Necrotic enteritis or coccidia? Vets could not diagnose and not seeing improvement with current trea

[txhall3]

Unfortunately she is worse today. Did not perch the last 2 days and this morning doesn't even want to stand. Drinking but nothing else. Stool is very bloody with white but almost no brown material. This morning I only gave her 15 cc of a 4:1 ratio because starting yesterday afternoon her crop was slow to clear. Going to see how she is about 1:00 and if she is showing no signs of feeling better I will take her to be euthanized. She is suffering and seems like nothing is working. There was a mass in her abdomen on the xray and we were hoping it was an egg forming but maybe it is something bad. Thank you so much @casportpony and @Free Spirit for the wonderful advice and encouragement. I appreciate it more than words can say.

 

[Free Spirit]

I am so very sorry to hear this. This is obviously a very difficult decision to have to make. While it is heartbreaking to have to put her to rest at least she will not be suffering any longer and is the right thing to do when illnesses reach this point. You did do everything possible to give her a fighting chance and you should feel comforted knowing that.

I'm crying with you.

. I was so hoping for a miracle.

-Free Spirit

 

[casportpony]

I'm so sorry!

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

So I didn't see that your picture yesterday... That chunk of stuff look like it could be infection from her intestines of repro tract. I'm on the iPad, so it's hard for me to say for sure, so if you looked real close at it and think it's a green bean, then it sure could be.

-Kathy

 

[txhall3]

Kathy ( @casportpony ) and @Free Spirit there have been some developments. Lilah was doing so poorly this morning that I was convinced that when I came home at 1 there would be no change and it was time for euthanasia. I opened the door and she was sitting on her perch for the first time in 2 days and was very alert. I decided to let her stand outside the garage in the grass while I cleaned her cage and ended up walking around with her quite a bit while she explored and managed to catch 3 bugs and eat some dirt. Definitely weak but a decided improvement. This just confused me because her bloody diarrhea is not any better and now has a much stronger odor. I decided to ask the vet to repeat an xray to see if we could get any new information. I don't want to stop supportive care if this is something she can recover from but don't want to prolong her suffering if it is not treatable. The xrays were fairly confusing. Interesting finding is that she has got rocks and/or oyster shell all through her digestive tract instead of just in the 2 places they are supposed to be. Anatomy definitely looks a little off but not sure if it is due to intestinal swelling or if there is a mass that is causing pressure on intestines. She ate a ton of oyster shell and grit on Tuesday and has eaten bits of them through out the week but I thought oyster shell would have dissolved by now. So questions raised by xray:
1. Are those rocks or oyster shell in the intestines?
2. If oyster shell why isn't it being absorbed? Are intestines too distressed to effectively absorb them?
3. Is there a mass pressing on intestines causing her system to back up? That may explain why her crop was emptying more slowly once I thickened the food.
4. Will she pass these rocks on her own? We could not tell by the xray if they were at the cloacal area or trapped in an intestinal loop close to there. Are these tearing up her intestines and causing the problem?
5. Is she obsessively eating rocks all the time or is this just from this week?
6. Does she have necrotizing enteritis or ulcerative enteritis?. Her stools definitely smell like their may be some intestinal sloughing happening.
SO many questions but what we decided is to give her an additional 48 hours. We added doxycycline in addition to the Tylan so really stomp the necrotizing enteritis if she has it. Will continue with supportive care but maybe feed her only 10mls at a time and add a feeding. I took 2 doses of buprinex for pain home. I don't want to give it now because it may make her "drunk" and I can't evaluate her behavior. I have experience with this med in cats but not chickens. Have either of y'all given it? I got it in case she started to rapidly go downhill I could keep her comfortable until we got to vet's. Part of me wants to give her a dose last thing tonight so maybe she can get a good night's sleep. Not sure.
So now we wait. This is such a roller coaster!

 

[casportpony]

I just read that birds in GI distress will often eat too much grit, so maybe that's part of her problem. Is she still getting ACV? I ask because I read something about the acidity in tomatoes causing bleeding ulcers in a parrot, so ask your vet about the the possibility of ACV doing the same or aggravating the problem. I try to keep it simple and feed just Kaytee, eggs, plain rice or plain pasta. No grains, fruits or veggies until I see normal-ish poop.

Not familiar with buprinex.

-Kathy

 

[txhall3]

No ACV. I gave her a dose of it on Tues. because the original vet told me it would help slow the gut down but everything I read said the opposite and in humans /mammals acidity worsens diarrhea. I'm going to try rice again tonight I haven't tried pasta. Maybe she would eat that .

 

[Free Spirit]

 

[casportpony]

http://www.extension.org/pages/68120/necrotic-and-ulcerative-enteritis-in-poultry#.VkE_Lmt5mSM

-Kathy

 

[txhall3]

Me too @Free Spirit ! After seeing all that on xrays I don't know what to think but at least she is better tonight as far as how she seems to be feeling. By the way I don't think I've posted this but my name is Heather. Free Spirit to you go by your first name? Anyway thank you ladies, I guess we will see how tomorrow goes. If she starts passing the rocks at least we will know her tract is clear but I can't imagine it would be comfortable in the state she is in.