silkie roo with Swollen Eye

[eureka]

So most of my flock of 7 got a respiratory infection last month. Symptoms were swollen bubbly eyes and snotty noses. We took the two that were the worst to the avian vet and got antibiotics, Tylan, and an antibiotic eye ointment. All of the birds responded immediately to the medicine and were better The vet said that the bacteria was most likely mycoplasma. One chicken however, a young silkie roo going thru a growth spurt has not recoverd.

He seems to be feeling okay but one eye is swollen to 3 times normal size and has been for a month. We have tried several things with no response and really need some new ideas. Here's what we've tried so far: First he had a full course of both the oral and eye antibiotic. Then when that didn't work we did an oral childrens tincture of echinacea and eyebright and goldenseal oil topically on the swelling. When that didn't work we decided to try the Tylan again and starting putting Oregon Grape Salve on his eye. He seemed to improve a bit and then stopped improving. We'd really like to poultice his eye but don't really know the best way to do that. We are also considering doing an usnia treatment (a antibacterial fungus used to treat antibiotic resistant things like staph). What we don't know if it would still be bacterial at this point or just the swelling. And if it can go septic? We don't think there is any fluid under the swelling that needs to be lanced.

Any ideas? thanks!

 

[dlhunicorn]

the swelling is actually gunk ...a "cheesy" sort of material (abscess) which will need to be manually removed (this is not reabsorbed in birds as it is in mammals)...your vet will know how best to do this.

 

[chickenzoo]

When my chickens had the bubbly eye thing and respitory stuff my vet gave me Baytril to give them aswell as the tylan and eye drops. Don't know if you already used baytril but it helped mine. As for a wash we have always used Epsom salt and warm water as a poltice etc. Always worked wonders on our animals from snake bite wounds to infected areas, Mom always used it on us growing up, and we're still kicking - Ha,Ha

 

[chickenzoo]

've had to remove the cheesy gunk too, no fun. I used q-tips and eye drops and gentaly massaged the eyelids, rocking the gunk back and forth. I also used tweezers to remove some that massaged it's way out. I once pulled one out of an eye as bigg as a dime - poor bird, but she was very happy afterward. Followed up with eye ointment.

 

[therealsilkiechick]

i'd say it is infectious bronchidous, coryza, ILT or CRD. do a search for them on the net and see which matches best. it also sounds like there is some ms too. what all other symtoms r there?

is he sneezing, coughing, if girls was there a drop in eggs or eggs look different, drop in fertility? anything like that u have noticed? have u lost any from it? what was first symtoms and how long till ya knew all had it? are they gagging or gasping or stretching necks out? do they make any noises when breatheing? and info u can give will help narrow it down. do u have a pic?

from the sounds of it it's a virus and only secondary infections are improveing while on antibiotics and once off of it they r comeing right back. is there any yellow crust around the eye?

And if it can go septic?- yes

What we don't know if it would still be bacterial at this point or just the swelling. - sounds to me like an infection caused by infected sinus cavity(sinusitous and/or conjuctividous, forgive my spelling).

Any ideas?- lets narrow it down first then go from there. u really need to get an ELISA test done to be sure but they still can be inconclusive. did he give u a diagnoses?

i would not recomend manually removeing it unless a vet does it which may be costly.

 

[Flufnstuffs~FluffySilkies]

Also check the nose hole
I had a bird that had a pluged nose hole and when I cleared it out the eye also got better.

 

[therealsilkiechick]

that reminds me, check tounge is it pink or very whitish/pale pink? on the roof of the mouth there is a crevis looking spot down the middle is there anything in there? my one polish get's pices of corn stuck up there. is back of throat have any yellow or white spots? how about spots around the breath hole behind the tounge?

 

[HatTrickSilkies]

Prednisone for a few days will knock the swelling down considerably and will also ease the inflammation in his entire respiratory tract. A bird that feels better will start to eat, move around, etc. I would also continue with another course of antibiotics and offer supportive care (ie, heat, foods he will eat, small drinks of pediatlye), etc).

You would need your vet to prescribe Prednisone and give you the proper dose (once you start Pred you need to wean them down gradually ~ it is a steroid).

 

[eureka]

Thanks everyone for the advice.
So the diagnosis the vet gave was the mycoplasma bacteria, which is chronic respiratory disease, but she wasn't positive, just thought that was the most likely. The first symptoms the flock had were sneezing, snotty nose, and diarrhea. Then the eye bubbles. And all my other birds are fine now, laying great, running around with spring fever.

As for other symptoms he hasn't really had any except he has one snotty nostril that is not clogged and flowing fine. His breathing is a little raspy. As for his tongue it is very pale white and the swelling is also half of his throat so it looks bad in there. He is eating but only really a little since he can only kind of scoop his feed up, his depth perception is all screwed up too and he misses a lot.

One of the biggest hold ups we're having is that our vet won't give us any other medication unless we take him in for an office visit, since he wasn't one of the original chickens we had brought in. Since they are an avian and exotics specialty vet our last trip ran about $350. So we can't afford another vet bill like that. There is another vet who I know is a lot less expensive and will proscribe medicine, however they say the don't know much about chickens. I feel like if there was a specific thing we wanted to try, that vet would give it to us.

As for the abscess posts, nothing cheesy comes out when the eye is massaged, could it need to be lanced if it's that? Is there any way for me to tell that besides guessing if a spot feels like there could be liquid underneath?