This is long... but everyone with chickens should read this!!!!
HELP!!! we've been at this for over 2 months and two different vents!
2 months ago noticed Ricardo's crow change. Looked in throat - cheesy mass on side. Then he developed a knot under his eye on his cheek - like a boil looking on the outside big bump. Took him to vet - they thought it was canker - I dug some of the mass out so he could breathe, did that for weeks. One of his hens got a same thing but smaller on her same place but not so much in throat. Vet saw both and squeezed hers out - it went down and went away over the past month but she still has lots of saliva and slobber and slings it everywhere. Noticed some honkin' sneezing when all this began but not so much so it was very obvious. She does not have mass anymore but lots of slimy clear saliva - almost drooling. Ricardo has been touch and go - his history is that they hand him on a week of monidazole in the beginning, ronidazole, and spartrix - all separate doses for the first month to see if it would go away. NONE worked - it kept getting worse - vet could not find canker on microscope so took him off all that (4 weeks of it all including Baytril the whole time) to specialist vet. They all work on parrots and not chickens but still... he put Ricardo under anestethia and dug a lot of out of his cheek and throat - sent off huge masses off for culture. Culture said it was MRSA! Infection - bad - resistant to Baytril and others, suseptible to Amikacin, Tetracycline, Euthromycin, and some others. So they put him on Doxycycline, well a week of that and the mass got bigger even though he had dug some out it came back while on doxy. It is in the side wall of his cheek and under his toungue. Specialist after culture put him on Amikacin injectible. He lost so much weight - we had to start crop feeding him 3 times a day starting last monday and 3 injections of Amikacin in chest .18cc of 250mg Amikacin. They went in again this past monday and dug a little more out (what had grown since the doxy) - on the Amikacin for the past week the mass stayed stable and didn't grow. But it's still some in there. His mouth has been so sore after the removals, and lots of additional debris to swab out but I notice his saliva is clear and real thick and "smacky" inside his mouth. He will not pick anything up and eat it - wants to - acts like it - nips at it but won't pick it up - maybe it's his tongue I don't know. Maybe sore.
Vet got blood work back today said white cells still high - can't confirm amikacin working for sure because they didn't take blood sample a while back to compare to - (grrrrrrrrr) so have to take him in next Monday to get blood to compare.
He opens his mouth and gaps to breathe some, a little gurgly and I'm beginning to wonder if this is some kind of respitory thing they're not catching cause they're not chicken doctors!!!! But the cheesy mass in his cheek and under his tongue - are those part of respiratory problems?
He crows in the mornign and when he hears the others crow. He stands up sometimes but isn't too perky. One thing I went to get the hen today to put her in his cage with him to see if that would cheer him up and she is still slinging slobber but otherwise looks fine - eats, is perky etc. But - slobber and saliva!! It's clear and watery - not thick.
I'm wondering - what is wrong here. What should I have the other chickens on. What happened here - how did they find MRSA in his mouth (staff infection) and why is this knot under his eye - when squeezed it came out in his mouth the cheesy mass did and the vet said it came out through his sinal cavity or something - is this a sinus infection????
Why Amikacin - why not tetracycline (well they said it was the same as doxy and they had him on that - orally though, not injectible so I don't know how much of that got in there.)
He's better than he was a week ago when on doxy and that was growing. They had me using a doxy capsule opening it into water mixing with small syringe and putting it down his mouth. Don't know how much of that he got. The lump is not getting bigger. The mass is not getting bigger since a week on Amikacin - but he doesn't seem to be perky or up and eating on his own - mouth drools when he bends over to pick up food. He can't pick it up either because of the tongue and the mass under it, the slobber or loss of will to eat - but he WANTS TO EAT - looks and picks at it.
White blood cells up, they've got me crop feeding him to keep him alive (he's got some spunk left) and mixing it with Pedilyte not water to make sure he keeps hydrated - is that OK? Is that too many electrolytes for a chicken???
