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- #11
Urban Waddler
Songster
UPDATE: we got Loretta a CT scan and ran a comprehensive blood test. The good news: there is no mass, period, on liver or otherwise. There are no signs of respiratory disease. The specialist believes that because the vet who did the X-ray, did so while she was awake, her leg bones, wings, superimposed organs all worked to create a really unreliable and inaccurate image.Hi. Has anyone heard of soft tissue masses on or near the liver. Loretta is 2 years old, and pekin. My vet said it was a bleak prognosis but they have no way of telling what it is or how it will hurt her, only that hope is not scarce. She was seen for fast breathing and fatigue, and they ruled out peritonitis, and her lungs showed up extremely inflamed on X-ray. We are treating her with heavy dose of metacam and antibiotics and nebulizer (twice a week). I refuse to accept this fate for my sweet little girl. She is spunky and happy during the day, and seems to be responding to meds, but certainly not perfect. I am wondering if anyone has experience with masses like this and has insight to share, for if we get her lungs back to normal I want hope for recovery. I have an appointment with a specialist next Friday. I’ll do anything to save her. I love her so very much.
The bad news: blood work showed anemia (low red blood cell count), low iron, and this is either due to lead poisoning or an underlying chronic illness (in her case, likely reproductive disease just by nature of her being such a prolific layer and so reproductively active, i.e. tons of follicles being produced).
We tested her sister who passed a year ago due to unknown reasons for lead poisoning and she was the one who seemed to actually peck at the outside of the house, and it was negative. So, my hunch is that Loretta doesn’t have lead poisoning, which is a bummer because we can treat that real easily with medication.
Does anyone have any experience treating anemia in poultry??? My vet is looking into whether iron supplements work on birds, he hasn’t heard of it in the past, while they do sometimes treat dogs with anemia. We scheduled a lead test for next Tuesday. But it breaks my heart to know she is struggling to get Oxygen to all her tissues, explaining her intermittent panting and Fast breathing. Maybe electrolytes or other mineral supplements?