Issues breathing in almost 10 year old hen

[Eddie12109]

My Eddie is having a hard time breathing. To give background information: Eddie will be turning 10 in March. Around 3 years ago she had a heat stroke and ended up getting her head stuck between two cage bars. She has since recovered but has, what a vet is assuming, curled toes due to her getting her head stuck and losing some nerve connections and she is very sensitive to heat due to the stroke. The past 6 months breathing has become a real challenge for her. Especially during the summer she always needs a fan on her, as I live in Florida, since it is so hot. She has not been panting these last months but has instead been breathing rapidly and making rattling noises when she breathes. It does not seem to be the weather, she is always breathing very quickly. I have another hen with her and when I look at both, it seems Eddie takes two whole breathes when the other only takes one. She usually only gets very labored breathing when she over works herself and needs to be still for a few minutes. She will make odd noises during that time like she is gasping for breathe.

A few months ago she got Xrays done and the vet found scar tissue in Eddie's lungs. She might have called it fibromas, I can't remember but definitely scar tissue. I tried to pull up the xrays but it says it has expired, I will need to get the vet to send it again. Anyways her lungs are very cloudy and white in the xray. The vet thought it could be trauma from her heat stroke. So I put together that she is probably having trouble breathing due to her lungs having less room due to scar tissue build up.

Well she has been able to manage it but a few weeks ago she almost died from choking. It was very odd, I set her down in front of her food and water and went to shut a door, I heard her stop eating so I immediately went back to her and found her eyes closed and her neck twisted downwards looking like she was close to death. I thought she was choking so I tried to use a recommendation from a friend where she said when her hen was choking she held the hen by her legs and swung her between her legs as to let gravity dislodge the food. I did that then held her and she calmed down. Eddie usually does get a piece of feed down the wrong hole about once every three weeks but she did not even sneeze or try to get it out, it was like she just passed out.

Whenever she drinks she shakes her head. I used to not think anything of it but I do think it is important now. Whenever she drinks, it is like she took too much so she brings her head up and shakes out some water instead of just drinking it.

Tonight I am very concerned. She has been gaping, rattling, and breathing quicker than usual. She did not have any issues earlier today and acted normal. She is sitting 20 feet from me and I can her hear breathing heavily, but her mouth is not open. She sometimes sneezes and tries to dislodge something but I know she is not choking, it is just one of her weird things where she sometimes just sneezes until some water is expelled out of her nares or mouth. I have been monitoring her and she has been doing it for the past 2 hours or so. I am concerned her heart is working overtime.

I am already planning on making a vet appt but I am unsure of how soon I can get in. I am thinking it could be the scar tissue getting worse or also her metacam. I looked into it and couldn't find much on it but I am wondering if anyone knows if meloxicam raises heart rates? I have been to three separate vets. Two prescribed 1.5 mg of Meloxicam per dose but one gave us 7.5 mg per dose. This is for her arthritis. Since her arthritis is bad I have been giving her the dose that contains more but I am thinking that is too much for her. She gets it 5 days out of the week. I will attach some articles but they do not discuss heart issues much.

I am a little overboard with my treatments but Eddie also gets ginger and hawthorn to help with heart functions along with turmeric, dandelion, lily of the desert and milk thistle. In addition to some other things. What could be causing her to have these breathing issues? Old age, scar tissue, metacam?

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25815572/

@azygous @TwoCrows @Wyorp Rock @Eggcessive @coach723

 

[CloneFly]

My Eddie is having a hard time breathing. To give background information: Eddie will be turning 10 in March. Around 3 years ago she had a heat stroke and ended up getting her head stuck between two cage bars. She has since recovered but has, what a vet is assuming, curled toes due to her getting her head stuck and losing some nerve connections and she is very sensitive to heat due to the stroke. The past 6 months breathing has become a real challenge for her. Especially during the summer she always needs a fan on her, as I live in Florida, since it is so hot. She has not been panting these last months but has instead been breathing rapidly and making rattling noises when she breathes. It does not seem to be the weather, she is always breathing very quickly. I have another hen with her and when I look at both, it seems Eddie takes two whole breathes when the other only takes one. She usually only gets very labored breathing when she over works herself and needs to be still for a few minutes. She will make odd noises during that time like she is gasping for breathe.

A few months ago she got Xrays done and the vet found scar tissue in Eddie's lungs. She might have called it fibromas, I can't remember but definitely scar tissue. I tried to pull up the xrays but it says it has expired, I will need to get the vet to send it again. Anyways her lungs are very cloudy and white in the xray. The vet thought it could be trauma from her heat stroke. So I put together that she is probably having trouble breathing due to her lungs having less room due to scar tissue build up.

Well she has been able to manage it but a few weeks ago she almost died from choking. It was very odd, I set her down in front of her food and water and went to shut a door, I heard her stop eating so I immediately went back to her and found her eyes closed and her neck twisted downwards looking like she was close to death. I thought she was choking so I tried to use a recommendation from a friend where she said when her hen was choking she held the hen by her legs and swung her between her legs as to let gravity dislodge the food. I did that then held her and she calmed down. Eddie usually does get a piece of feed down the wrong hole about once every three weeks but she did not even sneeze or try to get it out, it was like she just passed out.

