***Roo X-ray PICS!*** Would lymphiod leukosis tumors/growths show upon x-ray?

[MA Mama]

I'll try to make this quick...
Lethargic rooster, emaciated, not interested in food, mostly sits, comb and face very very pale. He has been wormed (including lice treatment) and had an antibiotic. No improvement. Crop doesn't totally empty, but isn't hard, and what does empty does so slowly, no bad breath, no respiratory symptoms. Lost a hen a few weeks ago with similar symptoms - squishy crop that was neither impacted or sour. Vet (questionable chicken experience) did an x-ray to look for impaction, found none, but did see some small rocks in the crop. Instructed to syringe feed with parrot hand feeding material to get him hydrated, see him in a week. Have been syringe feeding, crop goes down VERY slowly, not completly. He even is throwing up a little bit when I pick him up.

SO... with more research I am thinking Lymphoid Luekosis. Don't know too much about it, but it sounds spot-on for both my affected chickens. They are young, too, so the age is right for LL. But the roo did have 2 x-rays... would LL growths show up in his x-ray? The x-ray was normal, no growths, showed normal grit in gizzard. I have them here... I believe you can click for more detail. The date of birth on the xray is incorrect, he was born in Feb of this year.





Thoughts? Comments? Your view of the x-rays?

 

[Leslieb118]

I don't know that the tumors would show up on x-ray since it is soft tissue. You problems with your roo sound quite a bit like the problems that I had with mine. Unfortunately I lost him. I had a necropsy preformed and the diagnosis came back as probable Mareks or LL. My roo was 10 months old. If your roo is young, I'd suspect Marek's over LL. I'll link you to my thread, if you're interested. He had so many things going on, but in the beginning I thought it was something treatable. I treated him for everything under the sun. I really hope you're not dealing with Mareks, but it sounds possible. Sorry.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/672873/peewee-is-sick-update-final-necropsy-results-page-6

 

[MA Mama]

Thanks for that. Our roos seemed identical except for the eye thing. Does this mean I will forever be plagued with this? Like my chickens are just going to drop one by one of this slow death?

 

[Leslieb118]

His eye problem was secondary to the Marek's. He was wasting away no matter what, and he was susceptible to other issues because of that. I believe that in the necropsy they said the eye problem was either e.coli or staph. I'd have to go back and look. That itself would've probably been treatable had I known for sure what it was and what to do. But there was nothing I could do for the Mareks.
If your rooster doesn't make it, I'd highly recommend having a necropsy done on him. It will answer a lot of questions. I have no other experience with Mareks at all, that's why I pointed you toward my thread. I got a lot of good info out of it. So far, the rest of my flock is doing well. I had 7 out of 7 pullets start laying all in the first week of July at approx. 17 weeks old. My existing flock is also doing well, and they grew up with the roo I lost. I don't know what to expect at all. I know what I've been told, and I know there's a chance I'm going to have a problem. I just enjoy them as much as I can, and hope for the best for them, every day.
Good luck with your roo. I wish I had the answers to your questions, but I'm learning all of this myself.

 

[MA Mama]

Hug accepted, this is rough! I hate the unknown. I do think the roo is going to die, it's just the waiting it out that is tough. He is a very special dude - survived a rough chick-hood and then a terrible dog attack. He overcame an unbelievable leg injury. I will NOT cull him like I might others, it would be like culling a sick family member! I will make him comfortable, I guess. My poor Broccoli

 

[MA Mama]

My roo is still hanging on, just by a thread. He never moves and he just sits or stands. His comb and face are nearly yellow. I have added pancake syrup to his handfeeding mix in his syringe in the hopes of getting a easily absorbed sugar into him. Unfortunately I think I gave him too much by the syringe. I am not kiddiing, and I say this with embarassment, the mix came out his eyeballs. I know I was in the right tube, though, because his crop did enlarge as I did it. So that makes me think I probably compromised his respiratory system. I am grasping at straws here. I am prolonging in life in the vague hope that it is not Marecks or LL. The vet's advice was to hydrate and hand feed for a week and see where we get, he though maybe there was a minor obstruction that could be passes through with hydration. He dind't mention LL or Marecks, but he was an exotic pet vet, not a poultry vet. That's where I am, and I hope someone has something to offer me. This is so hard to watch. I can't cull this one, too emotionally attached.

 

[MA Mama]

I just walked out to check on him and he has died. So sad, I will miss that bird a lot. I will miss his akward little "I'm a tough guy" run at me every morning!

 

[Leslieb118]

I wish there were something I could tell you. It's hard when you try everything you can think of and they continue to deteriorate despite your best efforts and intentions. I've been there. It's heartbreaking.

As far as the eyeball incident, I've not done that, but I do have a rooster that gave me cause for concern a couple of times. He'd drink so much water at once sometimes that he'd get bubbles in his eyeballs. The first time I noticed the bubbles, I thought something was wrong and that he was sick. But they went away pretty quickly. Then it happened again, right after he drank from the waterer. I finally put 2 and 2 together and realized it was from drinking the water. Chickens do have an opening in the roof of their mouth. I learned that from the packaging instructions from a bottle of VetRx, lol. I think those instructions were for the treatment for eyeworm, where it described applying a Qtip with the VetRx into that opening in the roof of the mouth to get the VetRx into the eye. (don't know if that works, by the way).

I really hope that you're able to send your roo to get a necropsy if he doesn't make it. It will really help answer a lot of questions. It's well worth the effort to do so in my opinion. I'm so sorry.

 

[Leslieb118]

I just walked out to check on him and he has died. So sad, I will miss that bird a lot. I will miss his akward little "I'm a tough guy" run at me every morning!

Wow, I was typing that whole reply and it happened that quick. I'm so sorry he's gone. I honestly didn't think he'd make it much longer, but I didn't expect it would be so sudden. I'm very sorry.

 

[Suzierd]

Very sorry about your Roo.