Need Help - Sick Peacock

[KsKingBee]

Trust your gut. If you think he's not feeling well he's probably not.

Have you ever seen a sick peacock display? The fecal was clear so no worms, if Blackhead he would have succumbed to it by now since she said three weeks. I guess some slow-moving problem like cancer or some internal damage if we are grasping at straws, nothing that can be treated. Maybe even ate something sharp? I think most likely it is seasonal hormonal changes.

 

[casportpony]

I have seen mildly sick ones display.

Regarding the negative fecal:

"Prophylactic Deworming

I have been saying this for years (because I have been seeing this for years!) and here it is: Many young and adult birds can be harboring ascarids (especially if they were parent-raised for any length of time) and you can run fecals all day, and guess what? The fecals will almost always be negative. A paper out of the Univ. of Georgia a few years back confirmed this. Many a time I have been a hero when I have dewormed a bird during a second or third opinion, when it passes a pile of ascarids and shocks the owner after being repeatedly told by other vets that "the fecal was negative." Well, deworm it anyway, with something safe. I routinely use pyrantel pamoate, since you can't hurt a bird with it, unless you aspirate it!"
Source:
http://www.exoticpetvet.net/avian/challenges.html

 

[KsKingBee]

Y

I have seen mildly sick ones display.

Regarding the negative fecal:

"Prophylactic Deworming

I have been saying this for years (because I have been seeing this for years!) and here it is: Many young and adult birds can be harboring ascarids (especially if they were parent-raised for any length of time) and you can run fecals all day, and guess what? The fecals will almost always be negative. A paper out of the Univ. of Georgia a few years back confirmed this. Many a time I have been a hero when I have dewormed a bird during a second or third opinion, when it passes a pile of ascarids and shocks the owner after being repeatedly told by other vets that "the fecal was negative." Well, deworm it anyway, with something safe. I routinely use pyrantel pamoate, since you can't hurt a bird with it, unless you aspirate it!"
Source:
http://www.exoticpetvet.net/avian/challenges.html

Yes, mildly sick not overtly sick. Concerning fecals; I believe that there are a lot of inept techs and vets out there who do not always perform the exam correctly, (it is easy to do), and that is where the false negatives come from. I have been doing my own fecals long enough to know how that happens and I also have 100% confidence in my results. It certainly won't hurt to go ahead and deworm again.

 

[Kedreeva]

Did you (or the vet) check his eyes/visual processing? The description of the up/down motion of the head and the holding their head straight out when walking reminds me of how my blind-in-one-eye chicken moves, or how Stan (who has neurological visual processing issues) moves.

 

[casportpony]

@FarmLady23 , how is your peacock doing?

 

[FarmLady23]

Thanks for asking.
The vet contacted Purdue and because of the length of time that has gone by and the fact that his hen isn't showing any signs, then it is probably not contagious or infectious and that it maybe an injury. Peacock has been going outside and putting his tail up. He still isn't calling out like he use to or following me around and being his usual pest, but at least he is coming outside now.
I still want to post a video, just need to figure out how to do it.

 

[Kedreeva]

@FarmLady23 you can upload to another site and link us to the video

 

[FarmLady23]

I have seen mildly sick ones display.

Regarding the negative fecal:

"Prophylactic Deworming

I have been saying this for years (because I have been seeing this for years!) and here it is: Many young and adult birds can be harboring ascarids (especially if they were parent-raised for any length of time) and you can run fecals all day, and guess what? The fecals will almost always be negative. A paper out of the Univ. of Georgia a few years back confirmed this. Many a time I have been a hero when I have dewormed a bird during a second or third opinion, when it passes a pile of ascarids and shocks the owner after being repeatedly told by other vets that "the fecal was negative." Well, deworm it anyway, with something safe. I routinely use pyrantel pamoate, since you can't hurt a bird with it, unless you aspirate it!"
Source:
http://www.exoticpetvet.net/avian/challenges.html

Thank you for the link. Looks very interesting. I will have to read through it later. Do you know the dose for Pyrantel pamoate? What do you use to worm your peacocks?

 

[FarmLady23]

Did you (or the vet) check his eyes/visual processing? The description of the up/down motion of the head and the holding their head straight out when walking reminds me of how my blind-in-one-eye chicken moves, or how Stan (who has neurological visual processing issues) moves.

No, I have not had Peacock's eyes checked. I will mention it to the vet and have them check his eyes. His eyes are clear and appear normal. He only does the head thing when he is sitting on his perch and not while he is walking. He can take small pieces of feed from my hand and today he actually flew up to the roof of our farm house and came down with no problem. Which is more activity than he has done for 4 weeks.

 

[FarmLady23]

@FarmLady23 you can upload to another site and link us to the video

I will see what I can do about uploading my video.