Turkey won’t digest food

[CharlotteBEe]

Hi everyone! Last time you all gave me great advice to help a sick little silkie and am turning back to you as I’m not sure what else to do.
Please send a prayer for little Harriet.
I got a turkey Poult who is now 4 days old. I got her 4 days ago.
She has one splayed leg that I made a brace for.
She is currently on O2 because she is breathing heavy and gasps after drinking water or extended eating sessions. She has been gasping since day 1 but it has become more frequent.

The first days she would get hot easily and seemingly running a fever.
She is sleeping a lot and not making much noise but will peep ever so often. She was most active and vocal the first day.
For 2 days she was on Amoxicillin but since she wasn’t getting better we switched it to doxycycline. We are on day 2 of doxycycline and she will now not eat on her own. She wants to but can’t make herself. I believe this is because of the doxycycline. I started tube feeding her with success and she is now more alert.


Since day one of having her(before the antibiotics) she has not digested her food I have to give her a digestive aid so she will digest the food. I have given her live gut bacteria from coconutcult.
On day 3 and the morning of day 4(this morning)I used VetRx under wings legs and a little on her head.(I did not do a full dose).
She started doing a little better on the evening of day 3 and she started preening her self again. Day 4 she looked like she was declining again- probably because I could not get her to eat until I started tube feeding her.
To recap
She has a hard time digesting her food. Labored breathing with bouts of gasping. She started breathing better with supplemental b vitamins. She is on doxycycline. She is on supplemental O2 she is on a heat source. She used to get over heated easily but is nolonger as of today (day 2 doxy) She is now being tube fed while on doxy.


Please say a prayer for Harriet. She is already very loved.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

How warm is the brooder? I personally would not give all those antibiotics at that age. What are you giving them for? Is it by itself? Poults need to be taught where and what to eat. If it's all alone you need to tap at the food with your finger several times a day to get it to eat. I add glass stones to attract them to the food.

 

[R2elk]

Hi everyone! Last time you all gave me great advice to help a sick little silkie and am turning back to you as I’m not sure what else to do.
Please send a prayer for little Harriet.
I got a turkey Poult who is now 4 days old. I got her 4 days ago.
She has one splayed leg that I made a brace for.
She is currently on O2 because she is breathing heavy and gasps after drinking water or extended eating sessions. She has been gasping since day 1 but it has become more frequent.

The first days she would get hot easily and seemingly running a fever.
She is sleeping a lot and not making much noise but will peep ever so often. She was most active and vocal the first day.
For 2 days she was on Amoxicillin but since she wasn’t getting better we switched it to doxycycline. We are on day 2 of doxycycline and she will now not eat on her own. She wants to but can’t make herself. I believe this is because of the doxycycline. I started tube feeding her with success and she is now more alert.


Since day one of having her(before the antibiotics) she has not digested her food I have to give her a digestive aid so she will digest the food. I have given her live gut bacteria from coconutcult.
On day 3 and the morning of day 4(this morning)I used VetRx under wings legs and a little on her head.(I did not do a full dose).
She started doing a little better on the evening of day 3 and she started preening her self again. Day 4 she looked like she was declining again- probably because I could not get her to eat until I started tube feeding her.
To recap
She has a hard time digesting her food. Labored breathing with bouts of gasping. She started breathing better with supplemental b vitamins. She is on doxycycline. She is on supplemental O2 she is on a heat source. She used to get over heated easily but is nolonger as of today (day 2 doxy) She is now being tube fed while on doxy.


Please say a prayer for Harriet. She is already very loved.

It's very unlikely that the poult has a splayed leg. Splay leg is uncommon in turkeys. Too common is perosis aka slipped tendon. You cannot fix a slipped tendon by treating it as splay leg.

If the poult really is in as bad shape as you are saying, I would cull it.

 

[CharlotteBEe]

She definitely has splayed (spaddle )leg. She knows how to eat and drink. When she drinks on her OWN without any help but aspirates it. Or if she eats on her own she will glgo into a gasping episode. The antibiotics are helping because she now wants to eat and drink on her own.

She started digesting her food yesterday evening (phew).

We are still tube feeding tho because of the heavy breathing and aspiration. Is it possible she has a cleft pallet? Has anyone had something similar to this?