Final FINAL Update, Draft on 10/17/2021
RE: Peanut 04/03/2021 - 10/13/2021 FOREVER IN OUR HEARTS...
I'm posting this final update in hopes that it will help others make better decisions than we did with Peanut, our precious Silkie hen that stole the hearts of EVERYONE who had the pleasure to meet her in her short 6 months of life. This is a bit long, but I think it's worth the read, especially for the importance of timing and the importance of correct diagnosis in a timely manner. Would it have changed Peanut's fate? It's impossible to know, but draw your own conclusions. I'm going to go through a brief timeline of her struggles, identify some mistakes I think we made and why, what we'll do differently moving forward, and offer our personal opinion on relying on different forms of advice. Here's the sad end to her story.
Peanut was hatched April 03, 2021 here at our home, the daughter of our Silkie Roo, Primo, and one of our Silkie hens, Splash, and she was a perfectly normal chick in every way. At about 10-11 weeks of age, Peanut suffered a bout of Wry Neck that took some 8 weeks to correct. This only strengthened her attachment to my boyfriend and his to her; even her sister remained her steadfast buddy throughout her comings and goings for treatment for her condition.
Her Wry Neck treatments ran from about June 23 to August 30. We extended her vitamin therapy a week or so beyond her last symptoms to be sure we were in the clear. By August 30, she had recovered beautifully, but we hadn't considered that her condition could have been exacerbated by ingestion of a foreign substance like Lead (Pb) and still don't know exactly when she picked up the Lead. My boyfriend had set up a little target in the back yard and would shoot Lead pellets at the target from time to time from May/June to as recently as September. Though he would always go pick up the Lead bits, he never got them all, but never considered a bird might eat them. That was MISTAKE #1, and I'm going to post another thread at some point warning of the extreme danger of Lead Toxicity in chickens.
On September 8, Peanut laid her first egg and laid maybe three more in the coming days. On or about September 12, we noticed a Crop problem, and this is where the story takes a turn for the worse. With a Crop problem, we typically don't worry much as we've been down this path before, but she passed an item shaped like a human kidney the next day, September 13th, and never laid another egg in her final month. The kidney-shaped excretion was approximately 1/2" in length and maybe 1/4" thick. Photos were posted on the forum, and we had a number of suggestions regarding what it might be and recommendations for treatment. However, this was MISTAKE #2.
At this point, she should have seen a vet. There was clearly a serious reproductive or intestinal issue at play, likely both, and both well beyond our ability to properly comprehend, diagnose, or treat despite three college degrees between the two of us, two of those degrees being Biology and Chemistry. We tried to treat Peanut and felt like we were gaining ground initially, but we ultimately failed miserably in her diagnosis. Through our own research and consultation with others, we believed we were dealing with either Saplingitis or Egg Yolk Peritonitis (certainly possible and likely) and treated with antibiotics for 10 days. This didn't help her Crop issue, but we were able to keep food in her and moving through her. Once the 10 day antibiotics were up, we treated more aggressively for the crop issue, but after 7 days, my boyfriend said, "that's it, she needs to see a vet". Her stools remained loose, low volume, and with a bright yellow cream covering them throughout this process.
We were able to get her to an avian vet on October 4, 2021. That was roughly three weeks after the "kidney" shaped dropping was discovered (Sept 13 to Oct 4). Her X-rays at the vet showed at least a dozen metallic objects in her Ventriculus (Gizzard). She was immediately referred to NC State University Veterinary Hospital in Raleigh, NC and her full file sent to them. Oddly, through the ALL of her treatments and therapeutics, Peanut remained happy, active, friendly, and normal in every way except for her Crop and Stools - no neurological issues that we could detect. That will make sense toward the end of this update.
We leaned toward NCSU from the outset because of its size, reputation, and because it offered 24/7 care if she needed to stay overnight. It took a week to get her seen due to NCSU not being willing to clarify some initial questions (chelation therapy versus endoscopy) we had with us directly and only being willing to communicate through her first vet. She finally saw the avian vets at NCSU the following Tuesday at 1:00pm; that was Oct 12th, a full 8 days after being referred by her initial vet for a likely lead ingestion emergency. In NCSU's defense, they offered that she could be seen on an "emergency" basis, but never really pushed that even though they had her file, her X-rays, and the suggestion by her first vet that this was likely lead poisoning. We are also 140 miles away from NCSU, thus the reason we asked for a bit of clarification on a possible course of action before setting up either appointment; it's not a short drive across town...
