HELP - fluid in lungs, ascites related

[Lunalily]

My girl is very cuddly, and lets me put my ear to her back. Every time she breaths in, I can hear popping noises. She also seems to be breathing more rapidly, and has smaller poops, but otherwise has no other symptoms. She eats, drinks and acts normally. This started about 3 weeks ago, doesn’t seem to have changed much.

I had another hen who had ascites, and I’m under the impression this is also a symptom of that. I took her to a vet and agreed she has fluid in one of her lungs, and that she does seem to have some fluid in her abdomen, but not enough for draining. He prescribed an antiinflamatory, and a diuretic (to help remove fluid naturally).

I’m wondering if anyone else hasn’t experienced this and hasn’t some tips or suggestions, or know of something else that could cause it?

She’s almost 5, so I’m assuming it’s just old age, but she’s been given every opportunity to be healthy (free range, healthy treats etc) and she’s very loved so I want to make sure I dot all Is and cross all ts.

 

[LittlePip21]

I'm so sorry your having trouble! I have had four hens over time with ascites, and I know how stressful it can be to know how to do what's best for them. I'm glad your vet is willing to drain your girl. I made a complete account of my last girl, hopefully it will be helpful and encouraging to you. I'm not sure about how the fluid is getting into her lungs, does she have Nasal discharge or is she throwing up at all? I hope I can be of help, I will be praying for you and your hen. My girl did best with lots of greens and fruit, along with plenty of exercise in addition to draining, hope it's helpful! Keep us posted! https://www.backyardchickens.com/posts/18897671 ps: I found probiotic and electrolytes to be helpful, you can buy them in packs at the feed store, one is healthy bacteria for the digestive system and one is to help them stay hydrated.

 

[Lunalily]

I'm so sorry your having trouble! I have had four hens over time with ascites, and I know how stressful it can be to know how to do what's best for them. I'm glad your vet is willing to drain your girl. I made a complete account of my last girl, hopefully it will be helpful and encouraging to you. I'm not sure about how the fluid is getting into her lungs, does she have Nasal discharge or is she throwing up at all? I hope I can be of help, I will be praying for you and your hen. My girl did best with lots of greens and fruit, along with plenty of exercise in addition to draining, hope it's helpful! Keep us posted! https://www.backyardchickens.com/posts/18897671 ps: I found probiotic and electrolytes to be helpful, you can buy them in packs at the feed store, one is healthy bacteria for the digestive system and one is to help them stay hydrated.

Thanks for the input. She’s still alive and kicking. Not much has changed. The popping sounds started to get louder, audible to the point I can hear it when she is standing a few feet away from me. At one point she wouldn’t take her meds and the loud clicking sounds stopped. Honestly the meds don’t seem to be doing any good for her - it didn’t improve her breathing, and she was already acting pretty normal so I decided to stop giving them to her. It was just making her body work harder. Since removing excess fluids didn’t help I’m starting to think it isn’t ascites.

There’s still gurgling sounds in her lungs, and she mouth breathes almost every day. I’ve noticed she seems to choke on food more, and sometimes when she shakes her head she sprays water. I can’t tell if it’s from her nose or mouth.

 

[LittlePip21]

I know that late in ascites sometimes they can puke up fluid, you could always try tipping her forward? It might help get out whatever's in her lungs. I'm sorry I'm not more help, I'd say giving her lots of fresh fruits and veggies and maybe some probiotic in her water are what seemed to help my girl that had ascites. Is she able to run around outside still? I've never really had any luck with meds for ascites, so I'm afraid I don't have any to recommend. Keep us posted!

 

[LittlePip21]

By the way, have you tried the poultry symptom checker, if you google it, it's a site that narrows down your chickens symptoms and provides info on what the illness might be. It might be able to give you some insight. Praying for ya!

 

[Lunalily]

Thanks for the advice. I’ve been trying to give her more fruits and veggies but she’s not very interested, all she wants is sunflower seeds. Not sure if this is due to the season or how she’s feeling. Another odd thing is she normally loves yogurt, won’t even touch it now. I’ve also added electrolytes to the water. She runs around and acts like a normal
Chicken, just has popping sounds in her lungs and her abdomen is hardish.

She’s still kicking, but the sounds in her lungs are not getting any better, maybe worse. Thanks for that website I didn’t know about it, I’ll check it out.

 

[Lunalily]

Just an update.
Made it to the vet today for a checkup. I’m still giving her an antiinflamatory, but she’s off the diuretic. It didn’t seem to help with her breathing and seemed hard on her body. But no other changes.

The vet was surprised. His diagnosis of heart/liver failure meant he didn’t expect to see her live long, and it’s been almost three months since I first brought her to him. She’s gained a pound(we gave her whatever she wanted thinking she wasn’t going to LAst long). BUt he said it wasn’t water weight, which is what he would expect of the diagnosis. Her quality of life hasn’t diminished, so it doesn’t add up. We talked through other possibilities - avian flu, mycoplasma, airsaculitous, tumors or cancer, gap worm.nothinng added up. We’re trying antibiotics, just to see. If it’s cancer, it won’t hurt and there’s nothing we could do anyway.

 

[micstrachan]

I’m so sorry your girl isn’t well. It sounds like you are doing a great job trying to keep her quality of life up, and I’m glad you have an avian vet. I hope the antibiotics help!

 

[LittlePip21]

I know how frustrating it is to search and search without answers. Still praying that good will come out of this, and that you will have wisdom to do what's best for her. I heard somewhere that chicken lungs are much stiffer than human lungs, so she may not have fluid in her lungs at all, but her lungs are reacting to the strain of the fluid. Did the vet explain how he knows it's not water weight? Im curious how he can tell. Also, does her abdomen or breath give off a urine or other kind of smell? That might help you know. I would think if it was tumors her abdomen would be lumpy, has she been laying eggs? I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help, it's good your giving her probiotics. I know amoxicillin helped another hen on here, but I don't have any personal experience with it. The not eating sure sounds like ascities to me. All of my ascities cases would act full and would choke on too much yogurt at once. I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help!