eggbound or sick quail

[LindsayB]

My little 12 week old tuxedo has been acting funny since yesterday afternoon. She's puffed up and looks like she's trying to poo but never does. ..no discharge or breathing issues, still eating a little and drinking. I picked her up and she let me, which is not normal! Nothing broken or cut on her. I'm thinking it has something to do with her reproductive system. She started laying an egg every day last week but yesterday she did not. Not really sure whats going on.

 

[LindsayB]

I also checked her vent, looks totally normal. No swelling or discharge and I don't feel an egg???

 

[dc3085]

It's possible that she is eggbound even though you can't feel an egg in process. You can bathe her underside in warm water and gently massage it to aid in her processing the egg. You can add epsom salt to the water, it improves circulation. You can do this for as long as you feel like pretty much as long as she doesn't get cold. If anything is going to happen it will probably happen in the first 10-15 minutes though.

What you are describing sort of sounds like prolapse behavior but I've never seen a prolapse that wasn't plainly obvious when you check the vent.

Keep an eye on her feces should she generate any, that'll give the most clues to what she's got going on.

 

[LindsayB]

Here's a pic of her..and her vent. Her vents looks normal but she let's me touch her, let alone sit on my lap.

 

[dc3085]

She actually look pretty good to me. I would say just monitor her behavior to see if she gets worse, since I can't think of anything else obvious that could be afflicting her. Have you noticed her wings drooping at all? Is that as puffed up as she gets or does she puff all the way out where her feathers aren't even touching each other?

 

[LindsayB]

She's still the same. Her wings only droop when she's walking...She seems to lose her balance easily. She usually freaks when I open the cage so for her to be sitting on me is a big deal...I have her isolated right now with a vitamin and electrolyte mix in her water. She's drinking but I haven't seen her eat since this morning.

 

[dc3085]

Try meal worms, bread, watermelon, lettuce, millet seed, or anything else that she will eat. This will affect her feces and sort of take that away as a diagnostic tool, but she'll need the energy.

The losing balance can mean something. Is she cognitive? Looking around and such? Is she able to walk normally, without staggering or falling over?

The two common things that immediately come to mind are nerve damage and a head wound. Most anything else that affects her balance is much less likely (and worse). If she hit her head hard enough to cause swelling that could cause these symptoms. Not drinking, which they sometimes do for no good reason it seem like, can cause permanent nerve damage that affects balance. She'd heal from the first, the second she'd get worse and need to be put down. I recently had to put down a roo at friends house who had no visible damage to his head but, walked backwards and looked upward, everywhere he went. Head wounds, even light ones can cause strange behavior.

Other things that can affect balance are Mareks, Encephalitis, and botulism from bad feed. I wouldn't worry about these yet, but since your her vet you can keep an eye out for other symptoms of these diseases just to be safe.

 

[LindsayB]

Update....She seems better. Eating and drinking normally but not wanting to walk around very much. Poop is normal. But she hasn't being laying since all of this happened. I'm thinking she must of hit her head or something

 

[dc3085]

Sounds like it. Especially since poop is normal. I hope she returns to full function for you!