Help for my sick turkey

[Debbie292d]

Hiya, and welcome to BYC!! I sure hope your turkeys will be okay!

 

[kfelton0002]

Blackhead (histomoniasis) is caused by a protozoa, not bacteria, so antibiotics would have no effect on blackhead. There is no cure for blackhead. Also the only way to be certain if it's blackhead is by looking at the turkeys liver during a necropsy. A turkey with blackhead will have little bullseye looking marks all over its liver.

With all due respect, I have successfully treated blackhead multiple times with metronidazole. Blackhead has been confirmed by necropsy performed by me on a bird that did not survive. There were bullseye lesions on the liver which coupled with the sulfur-colored droppings provides evidence enough to point to blackhead. Since the loss of two poults in the summer of last year, I have not lost a single bird and am very vigilant to begin treatment at the earliest symptom. I haven't had a case since the fall but keep metronidazole on hand and at the ready. So while it is an off-label treatment, it does cure it. Without a shadow of a doubt.

I am an RN in grad school for a master's degree so I very well understand how antibiotics work. The enrofloxacin helps to treat the secondary e.coli infection that typically occurs with blackhead. I only use enrofloxacin as an adjunct medication to metronidazole in very ill-appearing birds. When I catch it early, I simply dose with metronidazole alone.

 

[puddle_drinker]

With all due respect, I have successfully treated blackhead multiple times with metronidazole. Blackhead has been confirmed by necropsy performed by me on a bird that did not survive. There were bullseye lesions on the liver which coupled with the sulfur-colored droppings provides evidence enough to point to blackhead. Since the loss of two poults in the summer of last year, I have not lost a single bird and am very vigilant to begin treatment at the earliest symptom. I haven't had a case since the fall but keep metronidazole on hand and at the ready. So while it is an off-label treatment, it does cure it. Without a shadow of a doubt.

I am an RN in grad school for a master's degree so I very well understand how antibiotics work. The enrofloxacin helps to treat the secondary e.coli infection that typically occurs with blackhead. I only use enrofloxacin as an adjunct medication to metronidazole in very ill-appearing birds. When I catch it early, I simply dose with metronidazole alone.

@MimiVMetker sorry for derailing your thread. In case I didn't say it already I agree with kfelton0002 that it seems like your turkey has Blackhead. Welcome to BYC!

@kfelton0002 I regret if I got you spun up when I challenged your statement about metronidazole. I see now that the FDA recently approved metronidazole for all species as a anti-protozoal to treat Giardia duodenalis infections. You could have lead with mentioning that metronidazole is both an anti-bacterial and anti-protozoal so the rest of us could learn something new.

I learned something new today and, after losing 2 of 3 turkeys to blackhead a summer and a half ago, maybe I can give it another go with turkeys this year.