Whenever she drinks she shakes her head. I used to not think anything of it but I do think it is important now. Whenever she drinks, it is like she took too much so she brings her head up and shakes out some water instead of just drinking it.

Tonight I am very concerned. She has been gaping, rattling, and breathing quicker than usual. She did not have any issues earlier today and acted normal. She is sitting 20 feet from me and I can her hear breathing heavily, but her mouth is not open. She sometimes sneezes and tries to dislodge something but I know she is not choking, it is just one of her weird things where she sometimes just sneezes until some water is expelled out of her nares or mouth. I have been monitoring her and she has been doing it for the past 2 hours or so. I am concerned her heart is working overtime.

I am already planning on making a vet appt but I am unsure of how soon I can get in. I am thinking it could be the scar tissue getting worse or also her metacam. I looked into it and couldn't find much on it but I am wondering if anyone knows if meloxicam raises heart rates? I have been to three separate vets. Two prescribed 1.5 mg of Meloxicam per dose but one gave us 7.5 mg per dose. This is for her arthritis. Since her arthritis is bad I have been giving her the dose that contains more but I am thinking that is too much for her. She gets it 5 days out of the week. I will attach some articles but they do not discuss heart issues much.

I am a little overboard with my treatments but Eddie also gets ginger and hawthorn to help with heart functions along with turmeric, dandelion, lily of the desert and milk thistle. In addition to some other things. What could be causing her to have these breathing issues? Old age, scar tissue, metacam?

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25815572/

@azygous @TwoCrows @Wyorp Rock @Eggcessive @coach723

Amazing that she's made it to almost 10!!
The 7.5mg is too much and could be causing heart palpitations. Hence the shortness of breath. It's also common for elderly birds to have more labored breathing... it comes with age.

 

[Eggcessive]

What is the strength of the meloxicam that you have? There are 2 different strengths available, so dosage would vary depending on which you have. Sorry about your Eddie, but living 10 years is the longest my birds have lived. There are other threads about meloxicam dosage, but here is one I found—read post 3:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/metacam-for-hens.992486/

 

[azygous]

Very good rundown of Eddie's symptoms. I wish all posters could be this thorough. I would say she's suffering mostly from old age. I would cut back drastically on the Meloxicam as it appears she started having the breathing issues after the latest higher dose.

Do you have a vaporizer or mister? That might help ease her breathing.

Considering her age, you need to prepare yourself that this latest breathing crisis may mean Eddie is getting ready to leave this world. I know. Not a concept that we want to face. I have gotten to love Eddie as if she were my own.

 

[Eddie12109]

Thank you for your feedback.

So I will attach pictures of the bottles, hopefully you can see all the words that are important, let me know if you can’t. Sadly the 7.5 has a line through it but I know it says 7.5

I do have a nebulizer. After her heat stroke I was wondering why her breathing was so sensitive so I did a nebulizer with oxine for her. Should I start doing it again? I forgot the dosing.

Should I immediately stop metacam completely for a few days to a week or give her the lighter dose?

 

[azygous]

The lighter dose, not all together, as that can have the potential to cause a problem quitting cold turkey.

6.5 oz Oxine to one gallon water.

 

[tlcmurphy]

I’m sorry to hear about Eddie, you must take great care of her for her to have lived such a long life!
FWIW, what she has is likely fibrosis of her lungs, similar to what smokers suffer with, making breathing difficult for her, poor girl

 

[TwoCrows]

As the others have mentioned, you have done an amazing job getting your birds to 10 years old!

Old birds are definitely more prone to bacterial infections and viruses, just as old humans are. At her age this could also be Congestive Heart Failure. I had a few cases of CHF in old birds, they will gag and rattle when they become out of breath from moving too fast, getting excited, anything that raises heart rates and respirations, causing the valves to leak fluid into the lungs. Have you felt her belly recently? If fluid is building up in the abdomen from leaky heart valves, the heart and lungs are also becoming flooded with too much fliud as well. I drained a few birds with CHF, its no cure but it allows them to breathe better for a few days.

 

[Eddie12109]

@tlcmurphy i think that was the word the vet used, thank you!

I will give her the lighter dose today and bring out the nebulizer to figure out dosing.

@TwoCrows Eddie does not have any ascites. I thought she might have it forming a few months ago but I haven’t felt any liquid since.

Is it worth taking her to the vets tomorrow? I can get an appt in the morning but is there anything they can do?

 

[TwoCrows]

@tlcmurphy i think that was the word the vet used, thank you!

I will give her the lighter dose today and bring out the nebulizer to figure out dosing.

@TwoCrows Eddie does not have any ascites. I thought she might have it forming a few months ago but I haven’t felt any liquid since.

Is it worth taking her to the vets tomorrow? I can get an appt in the morning but is there anything they can do?

Taking them to a vet is always a gamble, few of them know everything there is to know about chickens, however sometimes vets get it right. If she is still struggling tomorrow, it can't hurt to take her in.