Rooster balance problems - how big is the chance of Marek's?

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5GodsDown said:
But he should have it at disposal, no? Since he can't forage anymore... the chicks don't take it, they find enough through the garden
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He is getting 1% calcium in his chicken feed, I assume. That is what nonlaying birds need. It is good that the vet is hopeful that it is not Mareks, but I am afraid that it may well be Mareks. It is everywhere in the world, and the neural form is usually the first type seen.

Chicks from hatcheries are not vaccinated unless the customers ask and pay extra for it. Some people do not want to or know to vaccinate. I have both vaccinated and unvaccinated birds together, and none have ever been diagnosed with it.
 
So as I said I will probably put an end to it if there is no visible improvement when my girlfriend comes back for the weekend, because I'll need some emotional support. I decided to pick up the prescribed muscle medication at the vet. When I'm keeping him alive until the weekend I might as well still give it a shot. It's called L-Carnitine, but is specifically says "made in Belgium" so I'll give the components here: crude protein <0.5%, crude fat <0.7%, crude fibre <0.2%, crude ash <10%, Methionine <0.03%, Lysine <0.02%, sodium 0.001%, magnesium 2,2%, moisture content 65%

It sounds more like another vitamin boost, but it can't hurt to try. IF it works, we should see improvement by the weekend. I keep massaging his toes, it seems now that not ALL of them are paralysed. He can kinda sit on his heels but still no sign of standing up.
 
Well... he pushed himself up with his right leg yesterday evening and this morning he was even standing on it briefly. I guess Black Phillip wants to pull a miracle on Black Friday? I'm still somehow in denial he is getting better, but this did convince me to give him more time.

I'm also a member of a very nice Belgian/Dutch chicken community on Facebook and I was contacted by one of the admins yesterday. She advised me to go back to the poultry clinic and have a stool test done in the lab, not just looked at. I don't exactly know how to explain this in English, but in any case the goal is to find enterococcosis or a mycoplasma infection. She's had 4 similar cases in the last 8 years of which 2 made a full recovery, one is recovering now and one died of heart failure. According to her the typical recovery time was 6-8 weeks. This wouldn't necessarily give me any hope if he hadn't stood up. Now I think I might try this approach. It doesn't hurt to try to get some other testing done and him standing up on one leg counts as a very visible improvement, so he's absolutely getting more time!
 
5GodsDown said:
Well... he pushed himself up with his right leg yesterday evening and this morning he was even standing on it briefly. I guess Black Phillip wants to pull a miracle on Black Friday? I'm still somehow in denial he is getting better, but this did convince me to give him more time.

I'm also a member of a very nice Belgian/Dutch chicken community on Facebook and I was contacted by one of the admins yesterday. She advised me to go back to the poultry clinic and have a stool test done in the lab, not just looked at. I don't exactly know how to explain this in English, but in any case the goal is to find enterococcosis or a mycoplasma infection. She's had 4 similar cases in the last 8 years of which 2 made a full recovery, one is recovering now and one died of heart failure. According to her the typical recovery time was 6-8 weeks. This wouldn't necessarily give me any hope if he hadn't stood up. Now I think I might try this approach. It doesn't hurt to try to get some other testing done and him standing up on one leg counts as a very visible improvement, so he's absolutely getting more time!
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A small step of progress - hopefully he will make more. Sometimes these things take time and you sort of feel that hope is fading, but then they surprise you and recover!
Fingers crossed for your boy :)
 
20191129_124836.jpg

I will now refer to this as the Black Friday Miracle :)
Phil was obviously trying to teach Archie a lesson about snatching the leftover yoghurt from the chickens, but it was still a bit too much for him. As I see it now he looks the same as right before he lost his ability to walk. He can take one or two steps but his left leg is still a bit clumsy. Nevertheless when he stands he looks pretty firm, though a bit exhausted. I put him back near his food and water after a while to not fully wear him out. I hope he can make a full recovery or at least up until the point he can comfortably move again.
 

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