What to feed hen with gout?

[U_Stormcrow]

While I have no experience with the feed personally, you can check out Bluebonnet Feeds, they have a Poultry Maintenance at 14% protein, 1-1.5% calcium. Its whole grain, so you will want to feed it either as a wet mash, sprouted, or fermented to encourage the bird not to pick out favorites and ignore the rest.

 

[sarahbobo]

While I have no experience with the feed personally, you can check out Bluebonnet Feeds, they have a Poultry Maintenance at 14% protein, 1-1.5% calcium. Its whole grain, so you will want to feed it either as a wet mash, sprouted, or fermented to encourage the bird not to pick out favorites and ignore the rest.

Awesome, that does look like a good one. Thank you very much.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Awesome, that does look like a good one. Thank you very much.

that what BYC is for! Happy to have something to contribute.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

You could try wrapping the foot for a short period of time to see if that helps with the activity level. It may help stabilize or cushion the foot. You never know until you try.

Hopefully the vet can see her today.

 

[sarahbobo]

SO, update. Her bloodwork came back and she likely doesn't have gout - she's very dehydrated, probably from the diarrhea, but everything else was normal. They couldn't test for uric acid, though, because apparently there wasn't enough blood in the sample.

I can't get into my vet until Thursday, but Fleur's foot sore has gotten worse. It's huge and very red. I want to drain it myself before I go into my vet, because I don't think it can wait. Can anyone help me with how to do that? I know to keep her covered and secure in a towel and to keep everything sterile, but I don't know all the tools I'll need, what to use to sterilize everything, exactly how to puncture the abscess, etc etc. Also, vet prescribed an antibiotic, but I'm not sure if it's a good idea to give it to her. Based on the pictures of her feet and her symptoms, what do yall think?

On the other hand, vet is going to take a biopsy of the foot infection to see if there are uric acid crystals in there. If I drain the abscess before then, will she still be able to take a biopsy to check for crystals?

As far as worms, we're going to get a fecal sample to my vet, but is there anything I can try to start deworming her before then? Something that won't hurt her if it isn't worms? With how fast she's losing weight, I want to act as quickly as possible. Thank you very much.

 

[sarahbobo]

Here's a picture of that sore today.

 

[Lizzy733]

Oh, thank you, I'll do some looking for maintenance feeds. I did find one that's 17% protein and 1.2% calcium, but lower calcium and protein is always preferable.

Very true....chickens are only valued as products in this society. I hate that fact with a passion. I'm so grateful this community exists to help care for these creatures - it's quickly becoming clear that yall do indeed have a lot more experience and knowledge about chicken health than even my vet, and she's a very good and experienced vet. She's treated other bird species for gout, but never chickens. I will definitely follow yall's advice.

That's usually the best you can hope for. Any avian experience and particularly with the disease you are experiencing is a very good thing as the methods don't change much from species to species.

 

[sarahbobo]

Now I'm thinking just soaking her feet in warm Epsom salts might be the better solution until we can get her to the vet. Do any of you have opinions on how urgent it is to drain that abscess, if it can wait a couple days with soaking in Epsom salts and maybe a salve or something?

 

[Eggcessive]

I personally would wait until the vet sees her to drain the sore. It can wait two days. I would start the antibiotic to see if it helps by the visit. What antibiotic is it?

 

[Lizzy733]

She is dehydrated, but she is drinking excessively - the water is going somewhere.

Does she have acites\water belly? Does her abdomen feel like a water balloon? My hen had issues staying warm when her condition worsened and she absolutely had acites.

Unfortunately, she is an old girl and is in decline. There's likely much more going on here than what's visible and I would be hesitant to cause her any undue stress at this stage. This could a be tumor-related illness, which isn't something that can be treated.

Palliative care until she can get to the vet, or see if they can take her into ICU early if you feel she's that far in decline. The feet are a symptom, but probably not the underlying issue here.