chicken with balance problems

Re: chicken with balance problems

Michael Woodhouse — Sun, 22 Jun 2014 23:31:10 GMT

[quote user="james herriot lied"]Oh, and the budget is exactly zero.[/quote]

Neck elongation cures all

Re: chicken with balance problems

james herriot lied — Sun, 22 Jun 2014 20:13:35 GMT

Wow, thanks, Marie. At least half of that was stuff which never went through my head.

I see a bit of Marek's and LL (I keep a few ex-batts myself, so tend to get thrown the chicken cases), and whilst I haven't seen a case of either which looked like this, I'll certainly keep them in mind.

The bird is fairly young, having laid for a year or so. It's in a bunch, none of the others having shown signs, and came in with others of the same age and breed from the same place (so with shared genes).

It's hard to explain why, but the normalcy of the bird when eating and its apparent contentedness when staring upwards make me think that toxicity, infection and injury are unlikely. Clearly, there's a whole world of cardiovascular stuff in chickens with which I'm yet to get acquainted (apart from suspicions with my own birds with ascites and no other visible lesions).

Oh, and the budget is exactly zero.

Many thanks.

Re: chicken with balance problems

Marie Kubiak — Sun, 22 Jun 2014 11:32:20 GMT

How old? Any idea of whether it was vaccinated as a chick? Any others with it - if so are they all normal?

Neuro deficits in a chicken with normal mentation screams Marek's usually and prognosis is poor as symptoms progress. There are some rare reports of recovery after 24-48hrs in Marek's but I have yet to see one of these. Other DDx are:

-Coccidiosis with secondary hypovitaminosis B - check a faecal for oocysts

- otittis media - shine a light through the externally visible tympanum and check for any evidence of fluid/discharge

-Thermal or physical trauma

- intoxication (check food for mould/rodent faeces etc)

- renal/hepatic pathology, run bloods if O willing

-Circulatory disturbances - MRI would be great but I am assuming the owners won't be keen!!! Check pulses under wing, auscultate heart and assess distension of leg veins in comparison to another for general circulation assessment but you are a little limited with diagnostics otherwise.

-systemic viral/bacterial infections are widely associated with neuro signs but with a sick chicken too so are unlikely in this case- the only exception would be lymphoid leucosis that can mimic Marek's in some cases - palpate coelom for masses and there are specific tests the VLA can offer.

Obviously we want to be doing bloods, MRI, viral serologies, blood cultures and every other test in the book . However, as a non-pet chicken I would go for simple cheap diagnostics and empirical treatment - physical exam, faecal cytology, saline prep and float, and if no indication of cause then trial antibiotics and anti-inflammatories and euthanase if no improvement over a few days. Keep it confined and separate to avoid self-injury/attack by others and keep fingers crossed. Also if treating as vestibular then avoid steroids in birds! Also usual caveats about cascade and withdrawal times, make sure the antibiotic you choose doesn't state not for use in layers - I opt for amoxy-clav at 125mg/kg bid as a first-line where C&S isn't available.

Marie