Sudden Severe Lameness & Swollen Hock

[casportpony]

Curiously, have you given her any Meloxicam? And what do your colleagues think it could be? It would be really helpful if you could post some pictures.

 

[Darcie29]

Is there any heat in the joints? And is it in both hocks, or just one? FWIW, birds with joint infections don't necessarily get "fevers", so the fact she doesn't have a fever is irrelevant.

A joint infection will not always cause lack of appetite, nor will it always kill a bird.

Does it look like this? And would you care to guess what this was?

One hock. Does not look like that. And heat is one of the first tell tale signs of infection, either systemic which presents as a fever or localized, such as a warm hock which she doesn't have. Systemic infection, which is a result of untreated tendon sheath infection, causes depression, fever, and lethargy, and eventually death. Unless it is an infection which has been encapsulated (such as an abscess) it will spread through the body and cause eventually necrosis and/or death.
The hock has been completely unchanged since it first occurred, and it occurred acutely, meaning it happened quickly, which is not commonly seen with infection, it is generally more gradual and progressive.
Infection also wouldn't commonly cause and animal to go from walking fine one hour to packing her foot the next.
All of her clinic signs, coupled with her history and environmental factors makes me very skeptical of infection. However, as I said I will attempt to aspirate tomorrow and see if I can get anything conclusive.

I don't overly care to guess what this particular chicken in the pictures had, as I don't have any history, clinic signs, or any info to go on other than "swollen hock" which could be caused by any number of things

 

[Darcie29]

Curiously, have you given her any Meloxicam? And what do your colleagues think it could be? It would be really helpful if you could post some pictures.

Will post pictures and video tomorrow, but here are her xrays.
They're not super helpful as I was wrestling her while taking them, so positioning was difficult but you get an idea. In both xrays the affected leg is extended

 

[NancyNurseCxMama]

Is there any heat in the joints? And is it in both hocks, or just one? FWIW, birds with joint infections don't necessarily get "fevers", so the fact she doesn't have a fever is irrelevant.

A joint infection will not always cause lack of appetite, nor will it always kill a bird.

Does it look like this? And would you care to guess what this was?

@casportpony ---Can you share with us what caused that swollen leg in the picture? I'm always open to learning about such things. TIA!

 

[casportpony]

@casportpony ---Can you share with us what caused that swollen leg in the picture? I'm always open to learning about such things. TIA!

That was a peacock that went lame suddenly and over a course of 2-3 weeks got no worse or better. The whole time it kept eating, but in the end, the owner decided that euthanasia was the best option. I have the pictures of what the inside of the joint looked like if anyone is interested.

 

[NancyNurseCxMama]

That was a peacock that went lame suddenly and over a course of 2-3 weeks got no worse or better. The whole time it kept eating, but in the end, the owner decided that euthanasia was the best option. I have the pictures of what the inside of the joint looked like if anyone is interested.

@casportpony---I would like to see---did they discover what caused the lameness?
And while I'm here I'll toss in the possibility of viral arthritis.
Read and tell me what you think, if you have a moment.

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/poultry/viral-arthritis/overview-of-viral-arthritis-in-poultry

 

[Darcie29]

@casportpony
And while I'm here I'll toss in the possibility of viral arthritis.
Read and tell me what you think, if you have a moment.

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/poultry/viral-arthritis/overview-of-viral-arthritis-in-poultry

I was also wondering about viral arthritis. My brother in law is a vet student and he looked at her yesterday and is also highly suspicious of viral arthritis, so we will be looking into this further

 

[NancyNurseCxMama]

Any update here?
Hope your girl is doing well.

 

[Stayc]

I'm of no help here. I just hope your pretty girl gets better

 

[Mcw320]

Is there any heat in the joints? And is it in both hocks, or just one? FWIW, birds with joint infections don't necessarily get "fevers", so the fact she doesn't have a fever is irrelevant.

A joint infection will not always cause lack of appetite, nor will it always kill a bird.

Does it look like this? And would you care to guess what this was?

What was this?