Sick emu youngster?

[Tuppemor]

Nugget is the smallest of three. He has always been behind the others in size and feather change and he would shake much more easily than them, but seemed fine, we assumed he hatched later. We know there is at least a few weeks in age difference.
Now he seems to be feeling bad, today I found him just sitting on the ground while the other two were out foraging, and he didn't want to get up. Usually I can herd them by just walking with my arms out, but I had to physically lead him in.
So he can walk just fine, but he doesn't want to. I put them all in the barn where they sleep at night, to keep them together and inside. He ate and drank when they got inside, then he sat down again. This was six hours ago and he hasn't changed.

Additionally, I found some blobs of green poop in their sleeping quarters. Looks a bit slimy, and dark green.

I can't find anything wrong with him other than green poop (assuming he's the one who dropped those) and the fact that he seems so sleepy. The shaking has subsided gradually. The other two are fit and healthy.

Oh, he's about 3,5 months old now. And no, I don't know for sure that he is a he.

Any thoughts?

 

[Tuppemor]

Nugget was back to his regular self the following morning, but as expected he passed away eventually.

He was never quite right and was not growing at the same rate as the others. He always seemed tired and a bit weak.


Rest in peace, Nugget.

 

[chickenzoo]

So sorry you lost him. It is very difficult to know what happens to emu when sick, as it doesn't happen often. normally by the time they show something they are very very bad.

 

[Tuppemor]

Thanks.

He passed away last night, so he made it a lot longer than I thought. I kept hoping he'd catch up, but he never did.
There was just something off about him, ever since he came here as a little chick.

I always thought he was worse than "just a runt", but there was nothing obviously wrong with him. He ate, drank, foraged and ran with the others. There was no point in calling the vet and saying "My emu seems tired, can you fix him?" when they scratch their heads faced with llamas or even chickens.. This is cow, sheep, cat and dog country. I don't think there was anything to be done anyway, he wasn't destined to grow up.

He will be missed.

 

[chickenzoo]

Yes, it is very very hard to find someone that knows anything about emu, and doesn't charge a $$$$$ in the process. I am lucky here, that I am near a nice vet that has delt with them and converses with our local University on them and is reasonable on his prices. Even then it is a challenge to diagnose. With Emu, X rays can be helpful as they tend to swallow many things that can cause problems in their internal funtions , such as nails, screws, bits of metal, plastic, god knows what etc... They can also get parasites such as worms and possible coccidia and such, so fecals can be helpful. After that it's hit or miss..
Sounds like he possibly was born with an abnormality that worsened as he grew. You get so attached to the buggers, it's hard. When i lost my Jazzy a few months ago if felt like that part of my life was over, such a big hole left in my heart I couldn't even talk about him........ you have my deepest sympathy.

 

[Tuppemor]

Thank you.

Luckily we still have Maia and Donk, who are both full of life and looking very healthy. That helps.