Help!! Marek's Disease??

[Haunted55]

Hi everybody! Piotr lives, and I've been reading your posts but unable to reply- I've been on the road and visiting family while my boyfriend sustains our bird(s). Her symptoms are unchanged- except he reports that she had a quail-egg sized lump below her vent last night, followed by a STINKY poo the day after.

I'd read about tenosynovitis, thank you for that. Not sure that this is her issue but I will keep it in mind. I'll be back at home tomorrow and I'll let you all know what's going on! I tried finding the info for the State Vet but I didn't find one yet... again, I'll be more persistent

Thank you so much for your support and for your constant stream of thoughts and advice. I really appreciate it.

~K

Just for giggles here, lets get back to Gallina8. I would really love to hear what has happened with her bird. This is something always in the back of my mind. We kinda ran away with her thread...hanging head in shame... Gallina8, if you are still following this could you post please?

 

[Haunted55]

That sounds like my place. I now have names for the different symptoms:

• Curly toe Marek's
• Bicycle peddling Marek's
• Wing flapping Marek's
• On the hocks Marek's
• Drunk Marek's
• Blue eyed Marek's
• Beady-eyed Marek's
• Weird pupil Marek's

Funny.....

favoring of one foot or another
unsteady or slow motion gait
ruffling of feathers without cocci
Wing use with unsteady gait
'roadrunner' paralysis one leg forward one leg back
possible recovery for weeks to months
blindness, grey/green change of eye color and then possible blindness in one and eventually the other eye, not all birds
pupil change and death following within the month with no other symptoms, not all birds

Wow, this is informative. Is this because of the different strains do you think? I say again, wow.

 

[seminolewind]

What about when they can't aim and peck up food? And the big one-wasting. Diet Marek's?
I'll have to copy that list.

• Curly toe Marek's
• Bicycle peddling Marek's
• Wing flapping Marek's
• On the hocks Marek's
• Drunk Marek's
• Blue eyed Marek's
• Beady-eyed Marek's
• Weird pupil Marek's
• Diet Marek's
• Road Runner Marek's
• Aimless Marek's or a better name

 

[casportpony]

If it weren't so sad, it would be funny!

 

[Haunted55]

What about when they can't aim and peck up food? And the big one-wasting. Diet Marek's?
I'll have to copy that list.

• Curly toe Marek's
• Bicycle peddling Marek's
• Wing flapping Marek's
• On the hocks Marek's
• Drunk Marek's
• Blue eyed Marek's
• Beady-eyed Marek's
• Weird pupil Marek's
• Diet Marek's
• Road Runner Marek's
• Aimless Marek's or a better name

You are absolutely right Seminole. The wasting...the stunted growth as well. Pituitary involvement? Wonder if the treatment for Rickets would help with that? Isn't Rickets caused by the pituitary not getting the right vitamins?

If it weren't so sad, it would be funny!

I think we've all dealt with the heartbreak pretty darned well and it looks like we'll continue to do so in the future. If we unintentionally seem to make light of something or it comes across as dark humor...so be it. Bicycle pedaling, roadrunner...it's funny how we filed, in our heads, the symptoms under those names, but they are descriptive and true and leave no doubt about what you are seeing. The aimless I had filed under the blindness. Diet Marek's is another that's a very good description. They do start off slowly and it's easy to be missed at first, but then it just keeps on until there ae no fat stores at all.

 

[Haunted55]

As usual, lol, the above brought up a question in my head. Casportpony you can probably answer this. To me it seems as if the digestive track in these birds has pretty much gone south. Either from tumors or the pituitary gland involvement[?]. Would it be possible to bypass the gut by injecting vitamins? It sounds reasonable but how? where could the vitamins be obtained? which ones to do the most good? The B vitamins and possibly A would be tops on my list of most needed. Am I off the wall or is this something that might help them?

 

[casportpony]

You might be onto something... Did you guys see the post where a person treated theirs with Methotrexate?

 

[Haunted55]

You might be onto something... Did you guys see the post where a person treated theirs with Methotrexate?

No, I haven't yet. Got a link? What is this stuff?

 

[casportpony]

No, I haven't yet.  Got a link?  What is this stuff?

It's someplace on BYC, try searching for it. I'm on the iPad today, so I can't find it right now.

 

[seminolewind]

edited - have no real knowledge of this med