Does anyone recognize this leg joint issue in my deceased quail?

[Lobzi]

My little girl finally died but she survived since I got her as a nearly mature female with this leg/joint issue. She had a hard time getting around but managed and lived with me for about a year with this joint swelling issue.

 

[nikirushka]

I can tell you that I had one with this (or very similar) up until a month ago, in the end I had to dispatch her as she was starting to be in too much pain with it. But what I can't tell you is what it was. I never found anyone who knew, and I never got anywhere with it myself - she made some improvement with a change of food but in the end it started getting worse again. I'm still none the wiser as to the cause.

I'm not sure if hers was exactly the same - her feet didn't grip well and she would trip over them, whereas your girl's feet look like they were functioning properly (Roan's were slightly curved where they were a bit floppy all the time). But the swollen hocks is very similar, although hers weren't as big or angry looking. But they were swollen and rock hard, and the joint movement was very reduced.

 

[Lobzi]

Her passing is a sweet sorrow for me. I loved her but I knew she must be struggling. She would move about the house using her wings and flapping. Her legs seemed to be nearly useless and in fact the huge joints more of a hindrance than a help for her. I found her on her side and probably unable to right herself. She was cold so I warmed her then she relaxed and died. Im glad I found her so she could die in more of a comfortable situation than I found her.
Thank you for sharing your experience.

 

[Lobzi]

FYI Nikiruska
I just received this response on the forum Emergencies and diseases
"I don't think that you can know the diagnosis for certain without a necropsy by your state vet, but it looks like it could possibly be a staphylococcal or other bacterial infection of the joints. Fowl cholera can also cause swollen joints. Antibiotics may have helped."

 

[Binki]

Awww poor thing! I tried looking it up and couldn't find much except for this,

Here's the full link but that's all the info on the page regarding that picture, https://cwildlife.blogspot.ca/2011_03_01_archive.html?m=1

Since you rescued her from a hatchery it seems likely this might be it - if it was pseudomonas then that is a crazy fierce infection. I had it in my eye when I was younger and had a corneal ulcer and the swelling was so bad it closed up my healthy eye and I was legally blind lol.

I had to have medications (eye drops) made in a lab and have them administered 24/7 for two weeks 49 times a day. I was hours away from amputation, but the aggressive treatment worked and all I have now is an invisible scar on my eye.

I'm glad she had you to care for her and she's at peace now, sweet little thing!!!

 

[Lobzi]

Thank you so much for the info. If I ever see this again I will try antibiotics. Im so surprised she lived as long as she did under the circumstances.

 

[PoppeCountryEggs]

I know this is an old post, but for those searching similar issues now also look up “femoral head disease” in Japanese quails. Looks very similar your pic. I recently had a female quail, 1 year old, that had similar issues. Very unusual swelling on the thighs. I had to separate her out as she could not walk at all. She was happy to get easy access to food and water, but was clearly in pain.

 

[Susan Skylark]

You can’t diagnose arthritis (or conjunctivitis Or peritonitis or any other swollen, inflamed organ or tissue) from a picture, arthritis simply means inflamed joint. It can be infectious, degenerative, autoimmune, nutritional, genetic, traumatic or a combination. It most certainly isn’t any disease of the femoral head as that would apply only to the hip joint, the pictures are the head of the tibia/base of the femur. Most chronically swollen joints look the same, your knees or eyes or whatever only have a certain way of responding to chronic inflammation. Sending tissue into a pathologist might get an answer but a year after onset you may only get a diagnosis of chronic inflammation of unknown cause, and there certainly isn’t a way to treat joints that far gone. Initially you could treat a joint infection or immune mediated arthritis but once they look like that, it really doesn’t matter what the cause is. It is pretty easy to find a picture or video of similar neurological signs or swollen joints because the body has limited ways of reacting to issues in each particular system no matter the cause, just like car crashes mostly look the same whether you are drunk, texting, or putting on eye shadow at the time.