Ellie - 9/25 Update - Egg! Thread has med info in case helps others

[Zookeeper9000]

I know her illness is one big heartache to you and BJ but I sure am glad she came to live with you as she would of been dead by now at that other place.

If she had never came to live with you she would never know what love is. She would of never had someone fight so hard for one little extra minute with her. She would of never tasted any food other than scratch.

Maybe it is hard to watch and worry over her but it sure hasn't been hard for you to fall in love with her and for her to know the love of a good little roo.
And for us to fall in love with her thru your sharing the burden of her illness with us.

I am sorry you and BJ are going thru another illness, but I am sure glad that I got to know and pray for all 3 of these special ladies. I just hope that we can get this one thru the illness to enjoy her longer but if that is not meant to be I sure am glad that I got to know her, BJ and you.

Prayers and well wishes for a fast full recovery

 

[jjthink]

Hi Jean - Thanks for your truly lovely note and wishes. You are very thoughful and kind.

Ran to fit in one meeting after the vets -- just getting back ad putting the meds on the counter and notice fine print on the antiinflammatory mix he made up (Metacam) says to refrigerate - well, they didn't tell me that so now it's been unrefrigerated for >5 hours. Just left them a message to see if it's ruined now. Sigh. They are 45 minutes away in the opposite direction of work. I so wish there was a more communicative avian vet in my neck of the woods. My cat vet offices always make a point of mentioning if a med needs to get home to refrigeration.

Ellie dropped a few feathers just now - maybe just maybe she is going into molt.....of course that doesn't explain the bad blood work but I pray it explains the cessation of egg production. I shouldn't count my chickens before they are hatched. A few feathers does not a molt make.

JJ

 

[SpottedCrow]

I posted on the other side...but I agree with zookeeper...
I'll say another prayer for you and BJ and Ellie.

 

[Lunachick]

Please keep us updated....We'd like to know how she does. Try not to worry so much, you're doing the best you could possibly do.

Each chicken is different as I'm finding out, so she may be going into a molt in her own kinda slow way, you never know. (My glass is always half full)

My Dorothy is hanging in there, acts all perky - but still a soft shelled egg mush today.

I don't see a lot of feathers either. Is this mystery chicken ailment month?

 

[d.k]

*Hey, JJ-- Sorry about your troubles, just read about poor Ellie. I am finding it difficult to stay caught up with the latest here with packing, sorting, storing and all. Too bad they don't (yet) do chicken MRI's, eh? Then, we'd know easily if internal laying/shell retention was a factor. I hope she gets all better. Hugs.

 

[d.k]

*d.p.

 

[d.k]

*d.p.

 

[bwebb7]

I'm pretty sure as long as the meds didn't actually get warm they would be ok.
She does have mysterious blood work doesn't she? I hope she all of a sudden just says "squawk" I'm all better! And gives you an egg a day for a long time!
Best wishes
B

 

[mypicklebird]

Metacam does not need to be refrigerated. Is it a white liquid with a sweet vanilla smell or has it been mixed into something else to dilute it out? It is already a dilute liquid to start with so the concentration would allow it to be accurately dosed for a chicken sized animal. If it is mixed with VAL syrup (a common suspension agent- this is also shelf stable). Metacam shouldn't sit in the sun, but it is shelf stable... If it is mixed with something else that needs to be refrigerated like juice or something else for flavor, then forget what I just said!
jess


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[mypicklebird]

I don't know what is wrong with Ellie, but I think I can help you understand some of the tests better if you want to hear me out---
Anemia- that is not severe, but it is significant. Anemia can happen 1) If the body is losing blood faster than it can be made (think hemorrhage or blood cells are being destroyed by the immune system, parasites or toxin, blood is in the wrong place in the body- outside of the blood vessels). 2) If the body is not being 'told' to make more red blood cells (kidneys make a hormone that makes the bone marrow make red blood cells) 3) Body wants to make red blood cells, but can't- (iron deficiency, bone marrow doesn't work due to cancer, toxins, ect) 4) Anemia of chronic disease- body is sick, nothing works very well, including making new red blood cells.

Regenerative anemia (high number of young red blood cells to old ones) - this is the case when the anemia is due to blood loss and the body is capable of noticing and responding.

If your hen has mild non regenerative anemia, it is likely *because* she is sick, and has been sick for more than 2 weeks. That doesn't help diagnose her, more just supports she is ill. 20-30% is compatible with being alive, and birds amazingly enough can lose half their blood volume and recover. If her underlying problem gets solved- she will cure her own anemia.

Calcium is almost always elevated in hens. They are always ready to coat a egg with a shell.

X-rays of a hen internally laying, before the egg has passed the shell gland, will not be obvious on an x-ray. Shells will show up like bone- x-rays are good for pictures of bone dense/mineral dense things, but not so good at showing up soft tissue dense things like eggs with no shells (yolk). Soft tissue things need to be surrounded by air, or things of different density to be seen. I would hazard a guess that the x-ray of your internally laying hen had thin shelled or shell-less eggs, and the x-ray showed extra material in her, but not defined 'egg shapes'.

With a WBC count like that, antibiotics are surely indicated, but will only work if the antibiotics can reach the infection, the infection is bacterial (not viral or fungal), and the bacteria is succeptible. With sterile inflammation such might show up with an internal layer or dead/necrotic tissue, they won't be helpful.

Do you know the WBC breakdown? Which white blood cells, as there are more than one kind- which can help differentiate the problem.
I hope she is doing better, jess





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