Quail cannot walk after shots?

[GhostKeeper]

Hello! My dear buddy Echo had a severe double eye infection and was put on antibiotics. The dose was injectables 4-6 times a day for a week in the pectoral muscle. He seemed to grow more and more sore with the injections, but his eyes and behavior did grow better...

BUT.

Now he can only hobble around on his legs flat, and even then he's very off balance. The illness did have him lose lots of muscle, but he's on the mend and more or less acting normal. I put him on vitamins and have been giving him a high protein feed along with seeds and quinoa, and a special meal with all his amino acids. He has a heat lamp too. I just want to know what this possibly could be, and more, if he can recover from it. Other than this, he's acting like his usual self again. He WANTS to walk, he eats, he drinks, but he just can't seem to stand up.

 

[Nabiki]

How long has he been unable to walk? Have you spoken with your vet about it? If it's just soreness, he will probably recover quickly.

A couple other questions that might be relevant:
How old is he?
What is his set up like?
What are you feeding him?

 

[GhostKeeper]

How long has he been unable to walk? Have you spoken with your vet about it? If it's just soreness, he will probably recover quickly.

A couple other questions that might be relevant:
How old is he?
What is his set up like?
What are you feeding him?

About two weeks now. I have spoken with the vet, but they're more of a generalist than a specialist. Unfortunately, that's the only vet in the area..

I do not think it is just soreness, because it's been so long. I came here because nobody can give me answers.

Echo is 1y 2m old. He is on pine bedding, fine shavings, about 2 inches thick. (He likes to make nests, and has continued to do that.) I am feeding him 30% protein starter with supplemental vitamins, calcium, thistle seed, and quinoa mixed in.

One other thing? He is still in isolation. His mate has a bad eye, so while she doesn't mean to, she steps on him a lot. When he was stronger, he could just move out of her way, but now I think she may trample him on accident.

 

[Nabiki]

Is there any swelling on his feet or toes? At his age, he shouldn't be getting 30% protein any more. He might have gout. Stop with the vitamins, calcium and treats. Males don't need the extra calcium, and treats such as seeds, quinoa, etc, should not be more than 10% of his diet.

Two weeks is a long time for a quail, and doesn't sound good. You need to decide if you want to keep nursing him or cull.

In the meantime, see if you can find a good game bird crumble. That will probably be around 20-22% protein and have all of the nutrition he needs.

 

[GhostKeeper]

Is there any swelling on his feet or toes? At his age, he shouldn't be getting 30% protein any more. He might have gout. Stop with the vitamins, calcium and treats. Males don't need the extra calcium, and treats such as seeds, quinoa, etc, should not be more than 10% of his diet.

Two weeks is a long time for a quail, and doesn't sound good. You need to decide if you want to keep nursing him or cull.

In the meantime, see if you can find a good game bird crumble. That will probably be around 20-22% protein and have all of the nutrition he needs.

When he gives up and stops acting like himself, I will cull him. But he doesn't seem to have pain. His feet are normal, a little swelling around one toe that has been there since he was 8 weeks (Caught his claw and pulled it.) Unfortunately there's no game bird crumble, only the starters around me. I do mix it in with the other items and supply a variety of things like black soldier fly larvae and greens. he's not been crazy about his greens ever..

I'm skeptical about less protein and stopping the vitamins because he wasn't doing so great before the vitamins. He wasn't even hobbling around. Do you think maybe its the bedding?

 

[Nabiki]

I don't think it's the bedding. I keep my young birds on pine shavings before they go outside.

 

[Weeg]

I have no experience with quail, but do have to agree with @Nabiki that the protein seems high. Despite your best efforts, I think the treats like quinoa is unnecessary. Maybe if you can't find a game bird feed, than mixing the 20% protein with a lower protein feed would be more beneficial?
If the vitamins seemed to help him improve, than keep him on that, but I would personally remove the quinoa, thistle seed, and calcium. Males don't need calcium since they don't lay eggs. Maybe you want to try adding in more nutritious "treats" instead of quinoa? Quinoa is very good for people, but its a lot of filler for birds. Maybe try micro greens, or immune boosting herbs? All of this should still be fed as if it were a treat. Thats 10% of the diet. For chickens its about 1 Tbsp per day, but I'm not sure what the amount is for quail.
He could probably benefit from probiotics as well. Antibiotics kill the good bacteria in the gut. Since the gut is the biggest part of the immune system, it severely impacts his ability to fight infection naturally.
Again, not experienced with quail, I have never owned them and only know as much as I've picked up from BYC. If any of the above information is wrong, please correct me.
I hope this post can be helpful to you.

 

[GhostKeeper]

I have no experience with quail, but do have to agree with @Nabiki that the protein seems high. Despite your best efforts, I think the treats like quinoa is unnecessary. Maybe if you can't find a game bird feed, than mixing the 20% protein with a lower protein feed would be more beneficial?
If the vitamins seemed to help him improve, than keep him on that, but I would personally remove the quinoa, thistle seed, and calcium. Males don't need calcium since they don't lay eggs. Maybe you want to try adding in more nutritious "treats" instead of quinoa? Quinoa is very good for people, but its a lot of filler for birds. Maybe try micro greens, or immune boosting herbs? All of this should still be fed as if it were a treat. Thats 10% of the diet. For chickens its about 1 Tbsp per day, but I'm not sure what the amount is for quail.
He could probably benefit from probiotics as well. Antibiotics kill the good bacteria in the gut. Since the gut is the biggest part of the immune system, it severely impacts his ability to fight infection naturally.
Again, not experienced with quail, I have never owned them and only know as much as I've picked up from BYC. If any of the above information is wrong, please correct me.
I hope this post can be helpful to you.

Yes i've considered that. I'll try cutting the feed with it.

Upon greater inspection of his body, I noticed his 'fluffy pants' around his legs are very loose. I have determined that the muscle loss was in his legs, which now is something I can help him with.

He actually loves being held, so a little therapy.

I borrowed some feed from the neighbor, he just opened so i'll mix him up a special batch. I have handled the gut bacteria, that was the first thing I did when he came off the treatment, haha. Thank you for the input!

 

[GhostKeeper]

I don't think it's the bedding. I keep my young birds on pine shavings before they go outside.

Alright. I did as you recommended and cut the feed to lower the protein content. The crumble is the same color and size, so he won't favor one.

As said in the other reply, I just realized how much feather is on his thigh. I compared it to his brother of the same age and size, and he's lost a lot of thigh muscle. I can devote the time for a little therapy, and I will be discussing that with the vet.

Thank you so much for your time!!

 

[007Sean]

Is there any swelling on his feet or toes? At his age, he shouldn't be getting 30% protein any more. He might have gout. Stop with the vitamins, calcium and treats. Males don't need the extra calcium, and treats such as seeds, quinoa, etc, should not be more than 10% of his diet.

Two weeks is a long time for a quail, and doesn't sound good. You need to decide if you want to keep nursing him or cull.

In the meantime, see if you can find a good game bird crumble. That will probably be around 20-22% protein and have all of the nutrition he needs.

Ditto!