Emergency- Epileptic chicken, fading fast

[SeramaLife]

Buckeye has some form of epilepsy. He gets 1/8th of a tablet of phenobarb per day. He has been taking it for a month and a half. Within the last week, he has lost 2 ounces of weight (he only weighed 16 ounces to begin with) and now he is super weak and has no balance. He is also extremely thirsty, but not dehydrated. His comb is pale. At the beginning of that week, he had a seizure, so I gave him an extra phenobarb, as instructed by my vet. He became lethargic and had a super pale comb. He recovered from the lethargy and pale comb, but lost weight, even though he was eating ravenously until yesterday. My vet is unavailable now, and there are no others that treat chickens around here. Please help, he is a treasured pet.

 

[Barred Rocks forever]

i dont see what else you can do other then giving him lots of food and water

 

[SeramaLife]

What kind of food would you suggest?

 

[Barred Rocks forever]

Ondra's Seramas :

What kind of food would you suggest?

when mine arent feeling hot i give them yogurt u can use medicated water to i guess ? i know people who have dogs with seizures somtimes the seizures are bad how old is he ?​

 

[SeramaLife]

Quote:
when mine arent feeling hot i give them yogurt u can use medicated water to i guess ?

Yogurt actually isn't very good for chickens. So far, I've given him warm, wet crumbles, electrolyte water, and karo syrup.
He is almost 2 years old.

 

[Barred Rocks forever]

mine are fine with yogurt certain types of yogurt are not recomended you could give him scrambled egg to it may be the best thing to cull him beacuse epilepsy does not get better not trying to be mean just trying to help better

Ondra's Seramas :

Quote:
when mine arent feeling hot i give them yogurt u can use medicated water to i guess ?

Yogurt actually isn't very good for chickens. So far, I've given him warm, wet crumbles, electrolyte water, and karo syrup.
He is almost 2 years old.​

 

[SeramaLife]

Quote:
Yogurt actually isn't very good for chickens. So far, I've given him warm, wet crumbles, electrolyte water, and karo syrup.
He is almost 2 years old.


An avian vet that I've spoken to has informed me that yogurt actually isn't good for them.
Thank you for your suggestions, but I will not cull him. You may have missed the part where I called him a treasured pet. I am willing to invest the time and money for him to survive. Besides, he isn't suffering.

 

[sharol]

My only experience with epilepsy was with a Siamese cat who suffered brain damage from anesthesia. He also took phenobarb every day. It was really hard getting it regulated, but after a year or so, if I forgot his pill, he would come get me to give it to him.

One of the early problems was over-medicating. When he got too much, he would become lethargic and not eat or drink for a while. That seemed to affect his seizures, too - maybe from the slight weight loss. Maybe it is just an adjustment problem with the dose. Is it possible that the 1/8 tablet is a tiny bit too much? It does tend to build up over time (or did with my cat). Peanuts (the cat) got a half pill in the morning and a full one at night, but about every 3rd or 4th day, I would give him only a half at night. This was after 8 years of experience. He rarely had seizures later in his life, but he would start getting groggy and not eating if I gave him the full dose every day.

Others have suggested cat food (canned?) or tuna to tempt a chicken that isn't eating well. Mine went bonkers over the turkey leavings from Thanksgiving. I would say that anything you can get him to eat would be a positive.

According to a couple of books I've read, chickens are lactose intolerant. I give my girls cottage cheese with no ill affects, but they turn their beaks up at yoghurt (so do I, so I understand how they feel). Otherwise they don't get milk products.

Good luck with Buckeye. My thoughts are with you.

 

[chickenzoo]

I saw on one of the episodes of Monsters Inside Me, that in a lot of countrys epilepsy is often caused by a parasite that gets into the bloodstream and then into the brain. I wonder if an anti parasitic medication would help or if that is possible with a chicken? As far as food, warm scrambled eggs is often good for them. I also use baby parrot handfeeding formula. I wish I had more suggestions. Best Wishes

 

[SilkieTime]

At the pet store you can get Lafeber's instant Nutri~Start baby bird formula 11oz for $10 and Poly-Vi-Sol with out iron at the drug store. Good luck also try tomatoes.