Emu Half of Face Swelling! Very Lethargic, not eating, diarrhea. Please Advise!

[RebbyB80]

Hi @tripletfeb, the spot on Rocky's neck is an old scar from his "friend" Bebop pecking at his neck a few months ago. I'm glad you pointed that out. I wanted to ask if anyone thinks that he may have issues surrounding this scar. His ear opening is directly above the scar spot, hidden by the spray of feathers pointing left.

 

[tripletfeb]

Hi @tripletfeb, the spot on Rocky's neck is an old scar from his "friend" Bebop pecking at his neck a few months ago. I'm glad you pointed that out. I wanted to ask if anyone thinks that he may have issues surrounding this scar. His ear opening is directly above the scar spot, hidden by the spray of feathers pointing left.

Ok, glad it's not a current bite!

 

[Pyxis]

Thank you everyone for reading and answering. We are in New Jersey, United States. No, we did not vaccinate for EEE or West Nile. I am going to see if I can buy the injections at Tractor Supply and administer to them today, even if I am too late for my sick boy, in hopes to save his buddy if this is viral.

If you do pick some up at TSC, make sure they do NOT also contain the vaccine for equine flu. I've never been able to get mine at TSC because I've never found vaccines that don't have that tossed in.

Reason is, if you vaccinate them with that, they'll start making antibodies for bird flu. And then if, for some reason, they were tested for bird flu, like if you had cases in your area and they were going around testing backyard flocks, it would test as positive, and they'd put all your birds down.

If they contain tetanus toxoid vaccine, that's fine, birds can't get tetanus so it does nothing for them but it doesn't hurt either.

I thought that he had made a miraculous recovery yesterday as he seemed back to normal, alert and running away from me. His appetite also came back. So I foraged some garlic mustard leaves for him. He has been enjoying pecking and tearing at those for a few weeks now. But this morning he was lethargic and sitting alone again. I think it may be the garlic mustard. I had stupidly assumed that this was a great "Eat the Weeds" initiative that I was embarking on, but it turns out to contain high amounts of cyanide. I think I have been indirectly poisoning my poor bird.

If this seems like it could be causing any of his symptoms, is there a chance that I can try to counteract the cyanide/nitrate poisoning?

I was also gonna ask if you thought he might have gotten into something he shouldn't have, and this may be the answer. I'm not sure there's much you can do aside from wait and see if he gets better, if this is the cause. I can't even recommend a charcoal flush because you shouldn't do one if cyanide is involved.

 

[RebbyB80]

If you do pick some up at TSC, make sure they do NOT also contain the vaccine for equine flu. I've never been able to get mine at TSC because I've never found vaccines that don't have that tossed in.

Reason is, if you vaccinate them with that, they'll start making antibodies for bird flu. And then if, for some reason, they were tested for bird flu, like if you had cases in your area and they were going around testing backyard flocks, it would test as positive, and they'd put all your birds down.

If they contain tetanus toxoid vaccine, that's fine, birds can't get tetanus so it does nothing for them but it doesn't hurt either.



I was also gonna ask if you thought he might have gotten into something he shouldn't have, and this may be the answer. I'm not sure there's much you can do aside from wait and see if he gets better, if this is the cause. I can't even recommend a charcoal flush because you shouldn't do one if cyanide is involved.

@Pyxis thank you for the vaccine advice. I am going to order from Jeffers. It looks like they have doses for WNV & EEE that do not contain flu vaccine.

And thank you for your honesty about potential poisoning. I am going to spend some time with him.

 

[ColtHandorf]

I'm glad you mentioned the charcoal and cyanide issue. I would have immediately assumed to give them activated charcoal to remove the toxins.

 

[Stravager]

Cyanide is usually treated with a specific strain of Vitamin B12 in mammals from what I can recall... I think hydroxocobalamin is the one? The natural form, not synthetic. I don't know what kind of dosage you'd need for an emu though... I also could be very wrong, but I thought cyanide was a very quick demise for most animals if they ingested enough to be toxic, so perhaps it's a combination of problems you're dealing with?

 

[RebbyB80]

Cyanide is usually treated with a specific strain of Vitamin B12 in mammals from what I can recall... I think hydroxocobalamin is the one? The natural form, not synthetic. I don't know what kind of dosage you'd need for an emu though... I also could be very wrong, but I thought cyanide was a very quick demise for most animals if they ingested enough to be toxic, so perhaps it's a combination of problems you're dealing with?

I agree that it's probably a combination of problems. From what I have gathered from papers online, the cyanide poisoning would have been considered chronic and not acute. But his symptoms don't really match that either. It was just very strong correlation that he was recovering then suddenly fell ill again after I gave him basal rosettes of garlic mustard (apparently the form of the plant with the highest cyanogenic glycosides).. Although I have stopped all garlic mustard feeding, Rocky is still lower energy than normal and his face is swelling a bit again, with some bubbles at the corner of his mouth. His stool is very dark, I am worried it may be blood, but possible that it's because he is eating mostly blueberries with little interest in his feed.

@Pyxis I gave the birds their vaccinations and Bebop took it well while standing up and eating and is acting normal. However, Rocky was sitting when I gave him his shot and the needle did not go in the muscle all the way and now he is limping. I am worried that I damaged him permanently. He is mostly sitting in his shed and only got up to have some blueberries this morning and went straight back to sitting inside. Is it also possible that he is reacting more to the vaccines because he may have already been ill with WNV or EEE?

I really wish that I had a veterinarian that would come out to give him a full inspection. I was coerced into getting emus by my landlord who insisted that we raise emu for their enjoyment in exchange for living here (It is a very unique housing situation that I have) and did not give us a chance to say "no" or even "wait until we find a veterinarian or a mentor" before we had to go pick up chicks last May. My This is a lonely scary endeavor and I am very grateful for all of you on this forum.

 

[ColtHandorf]

The bubbles make me think of a respiratory infection. I am not an emu expert, but I have used Denegard before to treat symptoms like that in chickens. I order it online. The dose for chickens is three cc's per gallon. Perhaps that might be something to add to their water for a week to see if he clears up.

 

[briefvisit]

Sometimes it's great just to have caring folks to talk to. And there are some very knowledgeable folks here.

'His stool is very dark, I am worried it may be blood, but possible that it's because he is eating mostly blueberries with little interest in his feed.' The color of what comes out is largely the color of what goes in. It's probably the blueberries.

'I really wish that I had a veterinarian that would come out to give him a full inspection.' This is a problem that just never goes away! We hear constantly of folks unable to find a vet willing to help with emus.

'the needle did not go in the muscle all the way and now he is limping. I am worried that I damaged him permanently.' As I observe wild emus, I know absolutely nothing about the vaccines. But in general, if they're not chicks, and their legs are good, they're pretty hardy.

Supreme Emu