egg yolk peritonitis?

[KatieOsborn]

I only just found this thread (a few days later than I would have liked). I had almost the exact same experience as gayleann above. My 5 y/o Indian Runner Duck Pippin had a swollen stomach filled with fluid, she was laying down a lot and struggling to walk. I at first attributed it to her being egg-bound so started dosing her with Calcium Gluconate, when she didn't seem to improve I took her to our local vets who agreed with my diagnosis and gave her a shot of Oxytocin and told me to bring her back if she hadn't laid by morning. By the time morning came Pippin was really looking poorly, she couldn't walk at all and her abdomen had doubled in size from fluid. I took her straight back to the vets and they took an x-ray before referring me to another surgery.
It turned out that they had misdiagnosed and the Oxytocin had only made Pippin worse.
The 2nd vet I saw was great, she drained the fluid from Pippin (apparently if the fluid has bits in it's a bad sign, thankfully Pippin's didn't) and explained that the clearer the fluid removed the better the likelihood of a full recovery. Pippin's was quite yellow but she's been on antibiotics and painkillers for a few days and the fluid doesn't seem to have re-built up.
I was very lucky that the misdiagnosis didn't kill Pippin, please make sure that you don't just assume that it's egg binding as the sooner egg-yolk perionitis is caught the better the chances of survival.

 

[gayleann]

Ditto, ditto, ditto. My poor Poppy passed after waiting too long with a egg-binding diagnosis when it was really egg-yolk peritonitis. The first vet was wrong (capable vet I'm sure, but not a true chicken specialist). The second vet who correctly diagnosed tried valiantly through surgery to save her but it had gone on too long. He said he sees 4 chickens a week at his practice - but egg-binding maybe once a year if that. It is much rarer. I'm not sure why that is so often brought forward as the problem. Think egg-yolk peritonitis first and act quickly. Question your vet.

 

[casportpony]

I only just found this thread (a few days later than I would have liked). I had almost the exact same experience as gayleann above. My 5 y/o Indian Runner Duck Pippin had a swollen stomach filled with fluid, she was laying down a lot and struggling to walk. I at first attributed it to her being egg-bound so started dosing her with Calcium Gluconate, when she didn't seem to improve I took her to our local vets who agreed with my diagnosis and gave her a shot of Oxytocin and told me to bring her back if she hadn't laid by morning. By the time morning came Pippin was really looking poorly, she couldn't walk at all and her abdomen had doubled in size from fluid. I took her straight back to the vets and they took an x-ray before referring me to another surgery.
It turned out that they had misdiagnosed and the Oxytocin had only made Pippin worse.
The 2nd vet I saw was great, she drained the fluid from Pippin (apparently if the fluid has bits in it's a bad sign, thankfully Pippin's didn't) and explained that the clearer the fluid removed the better the likelihood of a full recovery. Pippin's was quite yellow but she's been on antibiotics and painkillers for a few days and the fluid doesn't seem to have re-built up.
I was very lucky that the misdiagnosis didn't kill Pippin, please make sure that you don't just assume that it's egg binding as the sooner egg-yolk perionitis is caught the better the chances of survival.

Welcome to BYC @KatieOsborn , glad to hear your hen is better. Please keep us updated.

 

[casportpony]

Ditto, ditto, ditto. My poor Poppy passed after waiting too long with a egg-binding diagnosis when it was really egg-yolk peritonitis. The first vet was wrong (capable vet I'm sure, but not a true chicken specialist). The second vet who correctly diagnosed tried valiantly through surgery to save her but it had gone on too long. He said he sees 4 chickens a week at his practice - but egg-binding maybe once a year if that. It is much rarer. I'm not sure why that is so often brought forward as the problem. Think egg-yolk peritonitis first and act quickly. Question your vet.

Welcome to BYC @gayleann , and sorry for your loss.

 

[remisophy]

Update: Angel is still alive and well and swelling has been completely gone for well over a week now.

Hi what is the dosage of the medication you gave her can it be bought at a feed store?
I think one of my Amber whites has this as I've soaked her for the last 5 days so now I know she is not egg bound please help

 

[remisophy]

Our chicken "Angel" has egg yolk peritonitis, but is rapidly recovering since we began giving her DURAMYCIN-10 (tetracyline hydrochloride soluble powder) just 1 day ago . I was really surprised how little information there is about this. It is often misdiagnosed as Egg Bound and sounds like many don't make it. The easiest way to tell the difference is to gently feel the (out) sides of the vent, if she is egg-bound you will be able to feel the hard eggs within. Our story: We recently found one of our girls collapsed and weak in the coop. Her abdomen and vent were swollen. First thought it's an e-coli infection, and contacted our local grange to get antibiotics. Her sister had just started laying, and she was likely due to start too. We figured it was probably related to this, and suspected her to be egg-bound. Tried a warm bath and gentle massage but did feel any eggs, instead the swelling felt spongy. After 5 days giving her SULMET (sulfadimethoxine) and praying, the swelling in her abdomen and vent were still increasing. We were desperate, searching the internet, calling the avian vet, etc and the most helpful thing I came across was this video on youtube, showing a chicken that had all the same symptoms , but had also recovered! Pretty much everything else I had read said the prognosis was poor and to puther in the pot. During the video the speaker holds up a bag of the antibiotic he used to treat his chicken: DURAMYCIN-10 I went back to the grange to get some. Very glad I did, because after only 24 hours she is nearly back to her old self; the swelling is down, she is active and standing more often, even making coos which she had not made for nearly a week! She is still quite lethargic and weak, but I think she is going to make it I will update this post. The video:

 

[remisophy]

Does anyone know where I can get duramycin-10 in the powder form for chickens all they have is the duramycin for large livestock injectable they said January 1st they could no longer just sell it at the feed stores that I would have to go through a vet please help my chicken is not doing good

 

[Peekos Grandma]

Our khaki Campbell just had surgery for egg bound and peritonitis. So far so good (10 days post-op). Our vet also gave her a hormonal implant, although the length of time this last is questionable. She is still on antibiotic and metcam. Scheduled to have her stitches out this Friday. Hoping for the best. She's become one of the family.

 

[remisophy]

How can she be rapidly recovering when all I've heard about and heard on this site it's a death sentence it gets hard and balled up and you can't get it out unless you kill your bird

 

[remisophy]

Our khaki Campbell just had surgery for egg bound and peritonitis. So far so good (10 days post-op). Our vet also gave her a hormonal implant, although the length of time this last is questionable. She is still on antibiotic and metcam. Scheduled to have her stitches out this Friday. Hoping for the best. She's become one of the family.

How much did all of this cost? I am just curious for future in case I have another episode of egg yolk peritonitis?