Rooster head injury now having seizures! Supplement ideas?

[Jhura]

So my two year old RIR rooster fell off his roosting shelf in his coop a couple weeks ago, from a deep sleep, and experienced some kind of head trauma (I watched the whole thing on the Ring camera). And now he is having frequent seizures, about one every 3-5 min. We took him to the vet, and X-rays revealed nothing. Doc sent us home with steroids (!) and gabapentin.

My boy is acting okay otherwise…he is eating, drinking, crowing, pooping, dust bathing, wooing the girls (but cannot mate due to seizures and lack of coordination). He is slightly more subdued, stands around a lot versus patrolling the yard as he would normally do prior to his fall. I now monitor his daily activity and keep him separated when needed, and at night he is in a large, padded safe crate with food and water.

The vet said he would research anti seizures meds, but there isn’t a lot of information out there for poultry.

I’m wondering if we can try various herbal formulations, or stands-alones, that are used for dogs and cats with seizures such as; blue vervain, passionflower, valarian, ashwaganda, bacopa, tryptophan, chamomile, skullcap, St. John’s wort, hemp oil…and of these are safe for chickens.

If anyone has experiences or thoughts on these, please let me know. Thank you!

 

[Jener8or]

How is your boy doing? I'm sorry to hear about his head trauma!

I am not familiar in treating poultry seizures, but am familiar in the human and dog world, so I hesitate to suggest any treatment for your rooster that I haven't vetted with my chickens myself.

With that disclaimer, plus please make sure it is allowed where you live, I know in the human/mammalian side of things, hemp-derived products that target the endocannabinoid system have had good results in helping reduce seizures. I doubt you will find much information on dosages and such, and there's no guarantee it will help, but I have found some studies that have examined the use of these types of products on chickens and other birds with no negative effects, so I'm not suggesting it, but it might be something I'd try.

https://intapi.sciendo.com/pdf/10.2...ies have found a,lipid metabolism [Zhou et al.

https://avmajournals.avma.org/view/journals/ajvr/84/4/ajvr.22.11.0197.xml

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30588604/

Please keep us updated with how he's doing.

 

[Jhura]

How is your boy doing? I'm sorry to hear about his head trauma!

I am not familiar in treating poultry seizures, but am familiar in the human and dog world, so I hesitate to suggest any treatment for your rooster that I haven't vetted with my chickens myself.

With that disclaimer, plus please make sure it is allowed where you live, I know in the human/mammalian side of things, hemp-derived products that target the endocannabinoid system have had good results in helping reduce seizures. I doubt you will find much information on dosages and such, and there's no guarantee it will help, but I have found some studies that have examined the use of these types of products on chickens and other birds with no negative effects, so I'm not suggesting it, but it might be something I'd try.

https://intapi.sciendo.com/pdf/10.2478/aspr-2023-0024#:~:text=Recent studies have found a,lipid metabolism [Zhou et al.

https://avmajournals.avma.org/view/journals/ajvr/84/4/ajvr.22.11.0197.xml

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30588604/

Please keep us updated with how he's doing.

Thank you for the links! I love data!!!

We actually did start the Hemp Well brand of Bird Hemp during the day. I also started him on cod liver oil,
Hypericum, a tiny amount of ashwaganda (at different times). I have my teenage boys also sit with him doing laser therapy on his upper neck/spine, and infrared light therapy (Philips heat lamps basically).

I don’t like gabapentin at all, that the doc gave us, my senior dog had major issues with it, but I give it to my too at night to ensure he can sleep well and heal.

And I want to discontinue the prednisolone 5 mg the vet gave us, because I’m scared of it based on the contraindications for it in birds, but this is uncharted territory for me and I don’t want to miss opportunities in time windows for reducing inflammation to get him better.

He is growing tired of the episodes, he seems very scared and confused. We have to keep him segregated so he doesn’t get hurt, and he hates it because he loves his girls. The whole flock knows something is wrong. It’s so sad to see the strongest guy in the yard knocked down. Hes our main dude!!! My family is just devastated. We are cancelling a Thanksgiving trip because there’s no way I’m leaving my boy with a sitter. I want to get him back to !!

 

[Jener8or]

Oh, man, your situation tears me up! I hope you can continue the advice of your vet, at least until advised to do otherwise or at the toleration of your rooster. It is very nice of you to find a vet for him and commendable of your vet to treat him.