Once with NCSU, she began to decline after just two hours in their care. The timing of her decline is beyond puzzling to us, but perhaps it was the stress of an unfamiliar environment and/or fear. We will never know, but it was heart-breaking to watch her in such distress. She began displaying neurological breaks, not seizures, but moments where she'd lose control of her bowels, start hollering, and spinning in circles and flapping her wings. My boyfriend witnessed this for the first time ever in an exam room at 4pm on Tuesday October 12. She had two more "episodes" in the next 30 minutes. NCSU took blood samples sent them via overnight service to a lab at LSU in Baton Rouge, LA. She stayed with NCSU that Tuesday night because he felt she'd be in better hands should things turn for the worse waiting for morning. A call from NCSU at 7:30am the next morning was the news we didn't want to hear: her "episodes" continued overnight and were dead-on consistent with lead toxicity. So, my boyfriend made the decision to put her out of her misery as her condition was likely not going to improve knowing that the metal in her Gizzard was almost certainly lead, LOTS of it, and it had been there for some time. It devastated him.
She passed via euthanasia at about 10AM Wednesday morning, and the necropsy was performed shortly thereafter. Photos included here show the contents of her Gizzard, and one of the lead pieces can be seen in the photo. The next day, Thursday, we were advised that her blood analysis from LSU showed her blood lead level at 28ppm (parts per million), 466% more than the toxic threshold of 6ppm. She should have been dead long before she ever got to NCSU!
So, this begs the question, what would we have done differently? In short, when confronted with something as bizarre as passing a strange object (kidney-shaped thing) combined with a crop issue, a complete shutdown of laying, and abnormal stools, the help of a medical professional should have been sought at that moment. I love and trust so much of the information on BYC, both of us do, but we lost a lot of time where professional treatment may have been successful rather than having to put this little angel down. We, however, have to live with that, just as my boyfriend has to live with the fact that, in his words, he caused the lead to enter the area that our chickens sometimes occupy, ultimately killing his favorite little bird. Who would have ever put those two things together? He's beyond CRUSHED and so beside himself that he's cried for a week over Peanut. He keeps saying that he failed Peanut; it's heart-breaking.
Moving forward, we'll continue with treatments of minor issues here at the house, but will NEVER again hesitate to get a professional, medical opinion for larger issues. It's just not worth the pain and heartbreak that delaying a proper, qualified diagnosis along with testing can bring. Peanut was super-strong, super-happy, and you'd never have known that she had 12 or more lead pellets in her belly. She had the best personality of any bird we've ever had, much of that likely because she spent so much time with us, and we miss her tremendously. She was just a doll that loved being around us, loved exploring, loved her mealworm treats, loved her sister, and REALLY LOVED HER DADDY! The sadness we're experiencing will take a long time to get over... :-(
EDIT 11/14/2021: It's been a month since this was drafted and just over 3 weeks since we buried Peanut here at home. Looking backward and having received more detailed information on her necropsy, we now wonder if Peanut's Wry Neck issues might have been caused by the Lead she'd ingested, or possibly made worse by the Lead ingestion (i.e. harder to treat). It's an interesting thing to ponder since Lead, once ingested and absorbed into the body, is a debilitating neurotoxin. It affects the Brain's development and function, causes disruption in Liver and Reproductive functions, and finds its way into soft tissue and bone in the body. It's a HORRIBLE substance when ingested, and she had over twenty (20) pieces of Lead removed from her Gizzard at necropsy.
In Peanut's case, if she had begun consuming Lead back in May and June, Lead could have been the root cause of her Wry Neck (neurological condition). It might also be why she was such a tough case to treat too; we might have been trying to combat a condition that was brought on by Lead, while we subdued the effects of Lead with Vitamin-E but only prolonged the inevitable. In other words, we might have just managed to keep her alive and acting normally through 8 weeks of Wry Neck Treatment and beyond, but then when it was time to lay, the Lead took over again because it was still being deposited into her body from her Gizzard. Sadly, we'll never know for sure. The upside is that she remained happy and active all her days, never once acting like she was in distress, pain, or even concerned about anything. She was just a precious, sweet little creature, and that is the one thing we hold onto... S&S
I'm so sorry.
