Fatty liver disease

[Wyorp Rock]

^^ @Wyorp Rock

There's room for everyone in the run, don't start pecking.

No pecking here sweetie, you are expressing feelings that your posts are being ignored, I'd like to know where that is coming from?

Unfortunately I've been unable to find the original study. It seems that lately sodium bicarbonate has become the "wonder drug" of poultry. ugh

However, I do recall the mechanism of it. Sodium bicarbonate is known to cause ascites and gout in chickens. Especially in heavier meat breeds.

The increased salts are processed by the liver first.

While liver enlargement is mentioned merely as a part of ascites and gout caused by sodium bicarbonate, it is actually one of the first symptoms as the birds body works to balance out the ph and the liver filters the excess salts.

Thus, while sodium bicarbonate may not present fully as gout or ascites, it can cause enlarged liver prior to any clinical presentation of more advanced disease.

I've included two links which show the relation of sodium bicarbonate to gout and ascites and the "casual" mention of the enlarged liver as a part of the symptoms. In fact, since the liver is the first organ involved, it's one of the first symptoms to present.

In cases in which the level of sodium bicarbonate isn't high enough to ever develop into a more serious health condition, it can still affect the liver over time causing a chronically enlarged liver.

(I think I got all of that in the right order. It was something I was studying a few years ago in relation to duck management.)

http://www.poultrydvm.com/condition/gout
https://en.engormix.com/poultry-industry/articles/ascites-in-broiler-chickens-t35214.htm

Interesting @dotporter thank you for providing the links. I don't always keep up with what new "wonder drug" that is up and coming in the backyard chicken scene. There's always something new that people are touting as the best thing ever. BTW can you tell us what people are doing with it, what's the rage all about now? I saw in a few blogs where it's used as a coop refresher(?)

 

[dotporter]

Interesting @dotporter thank you for providing the links. I don't always keep up with what new "wonder drug" that is up and coming in the backyard chicken scene. There's always something new that people are touting as the best thing ever. BTW can you tell us what people are doing with it, what's the rage all about now?

In many flocks it's being used to combat heat stress. Heat causes chickens to pant, causing high CO2 and raised blood acid. In a very cool side note, I didn't know that acidosis from heat is what causes most shell-less eggs. Adding calcium to the diet does nothing to improve the condition. http://niv.ns.ac.rs/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/4.pdf

I realize that last link is more about sodium as in sodium chloride, but many commercial producers are using sodium bicarbonate to replace sodium chloride in part.

In Europe sodium bicarbonate is being fed to commercial flocks to reduce litter wetness (dries up the poo I guess). I read a competing study that says that sodium bicarbonate doesn't make litter drier because the chickens just drink more water.

It's being used to reduce coccidial lesions in some flocks (though I'll admit I didn't read the full study and conclusions).

It's interesting because chickens produce sodium bicarbonate themselves. But apparently the fast growing breeds have a problem with their electrolytes and salt balance due to their metabolism.

ahem, sorry. I'll hush before this becomes a full book. lol

 

[dotporter]

However, this isn't really hijacking this post. So sorry. If you have a heavy breed of chicken, it's entirely possible that heat has caused an imbalance of electrolytes. The study that I linked earlier mentions that wheat is a good feed for chickens for electrolyte balance (in addition to regular feed, not as a substitute).

I'm not a vet, so I don't know for sure, but it's worth looking at.

 

[dotporter]

That's why I started commenting. I can clear up the confusion. Here I go:

The treats are of two kinds:
1 - BAD for fatty liver, making the disease worse. Examples: scratch, pasta, bread, oatmeal, potatoes, rice
2 - HEALING for fatty liver. Examples: any vegetable or fruit that is not too sweet. Caution, potatoes are not vegetables and are in the BAD category.

If you are dealing with fatty liver and want to see quick positive results, put her/them on a diet like I said in my first
comment. In order to support my advice, I dug out the documentary link (which everyone politely ignored lol)
In the documentary, a "fat, sick and nearly dead' man eats nothing and drinks only vegetable and fruit juices for 60 days. He didn't starve and he healed himself.

I'm so very sorry that you felt ignored. The documentary was very informative and interesting! Your advice was good, for a person. Unfortunately, chicken metabolism is a bit different.

I didn't want to be disparaging, seeing as what you shared really was cool. But I also didn't want to just say "oh that's cool" and leave it open to interpretation that it was good advice for a chicken.

So, I just didn't say anything. But, I guess that was the wrong way to go about it, and I'm sorry.

 

[anna-newhampshire]

It was a joke. How could anyone think that I actually would expect strangers on the internet to set aside 1.5 hours of their time to go watch some documentary, no matter how enthusiastically I recommend it? To my surprise it was free, so I linked it for the remote possibility that someone would be curious. I was hoping the OP would take a look ( if only because a visit to the vet takes even longer). And, just as I said, I expected everyone else to 'politely ignore it'.

Thrilled that you found it a good use of your time, dotporter.

chicken metabolism is a bit different.

Politely disagree, for the specific case of fatty liver.

 

[dotporter]

It was a joke. How could anyone think that I actually would expect strangers on the internet to set aside 1.5 hours of their time to go watch some documentary, no matter how enthusiastically I recommend it? To my surprise it was free, so I linked it for the remote possibility that someone would be curious. I was hoping the OP would take a look ( if only because a visit to the vet takes even longer). And, just as I said, I expected everyone else to 'politely ignore it'.

Thrilled that you found it a good use of your time, dotporter.


Politely disagree, for the specific case of fatty liver.

Oh thank God. I was just being polite, because you seemed so upset. Didn't even click on the thing!!

And, the OP did go to the vet. They got the vague answer of "fatty liver disease".