AUSTRALIAN POULTRY FORUM™

ok i have one for all you medical gurus, and this is one area we dont have a lot of experitse in, so will throw this out there and see what you guys come up with.

have a young drake, was brought in as a week old, along with a few others of the same breed from the same sourch. all appeared well until around the 10 week mark, when the drake was found on his back in the pen, seemed content in this possition, once righted with assistance, he just walked off and had a drink, this continued for a couple of days, but we didnt see what caused him to be in this state, " on his back".
we assumed some kind of fit? so the bird was removed and isolated and monitored. the bird continued to be found on his back for a few more days, then appeared good for a week or so and was returned to his mates, all was well for another month, until upon feeding one day i witnessed the bird have a fit and end up on his back again. being on the sene i waited until the "fit " was over and picked him up, he has a very droosy look in his eyes, but within a few minutes looks fine and once placed on the ground would wonder off and join the group, again the fits went on for about a week and then seemed to stop, only to start again about a month later.

we found what looked to be like a plant we know as deadly night shade hiding in one corner of the pen, this was removed and the birds shifted to another pen after the first lot of "fits" but the second lot of fits took place in another pen, and although i couldnt find the deadly night shade in this pen i did find short stalks striped bear? so the bird was isolated again to a small enclosure where we can monitor food intake very closely, but the fits are still occurring. if this was a person you'd swear they suffered from epilepsy.

other things we have noted, the bird doesnt eat much any more,seemed to have a good appetite when the fits started but doesnt eat much now, but seems to like drinking fine, seems to have trouble maintaining good feather condition, and had to be blow dried twice this last week as he was suffering from wet feather. the bird is not overly active and new feather growth seems to be slow, but this is expected with the little he eats he wouldn't have the resources to be growing new feathers, and the birds is extremely quite in nature, where his siblings protest about being picked up, he seems happy to be held

we intend on taking him to the vet this week,as him and i have become good mates now and he needs what ever help i can give him,i should have taken him earlier but wanted to rule out posioning before taking him to the vet. and on that note can anyone recomend a good vet for poultry?

so far no other poutlry, animals or persons seem be suffering any ill effects from contact with this bird

well i know that cats and dogs can have "fits" i surpose it would be possible for poultry to have them too... good luck with him and let us know what happens

Stange may be a vet will have some answers?

Hmm m..possible epilepsy.

Be interesting to find out if other people have had ducks having seizures.

Might help http://www.ehow.com/facts_5822027_cause ... ucks_.html




Raf

its amazing to think they could get epilepsy, wow

And it happens more that more people know I have heard about this a few times never had it myself but know people that do

the Drake was taken to the vet on wednesday and blood was taken and sent to the lab, We started our own treatment on the monday before visiting the vet, the turn around in this birds well being is remarkable!
i will up date this later with a run down for those that are interested

ok, well it is possible for any creature to suffer from epilepsy, but to come to that conclusion all other possible causes must be ruled out...

last monday the drake was started on oxymav B, for no other reason, other than we figured it wasnt going to do any harm, so with out any idea of the cause of the fits he was dosed up, at this piont poisoning from an ingested substance had been ruled out, because there was no consistancy to the time of the fits other than they happened after dark. By monday the birds water intake was gettting extremely high, and mixed grain and meat meal was added to the water to attempt to get some energy into the drake.
monday night the bird suffered 3 fits in about 6 hours.

tuesday morning saw a slight improvement in the bird and another dose of oxymav was mixed up, along with mixed grain and more meat meal, the bird still had a high water intake and at this piont hadn't been seen to be eating any dry food, and passed a clear watery type waste.tuesday night the bird passed some semi solid waste of a green colour, this was collected to be taken to the vet on wednesday.
tuesday night saw the bird have 2 fits within 4 hours
at this piont i'll make note of telling you i know how many fits and when,, as the bird sleeps in a box beside the bed so i can react quickly and gain as much detail to the nature of the fits and unsure the bird recovers and can get to drinking water easily after a fit


wednesday morning and the drake again shows signs of improvement and was taken to the vet after consuming more oxymav and grain mix. i was extremely impressed with the vets interest in this case, and he quickly pionted out that he'd already read the first post in this thread. blood was taken and sent to the lab, the bird was also prescribed tablets to attempt to stop the fits untli a cause was known, as there is impact damage under the wing caused durring the fits and he has a sore leg, again obtained from a fit. tablet was given to the brid before bed, and no fits noted wednesday night.

thursday morning and there is a marked improvement in the birds visual condition, he is know talking to me and eager to get outside, again more oxymav and protien were mixed up and given to the drake to consume at will. the tablets for the fits are meant to make the bird a little drousy, but this was not the case, and we hadn't seen the bird looking this good for weeks, it was decided to hold back on the fitting tablets and just continue with the oxymav and watch closely.

thurday night the bird was again brought inside and placed on the floor, what may have been a fit? in a very mild nature may have occurred for about a second. apart from that the night was trouble free.

friday morning and drake is extremely happy, talking to anyone and everything and now nudging around in the grass looking for things to eat, again oxymav mix was served up along with dry food, and for the first time the bird was seen to eat dry grain. later that day it was noted that the birds waste is now starting to resemble that of a grain feed bird. drake was also keen to jump into the waterbowl for a bath, and upon bedtime actually resisted being picked up. and once inside continued to make a line for the door. he is starting to behave like a duck should.
blood test results were in and apparantly bird is in perfect working order...lol
no fits noted on friday night

saturday and the drake again is looking better than the day before, and behaving like a duck should and talking to me everytime i pass by his small enclosure, again more oxymav was dished up, and again no fits noted durring the night

and today is just like the rest, bird is improving, still being given oxymav and looks the best i've every seen him, he even put the dog in his place this afternoon.
the bird will continue to be monitored for another couple of weeks to ensure all is well.
so it would appear that the drake had some kind of infection somewhere,it was his instict to consume lots of water in an effort to dilute any toxins, which possibly biult up durring the night when he didnt consume the same levels of water as durring the day, and these biult up toxins were causing the fits..or the fits and the sickness could be two unrelated problems? time will tell, but for now we are extremely happy with his progress

and mister Vet man, if your reading over this, feel free to post up a more techo reply for whats been happen

thats very interesting, thanks so much for posting that informatipn. Its amazing what ducks can recover from, they are pretty hardy creatures aren't they! Its nice to have a story that ends well