Rooster head injury now having seizures! Supplement ideas?

[rosalie53]

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!

I have had success with gabapentin on my rooster who has neurological damage. His foot jerks every few seconds at night timeI have had success with gabapentin on my rooster who has neurological damage. His foot jerks every few seconds at night time. The gabapentin has stopped this.

 

[Spoiledchooks]

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.

my boy gets cannabis daily for his wobbles!! Started at 10 weeks old.. he turned 2 April 18th
If he doesn’t get his dose he’s got the shakes like Parkinson’s. Once dosed he does really well.

 

[Jener8or]

my boy gets cannabis daily for his wobbles!! Started at 10 weeks old.. he turned 2 April 18th
If he doesn’t get his dose he’s got the shakes like Parkinson’s. Once dosed he does really well.

Wow, I'm glad you found something that helps him! Thanks for sharing, I wish him the best!