Your family is so sweet to stay and pull through with your rooster. I'm not sure hemp seeds would provide enough medicine at therapeutic levels, but I'm sure they aren't hurting. I'm not sure you can find any extract or if it's available, but I might consider that.

I really hope any inflammation and any other contributing factors he's dealing with improves and he gets better. I'll be cheering for him.

 

[alinas2010]

I’m so sorry to hear about what your roo is going through. Poor guy. I hope he finds some relief in the suggestions.

Have you tried vitamin B complex? I’ll be honest I don’t have any experience but I’ve seen it suggested for neurological issues. I believe the recommendation was 1/2 tablet per day. Vitamin e is another one for neurological issues, I think I saw 400IU soft gel per day for dosage. I know vitamin b is pretty safe. I don’t know about interactions with any of the other supplements mentioned, though. I also don’t know if they’ll help with seizures necessarily, I just hope he gets better!

 

[Altairsky]

My doubt is, are you sure it's head trauma?
Generally, a healthy bird doesn't just fall off a roosting bar for no reason.
I would consider he might have had a stroke/ictus of some sort that made him fall off the roost, and started the seizure issue.
Strokes can't be seen from Xrays so that would explain why all looks normal.

 

[Jhura]

My doubt is, are you sure it's head trauma?
Generally, a healthy bird doesn't just fall off a roosting bar for no reason.
I would consider he might have had a stroke/ictus of some sort that made him fall off the roost, and started the seizure issue.
Strokes can't be seen from Xrays so that would explain why all looks normal.

I watched the Ring video. He was in a deep sleep and lost his balance, because they sleep on upper shelves inside a playhouse fort, about 10” wide. He was diagonal, and sometimes they hang their heads over. They been doing this for a couple years wish no issues. I have 6-7” of sand to land on, but there was also a small table down before that they use to jump up to the roosts. He may have hit his head on that.

Hes declining now. The seizures are so frequent, all day, and as I watch on his crate camera, it’s all night too). He was very quiet and didn’t do much today but stand around. I really wish there’s something more I can do!!!!!! I’m devastated

 

[Jhura]

My doubt is, are you sure it's head trauma?
Generally, a healthy bird doesn't just fall off a roosting bar for no reason.
I would consider he might have had a stroke/ictus of some sort that made him fall off the roost, and started the seizure issue.
Strokes can't be seen from Xrays so that would explain why all looks normal.

So you were right. I went back to previous Ring camera footage, and he had seizures prior to the fall I initially saw! We were diagnosed with Mareks and ALV this past Spring. We experienced the tumor type, the ocular type, and neurological type with Duccle lameness, and now my rooster seizures. Up to this point, the diseases had only affected my hens.

And I will say that the doctor just prescribed Zonisamide for the seizures, and it significantly helped! It’s only been one day so I am hopeful. He’s walking eating drinking pooping crowing… just tired and confused, from not being able to sleep with the episodes. I am continuing intensive nutrition therapy as well. Thanks again so much for your input, it was your comment that prompted me to check more camera footage

 

[Jhura]

My doubt is, are you sure it's head trauma?
Generally, a healthy bird doesn't just fall off a roosting bar for no reason.
I would consider he might have had a stroke/ictus of some sort that made him fall off the roost, and started the seizure issue.
Strokes can't be seen from Xrays so that would explain why all looks normal.

I sent you a reply

 

[alinas2010]

So you were right. I went back to previous Ring camera footage, and he had seizures prior to the fall I initially saw! We were diagnosed with Mareks and ALV this past Spring. We experienced the tumor type, the ocular type, and neurological type with Duccle lameness, and now my rooster seizures. Up to this point, the diseases had only affected my hens.

And I will say that the doctor just prescribed Zonisamide for the seizures, and it significantly helped! It’s only been one day so I am hopeful. He’s walking eating drinking pooping crowing… just tired and confused, from not being able to sleep with the episodes. I am continuing intensive nutrition therapy as well. Thanks again so much for your input, it was your comment that prompted me to check more camera footage

Aw I’m so sorry you’re going through this. Thank you for keeping us updated. I hope your sweet rooster improves and I’m glad you were able to find something to soothe his seizures a bit. Also glad someone was able to give you more answers!