ANY INPUT / ANSWERS OR INFORMATION PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HELP!!! we've been at this for over 2 months and two different vents!
2 months ago noticed Ricardo's crow change. Looked in throat - cheesy mass on side. Then he developed a knot under his eye on his cheek - like a boil looking on the outside big bump. Took him to vet - they thought it was canker - I dug some of the mass out so he could breathe, did that for weeks. One of his hens got a same thing but smaller on her same place but not so much in throat. Vet saw both and squeezed hers out - it went down and went away over the past month but she still has lots of saliva and slobber and slings it everywhere. Noticed some honkin' sneezing when all this began but not so much so it was very obvious. She does not have mass anymore but lots of slimy clear saliva - almost drooling. Ricardo has been touch and go - his history is that they hand him on a week of monidazole in the beginning, ronidazole, and spartrix - all separate doses for the first month to see if it would go away. NONE worked - it kept getting worse - vet could not find canker on microscope so took him off all that (4 weeks of it all including Baytril the whole time) to specialist vet. They all work on parrots and not chickens but still... he put Ricardo under anestethia and dug a lot of out of his cheek and throat - sent off huge masses off for culture. Culture said it was MRSA! Infection - bad - resistant to Baytril and others, suseptible to Amikacin, Tetracycline, Euthromycin, and some others. So they put him on Doxycycline, well a week of that and the mass got bigger even though he had dug some out it came back while on doxy. It is in the side wall of his cheek and under his toungue. Specialist after culture put him on Amikacin injectible. He lost so much weight - we had to start crop feeding him 3 times a day starting last monday and 3 injections of Amikacin in chest .18cc of 250mg Amikacin. They went in again this past monday and dug a little more out (what had grown since the doxy) - on the Amikacin for the past week the mass stayed stable and didn't grow. But it's still some in there. His mouth has been so sore after the removals, and lots of additional debris to swab out but I notice his saliva is clear and real thick and "smacky" inside his mouth. He will not pick anything up and eat it - wants to - acts like it - nips at it but won't pick it up - maybe it's his tongue I don't know. Maybe sore.
Vet got blood work back today said white cells still high - can't confirm amikacin working for sure because they didn't take blood sample a while back to compare to - (grrrrrrrrr) so have to take him in next Monday to get blood to compare.
He opens his mouth and gaps to breathe some, a little gurgly and I'm beginning to wonder if this is some kind of respitory thing they're not catching cause they're not chicken doctors!!!! But the cheesy mass in his cheek and under his tongue - are those part of respiratory problems?
He crows in the mornign and when he hears the others crow. He stands up sometimes but isn't too perky. One thing I went to get the hen today to put her in his cage with him to see if that would cheer him up and she is still slinging slobber but otherwise looks fine - eats, is perky etc. But - slobber and saliva!! It's clear and watery - not thick.
I'm wondering - what is wrong here. What should I have the other chickens on. What happened here - how did they find MRSA in his mouth (staff infection) and why is this knot under his eye - when squeezed it came out in his mouth the cheesy mass did and the vet said it came out through his sinal cavity or something - is this a sinus infection????
Why Amikacin - why not tetracycline (well they said it was the same as doxy and they had him on that - orally though, not injectible so I don't know how much of that got in there.)
He's better than he was a week ago when on doxy and that was growing. They had me using a doxy capsule opening it into water mixing with small syringe and putting it down his mouth. Don't know how much of that he got. The lump is not getting bigger. The mass is not getting bigger since a week on Amikacin - but he doesn't seem to be perky or up and eating on his own - mouth drools when he bends over to pick up food. He can't pick it up either because of the tongue and the mass under it, the slobber or loss of will to eat - but he WANTS TO EAT - looks and picks at it.
White blood cells up, they've got me crop feeding him to keep him alive (he's got some spunk left) and mixing it with Pedilyte not water to make sure he keeps hydrated - is that OK? Is that too many electrolytes for a chicken???
ANY INPUT / ANSWERS OR INFORMATION PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
