Foot tapping?

[My2penneth]

Our 5 year old Pekin Bantam has been brought in from the cold....she was looking a bit miserable. A trip to the vet revealed nothing other than a slight noise from her lungs. We're keeping her indoors on the vets suggestion until the weather improves...a bit of TLC!

She looks bright (eyes), no snuffles or discharge and is eating well (layers pellets versele laga), eating the odd treat, drinking and pooping.

She's developed a habit of tapping her feet..." tap tap" ( always twice) ...first one foot and then, after a short while, the other foot. It might be that her foot feathers are annoying her ? Any opinions? She stretched out one of her legs backwards so she has mobility.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Our 5 year old Pekin Bantam has been brought in from the cold....she was looking a bit miserable. A trip to the vet revealed nothing other than a slight noise from her lungs. We're keeping her indoors on the vets suggestion until the weather improves...a bit of TLC!

She looks bright (eyes), no snuffles or discharge and is eating well (layers pellets versele laga), eating the odd treat, drinking and pooping.

She's developed a habit of tapping her feet..." tap tap" ( always twice) ...first one foot and then, after a short while, the other foot. It might be that her foot feathers are annoying her ? Any opinions? She stretched out one of her legs backwards so she has mobility.

I see foot tapping when they are itchy.

 

[Eggcessive]

I would look her over for any lice or mites. Permethrin (Porzap or Gardenstar) garden dust from feed stores can help treat those. Arthritis pain or itching may be a problem. Can you see any raised scales or gray ash skin on her feet and legs? Pictures are helpful. Check her foot pads for any bumble foot scab, and the the legs and joints for any swelling.

 

[My2penneth]

I

I would look her over for any lice or mites. Permethrin (Porzap or Gardenstar) garden dust from feed stores can help treat those. Arthritis pain or itching may be a problem. Can you see any raised scales or gray ash skin on her feet and legs? Pictures are helpful. Check her foot pads for any bumble foot scab, and the the legs and joints for any swelling.

After a visit to the vet, mites were ruled out as was bumble foot...her feet/ foot pads are clean but I'm not sure if her foot joint is a bit swollen...see picture.

I actually think it might possibly be a touch of old age arthritis but she has been cooped up in a dog crate ( 3 feet x 2 feet) for 3 weeks now in the warmth. We gave her a run out today ( on the kitchen floor, polypropylene carpet!) - she seemed unsteady, bit wobbly on her feet but freed up after a few minutes but not 100% . She was interested in the "other birds"( her reflections) ! I'm wondering if her new feet feathers are interfering with her walking?


She did suffer from ataxia about 13 months ago and was wobbly on her feet ( like she was drunk) but she recovered. We suspected an injury and after 3 weeks of coop confinement was chasing around (for ref. she had been vaccinated against Mareks by the breeder). We never fully established the cause so put it down to injury. Maybe she is suffering from this previous event a year or so on?




We've booked another vet visit for Monday.

 

[LaFleche]

Foot tapping might just appear as a kind of restricted intent to scratch the ground as they would instinctively do.

 

[My2penneth]

Thoughts on this.

She was originally brought in from the cold as she was clearly suffering and looking miserable. The weather in the UK has been fairly constant and cold (0'C) so we've kept her indoors. We believe she's happier indoors at the moment but confining her to a cage has been a problem where her wobbliness ( see initial post ) when walking has come back ( ataxia). One problem has lead to another!

We've started her on a small dose of junior ( 75mg) aspirin but cut up to give her the recommended dose (5mg per kg , 3 times per day orally...5mg "PO TID" in Latin!). She's only a pipsqueak at about 0.5kg (1 pound). We've noticed the foot tapping does ease off .


[ Emphasis on the 75mg junior aspirin ( UK) as opposed to a normal 500mg tablet which a human might take.]

The plan is to discuss with the vet tomorrow and to perhaps suggest a steroid injection ( plus additional oral course of steroids maybe) with daily physio ( walking) to try to build up her leg muscle strength.

In herself she is eating/ drinking/ pooping but is wobbly on her feet.

 

[Eggcessive]

More pictures of all her toes and feet would be helpful to see any swelling of ankles or toes, or bumble foot.

 

[My2penneth]

Report after 2nd vet visit.

It's not a problem associated with her feet. Once again he looked at her feet and listened to her breathing using a stethoscope. The vet suggested it might be

1). With a 5 y.o. chicken, it is possible that Mareks has surfaced even though she was vaccinated against it as a chick. The vaccine apparently can lose effectiveness with age. This was a possibility but she was still eating and putting on weight so perhaps , in this case, he considered (2) below.

Alternatively, he was worried about

2) pressure on the sciatic nerve located under the pelvic bone. The nerve splits off down each leg - if pressure from the pelvic bone acts on the nerve it causes numbness and she doesn't know where her feet are..hence banging feet. With age, the nerve thickens resulting in additional pressure on the nerve.

I suggested a steroid injection but he held off on this as saying it would be a last resort and might give rise to adverse side effects. We were prescribed meloxoid ( meloxicam...for cats), once per day for 1 week and to report back.


She is still eating well but can't keep her balance.

 

[My2penneth]

Unfortunately not good news ...we had to have her PTS today.

The vet suspected either a tumor or spondylosis pressing on the sciatic nerve.

From my records, she went from being mobile to off her feet within a half day...very quickly!

I suspect the initial tapping was due to not being able to feel her feet/legs properly due to a growing pressure on the sciatic nerve. As the pressure increased the tapping eventually stopped but she was then lame.

The vet had tried her on Meloxaid (a NSAID) but she didn't respond. I inquired about steroid injections but he reckoned that since the NSAID hadn't worked then there was a poor chance that she'd respond to steroids ( 1 in 10 or less). He saw how much she'd gone downhill in the week since he last saw her (last week she'd tried to escape under the lab shelving when he put her on the floor to assess her walking) to not being able to sit upright without falling backwards or forwards. We decided that PTS was the best for her !