. This is so difficult.

 

[cowcreekgeek]

I'm sorry to say, but these latest symptoms sound like Blizzy's still demonstrating her willful nature, by makin' her own decision ...

As to developing resistances to coccidia, I'm not entirely sure whether or not birds ever become fully immune, or that coccidia develop any ability to overcome Amprolium, as it works by blocking the thiamine (one of the B vitamins), rather than the coccidia themselves (which require a great deal of thiamine).

Fenbendazole, on the other hand, attacks the various worms, including gapeworm, directly, but in a manner that's considerably less harmful to the chicken than many of the other dewormers might be. Despite having no evidence of infestation, my logic is that *something* is holding her down, and that worms could be the one thing left that you could treat ... although possible, it's not probable that there'd be that many more parasites w/in her than would be found w/in others of the same flock. It's more likely to be genetic deficiency, or failures of internal organs for 'unknown' reasons.

Truth is that I'm sorta grasping at what I see as her last few straws, 'cause I hate to admit that there's really nothing more you could do to help her.