Five-month old Australorp suddenly lame. Update: Now another pullet going lame!

Pics
Date sort Score sort
May has responded to the glucose and Nutridrench lift. I tubed the nitrients into her before I left for town. Four hours later, she was standing, and moving about, a huge improvement over this morning when she couldn't stand.

Another bit of good news, the Denagard is supposed to be delivered today! It may be up at my gate right now. I need to slog up there and see.
 
Ah, the joys of mountain living. I have been waiting all afternoon for the Denagard to be delivered by UPS. Now, the tracker says it has. By the post office. So, it's six miles back down the treacherous winter mountain road in the morning to check the mail boxes. You didn't think the post office delivers mail to people living deep in the mountains, did you?

Good news is May has continued a show of renewed strength. She hasn't had any trouble standing on her bum leg all afternoon. And her appetite seems pretty good, also.

I'll fetch the Denagard in the morning and get the gimp group started on it.
 
Hi @azygous for some reason i stopped getting updates on this thread a few days ago. But decided to check thread anyway this morn, & saw u have continued to update. (Also, although i dont live on a mountain, i do live way out in the sticks with almost zero cell phone reception, so no signal unless i go to town. Thats the reason i didnt post to this thread until today). Anyway, i was really hoping the tylan would work, and you could then use denagard as a monthly preventative. I noticed an older thread link you received said denagard Treatment is At Least 1.6 teaspoons per gallon. I have seen that other research papers recommend 3 teaspoons/gallon for Treatment, then 1.5 teaspoons per gallon as monthly preventative. If anyone wants to research and verify higher treatment dosage, that would be great! Because its definitely important to give enough med to kill the myco off. Last friday (before i went back home to the sticks) i read a research paper that said denagard is Much more efficient when given in the water rather than in food. So, even though it wont hurt to also make a medicated mash, treated water is the most effective. As i said previously, i saved a very sick favorite pullet by taking her to work with me, & syringing water to her orally every 2 hours for first 3 days of treatment. She was much better after 2 days but i didnt want her to revert back to being too sick to eat/drink, so i kept syringing til end of 3rd day. After that i left her at home to continue her recovery . I never sweetened their medicated water because i saw the other affected pullets drinking regularly, but it certainly wont hurt to do so. You asked in a previous post how long to give denagard. Not sure if u got answer. Research i did recommended to initially Treat for 5-7 days, then preventative dose monthly for 2-3 days. In my cases, MG eye bubbles were gone by 5 days. But i continued treatment for a total of 8 days. Because it is completely safe to do so, mycoplasma have shown no resistance to tiamulin (denard), and i did NOT want to see those symptoms again. I then continued monthly dose for several months, thru the winter & following spring. (Pullets first came down with symptoms in month of november.) I stopped preventative treatment the following july, because heat & sunshine kills mg & ms. I never again saw mg symptoms in the treated pullets. The fact that your young ladies started going lame when your weather turned colder (classic time frame for upper respiratory symptoms to express), plus the fact that they initially responded to tylan, gives me hope you are dealing with mycoplasma synovia and not mereks. (Because at least denargard will treat mycoplasma symptoms, while no treatment for mereks). I saw that @dawg53 deferred to @casportpony for med treatment. I know they are both expert educators, but i do want to give a very delayed shoutout to @dawg53. Because i am positive it was a @dawg53 post from several years ago where i first saw denagard mentioned as treatment for mg. Before that i had only seen tylan as a,recommended treatment, which didnt alleviate their symptoms. So a very belated thank you, @dawg53! After all, we do tend to remember, veterinarians or otherwise, those who we credit with saving our pets! On a personal note azygous, wow u are nearly 80?!! Your posts are filled with wit, humor and detail, and i never would have guessed! I will follow this thread closely til i return to the sticks tomorrow eve. Hoping the denagard arrived, u got down & back up your mountain road safely, and that the denagard soon takes effect and takes their lameness away! What a great Christmas Gift that would be. 😊
 
Just got back from fetching the Denagard. I was stuck in the parcel locker in sub-freezing temps overnight, but due to the packing material, those plastic sleeves filled with gas, the liquid remained just this side of freezing. Now I need to thaw me out before I tackle mixing up the first drinking bowl of Denagard water.

Thanks @Allsfairinloveandbugs for the detailed info. It really helped.
 
Christmas Eve update. June seems to have fully recovered, although she is still sleeping with May at night with a heating pad to keep them warm. I figure May can use June's body heat since I stopped using the heat light so as not to stimulate their laying hormones.

May, on the other hand has shown no improvement. One day, she will seem stronger, and then the next, she doesn't want to do much more than sit under the heat lamp in the run with Su-su. Su-su seems never to leave her side.

This was the second day on the Denagard. They all are drinking it. I put sugar in it to assure they would. I did syringe some into May this morning to be sure she started getting some.

Tonight, May's crop was pretty flat despite offering her all kinds of things to eat over the day - meal worms, BOSS, rolled oats, raisins, and their regular feed. So I brought her in and tube fed her a raw egg and a squirt of Nutri-drench.

May's right leg seems to be completely paralyzed, and she usually keeps her toes curled, though they aren't frozen in that position. I'm trying not to think about those throat swabs I sent to the lab rattling around in the Christmas rush at the post office until way next week, and hoping there will be some viable microbes still viable for testing by the time it gets there.
 
Thanks for the emotional support. This is very depressing. May is like a perfectly good car that's just lacking it's wheels. It's such a shame to euthanize a pullet that is alive and alert but that simply can no longer use her legs. But I'm afraid that's what's ahead.

This is extremely puzzling. I can look back at this thing cropping up in the past. One favorite EE hen was lame for a couple of years, and then all of a sudden, it became worse, and worse. Finally she couldn't get around at all and I euthanized. I'm thinking this thing has been in my flock for a long time.

Hopefully, I will learn soon if it's Mycoplasma synoviae.
 

Similar threads

T
Questions about mareks
Replies
7
Views
566
Eggcessive
Eggcessive
E
Chicken suddenly lethargic and white runny poo - please help
Replies
2
Views
244
eggsistential123
E
C
Picked on chicken with suddenly comes up with a lame leg
Replies
2
Views
1K
Coyoteowl
C
Q
3-Week-Old Welsummer Chick Suddenly Can’t Stand or Walk — Weak Legs, Still Eating :(
Replies
3
Views
607
triphopchick
T
C
    • Like
Suddenly Lame - 12wk old pullet
2
Replies
16
Views
2K
CluckinAround1623
C

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom