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

[azygous]

Thank YOU, for that story about your bulldog. It certainly does sound very much like what May and my other afflicted pullet June are going through. Knowing your sweet bulldog recovered fully gives me great hope!

 

[Perris]

May laid her first egg!

She got herself into the nest on her own, laid her egg like a big girl, and got herself out of the nest on her own!

That is wonderful news indeed; onwards and upwards May!

 

[aart]

both her back legs were paralyzed.

Had this happen to a dog too.
Vet said damage and/or infection in vertebrae, gave AB's and pain meds.
Said it would get worse before better...if it got better.
Both happened......she lived another 10 years, with occasional mild relapses.

 

[Araucana Nest]

Had this happen to a dog too.
Vet said damage and/or infection in vertebrae, gave AB's and pain meds.
Said it would get worse before better...if it got better.
Both happened......she lived another 10 years, with occasional mild relapses.

So happy she made it. Tsaheylu is alive because a vet tech saw a slight movement in one of her back legs on day 12. I took a squeaky toy to her on one of my visits and they said she was squeaking that toy all day long. When we walked out of the vet the day she was cleared to go home she walked out with the toy in her mouth helped with two techs and a towel to hold her up. She remained alert the entire time with feeling in her toes but just unable to move.I don’t believe she was treated for pain just IV fluids and antibiotics. If I could find the very long vet bill- I’ve moved to Florida since then- I could do the thread more justice by using the correct terminology.

 

[azygous]

June has improved by a good 50%. I think she is surprised since she came out of the coop all flapping wings to be sure she had balance, but then she took a few steps and when she didn't fall over, she walked pretty darned steadily over to the food bowl.

May is commanding quite a bit of self confidence these days, and though her right leg is still a bit stiff, she struts it with full command of where she's going.

Wouldn't it be nice if we had a name for this disorder? Maybe we should call it "May's Syndrome". I'm not shy about naming things that need names.

 

[HiEverybirdy]

Whoa, hadn't been getting notifications on this thread, and there's so much to take in from this week!

1st, congratulations, May, on YOUR FIRST EGG! @azygous has done an amazing job for that milestone to be reached. I'm honestly welling up. And May is no doubt as thrilled as her human fans.

2nd, Sorry to hear you're going through this with June, though it sounds like her immune system is righting itself. Was going to remind you to try acyclovir, since you did that with May, and well, May just laid her first egg!

3rd, @Awakening Forest Thank you so much for weighing in, and same to @aart ! If you recall, were your dogs always able to wag their tails, and did their bark sound squeaky while they were affected?

Either way, this shows how demyelinating conditions are much more common in dogs than we know, probably due to misdiagnosis. Why shouldn't it be the same with poultry?

I keep going back to the idea that May's Syndrome could be a pathogen in the soil triggering something genetic with the affected individuals. Other dogs in our area played in the same woods with zero problems, while Clover fell hard. Of course, as a previously starved dog with a survivor mentality, she also drank from muddy puddles, hunted critters, and scavenged dead stuff, so she had the most exposure to every crazy bacteria on the planet.

Some dog breeds, like boxers, are said to be more susceptible to coonhound paralysis, which would point to something genetic. Additionally, I believe the human version of coonhound paralysis, Guillain-Barre syndrome, is thought to be brought on by a combination of triggers, both viral and bacterial. Link to Mayo's overview of Guillain-Barre for kicks:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/guillain-barre-syndrome/symptoms-causes/syc-20362793

 

[aart]

If you recall, were your dogs always able to wag their tails, and did their bark sound squeaky while they were affected?

Don't recall the tail or bark.
When disc was inflamed she didn't feel great so probably neither were very active.

 

[azygous]

June has made a remarkably swift recovery from her relapse of symptoms. Today was day four of her Tylan 50 treatment as well as vitamins E and B, St John's Wort and acyclovir. Since my objective has been making her well by any means necessary, I have no idea what elements of her treatment are responsible for her recovery, if any. Bottom line, I'm not interested in experimenting when it was possible for her to follow the dire decline into serious illness that May experienced, and Jules before her. I had learned my lesson after Jules to throw everything I can think of at this awful disorder in hopes something would save her.

The upside is that this strategy may have saved the lives of two out of the three pullets afflicted with this thing. The downside is that the occasional advantage of diagnosis through finding a treatment that has worked was not possible with the "throw everything at it including a kitchen sink" method of treatment. Tradeoffs happen. We live with them. I have two pullets that have managed to recover from something that killed a third one.

June roosted tonight. She was still hanging on an hour later. Last night, she fell off the perch after less than a minute. That's a stunning improvement.

May is about the same. But let me assure you, she is enjoying life and sex with the roosters, and she is mingling with the main flock with a spanking new self confidence (hormones are good for lots of things) and she laid her second egg today.

 

[Meg-in-MT]

I'm so happy to read that June is making such a speedy recovery! You're right: sometimes it just doesn't matter.

 

[azygous]

I just know you all are hankering for an update on June. As fast as she became crippled and unbalanced, by the fifth day, yesterday, you would be hard pressed to find anything off about her behavior. She was moving around almost normally, and today, she's close to 100% recovered.

She didn't attempt to fly up to the roost last night. Instead, she kicked May out of her box and was settling in when I did the finally bedtime check. May and Su-su were snuggled in the opposite corner of the coop on the floor. I took June out of May's box and put her on the roost, then put Su-su next to her, and shifted May back to her box.

The only sign anything was wrong with June is occasionally she will stagger as she changes direction, a sign her balance is still somewhat off.

May had me very concerned last night after I saw her regress with the use of her bad right leg. It was dragging and seemed to have lost strength. When she was eating BOSS scattered as a late day treat, she did so in a crouch, not wanting to stand. It woke me up last night puzzling how I would deal with a set back.

This morning I decided to give her another round of acyclovir. I have another older Welsummer hen with an undiagnosed limp that I'm treating with it also. Can't hurt. Except for me. I am dipping significantly into my shingles meds to treat them. It's what we do for our chickens.