- Jun 23, 2013
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I had an older coturnix quail hen, almost 4 years old suffering from weight loss. She seemed to be head shaking and regurgitating a lot, but her crop felt fine. I suspected a blocked gizzard because I could feel her gizzard through her abdomen, it was very swollen and hard. A lot of massage, olive oil, coconut cream, guardian angel, gefilus, yogurt, and coddling went on for 3 days becore she finally succumbed and slipped away despite my best effort.
I did a necropsy to find out what she had gotten into, and to my surprise there was no blockage or foreign substance.
Her gizzard was hard, fibrous, and very difficult to cut through like 6 or 7 layers of denim fabric. Inside was a lime/pistachio color and a foul smell. It was nearly empty, except for the coconut cream and yogurt mixture I had been feeding and a few small gastroliths.
The usual ridges present inside the gizzard were very thick and pronounced, like flaps instead of ridges, and they too were very hard and fibrous. There was evidence of a bacterial infection in her upper small intestine near the gizzard. Otherwise, everything was healthy and clean inside, even her heart was still soft and healthy for such an old hen.
None of my other birds seem to havd been affected, and I found absolutely nothing while hunting for an explanatiin in google. What do you think? Cancer? Something obvious I'm missing?
I did a necropsy to find out what she had gotten into, and to my surprise there was no blockage or foreign substance.
Her gizzard was hard, fibrous, and very difficult to cut through like 6 or 7 layers of denim fabric. Inside was a lime/pistachio color and a foul smell. It was nearly empty, except for the coconut cream and yogurt mixture I had been feeding and a few small gastroliths.
The usual ridges present inside the gizzard were very thick and pronounced, like flaps instead of ridges, and they too were very hard and fibrous. There was evidence of a bacterial infection in her upper small intestine near the gizzard. Otherwise, everything was healthy and clean inside, even her heart was still soft and healthy for such an old hen.
None of my other birds seem to havd been affected, and I found absolutely nothing while hunting for an explanatiin in google. What do you think? Cancer? Something obvious I'm missing?
