Mystery Disease

[EdnaAndEdith]

I’ve had a hen who has been on and off doing poorly for about a month. Her main symptoms include decreased appetite and weight loss and diarrhea (started after a course of nystatin). She seemed to get worse after I bribed her to eat some more with a bowl of scratch seeds which she ate really well but then didn’t digest. She got a blockage and then sour crop. After the vet gave rx for that which had an oil base it seemed to have a laxative effect and she cleared up was pooping well with some diarrhea towards the end of her treatment. And passed a BIG pile of seeds. I put her back outside and she did well at first but then kept dropping weight and pretending to eat but not actually eating. She’s had diarrhea since. We’ve dewormed, done trimeth sulfa antibiotic (works on coccidia too) and probiotics, electrolytes. The vet said today he thinks it’s something more serious like possibly a diffuse lymphoma but that we don’t have any evidence to support that it’s just we don’t know what it is. She is still pooping out small numbers of the scratch seeds I gave her over two weeks ago. Something is wrong with her GI system. Her feathers and skin look good.

Any ideas on what else it could be or what else to try would be appreciated. The vet is ordering a medication for her that helps her intestines continue to “move” but that seemed kind of like a long shot. He said we could do exploratory surgery on her but that it was risky and she may not make it.

I have the means to do what she needs done medically and it’s not that money is no object it’s just about making the right decision for her.

Ugh. Just don’t want to give up on her yet. We’ve lost three pets in the last year and I just don’t want to face another loss. Our chickens are like our dogs and cats. We love them.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Am I missing something?

 

[Eggcessive]

Do you provide granite grit for her to help digest seeds and other foods? She may possibly have a reproductive condition such as internal laying, cancer, egg yolk peritonitis, or ascites. Those are all very common in laying hens and may cause the digestive tract to not function well which may lead to the crop not emptying normally. It helps to do a necropsy later after the hen dies just to know what was happening to her. Many people post their necropsy photos here for comments. Sorry about your hen.

 

[EdnaAndEdith]

Do you provide granite grit for her to help digest seeds and other foods? She may possibly have a reproductive condition such as internal laying, cancer, egg yolk peritonitis, or ascites. Those are all very common in laying hens and may cause the digestive tract to not function well which may lead to the crop not emptying normally. It helps to do a necropsy later after the hen dies just to know what was happening to her. Many people post their necropsy photos here for comments. Sorry about your hen.

Yes, all of them have crushed granite and oyster shell, plus whatever grit they find in the yard all day. It’s not egg binding, EYP, ascites or other “normal” problem because her abdomen is clear and her bloodwork showed no major abnormalities. Her white count seemed normal so not likely infectious. Thanks for the sympathy. Hopefully someone here has an idea I hadn’t thought of.

Also, dewormed her with ivomec (from vet a long time ago) and wondered if maybe I should use a different/better dewormer?

 

[EdnaAndEdith]

I just had a thought... I wonder if it could be something metal she ate that is poisoning her. I’ve heard about that in ducks and I’m sure that could happen to a chicken too. I’m going to take her back to vet in the morning and ask for x ray to be done right away. It’s a long shot but wheat do I have to lose? I’ll update the post after we find out.

 

[EdnaAndEdith]

Here are the radiographs. The vet is kind of up in the air. Obviously something large is displacing all of her abdominal organs. But he still wasn’t able to feel anything extraordinary in her abdomen by hand. Meaning this is either fluid filled (like a cyst) or very soft diffuse tissue tumor. He tried to ultrasound which apparently doesn’t work the best in feathered animals unless you pluck them (he did not) and he tapped some fluid out of this “balloon”. He said it was hard to see but looked as if it were a large fluid filled structure. Basically our options are humane euthanasia or exploratory surgery to get a better idea of what this thing is coming from and if it’s fixable.

So, I guess now comes the hard part of deciding what’s in her best interest. Breaks my heart because I love her so and she still fights. She was so happy to get home she started half running around the yard. But can’t let her keep wasting away either.

 

[EdnaAndEdith]

Update: we proceeded with exploratory surgery. I’m so glad we did. Turns out that her proventriculus (I guess it’s kind of like the “pre-stomach” of a chicken) was obstructed and the stuff was fermenting and awful inside her. The vet pulled tons of grass and debris from inside her (wish I’d taken a pic because it was startling). She woke up from surgery and recovered very slowly but by late afternoon was standing and drinking some water. She’s home now and I’ve given her all her medications except her last bedtime pain med... what a long day. We aren’t out of the woods but I imagine if she can rally over the next few days hopefully she will be okay. The vet sent a sample of the tissue in her to the lab so we will see what that biopsy comes back as. For now... I’m going to breath a temporary sigh of relief and enjoy the Chinese take out I splurged on so I wouldn’t have to fix dinner.