Watery Diarrhea

cuwiar

cuwiar

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Hi, just posted this in reply to a topic in the general discussion when searching for 'diarrhea' but realised it should probably be on this section. Help! I'm very worried...

"Hi, one of my girls has had very runny poos for a couple of days now (mustardy colour) and I have put it down to the move (got them a week ago) and adjusting to a new diet etc but today she really isn't too well.

She seemed ok when I saw her this morning but this afternoon we decided to let them free range for the first time and while the other two were more than happy to get out and about she was very hesitant and when she did come out she didn't forage and even looked like she was going to sleep at one point, then she went back into the coop and to bed - this was at 3.30pm and the others are still up and active now!

When she is pooing now it is just like water and she's very listless. Can anyone give me some advice on what could be the problem?"
 
sour crop or egg bound? when was she last wormed? I use this post regularly for poo patrol... http://chat.allotment.org.uk/index.php?topic=17568.0

maybe it will help you?
 
Perhaps impacted crop. Is it hard or soft and squidgy? Does her breath smell stale? If its hard is possibl;y impacted, otherwise as Steph says.
 
Thanks for the replies, Steph, the poo pictures are really helpful!

I don't think it's an impacted crop as it doesn't even seem vey full. I have seperated her from the others and will try and take her to a vet this afternoon as she is not eating or drinking now.
 
I think the vet is the best option, watery poop can be an indication of something more, or it could just be her adjusting to a different diet, not eating much will make her listless, and drinking more will enevetablly cause her to pass a more watery poo. Bit of a rock and a hard place senario. But, hopefully the vet will be able to shed some light on what's wrong with her. Good luck. ;)

JubesXX
 
We've just got back from the vets, she couldn't say for sure what she thought is wrong with Mai. She has had an antibiotic jab, an antiflammitary and has antibiotics for the next four days. The vet could only put it down to something bacterial in the digestive system. Just need to see how she is overnight and try and get some fluids into her...I'm just waiting for my husband to come home before I try that...it'll be a two man job!

Mai is very sleepy and not at all bothered when you pick her up and quite drops off when you stroke her. She's not a well girl but fingers crossed she gets through the night ok and the medication starts to work! If she makes it through this I think she's going to be very tame by then end of it
 
Quick update...

Mai is still not quite right, still won't eat or drink for herself although she seems less sleepy today and definitley wants to come out of her cat crate (she has been out in her section of the run today but have bought her in because she is getting wet and cold)

She's still on the antibiotics and now on flubenvet, as she's not eating I've had to take a guess at how much powder she should have per day (based on info on this forum and elsewhere) and I'm syringe feeding her it dissolved in her daily water which I've made into a kind of soup of egg yolk, probiotic yoghurt, crushed layers pellets and crushed mealworms. It's time consuming to give her small amounts of this at regular intervals and keeping my fingers crossed that she'll feed herself tomorrow when I have to go back to work!

She's also got coxi treatment that I'll have to start in her water tomorrow...she's going to be fully dosed up!

When she's outside she's standing very still and all hunched up and seems to have been eating soil today! She shows an interest in what the other two are up to but she's still not a happy chicken :(
 
I forgot to mention that when I'm feeding her there is a lot of gurgly noises which I hope is just the liquid going down, alothough I've heard this could be linked with gapeworm?? I half hope it is some kind of worm causing this as I really want to get to the bottom of i and for her to get better! She also occasionally pecks forward as I'm feeding her but I think it's more to do with getting fed up of having a syringe forced in her face again!

Oh, and her poos are mainly water/urea with some solid that looks normal colour although not a lot of it as she isn't eating anything solid.
 
I am afraid she will either improve in the next couple of days or not.. :( She sounds very poorly, not eating or wanting to drink. The gurgling could be a respiratory infection or just an indication that she so ill.
Forget worming and the yoghurt and focus on the fluids and antibiotics for now, plus offering small amounts of her usual food with a little chopped boiled egg which is easily digestible.
 
Hi Foxy,

I've tried to give her a little scrambled egg which she still won't eat, the vet has recommended the flubenvet as she is 17 weeks and hasn't been wormed (at least not since she was a chick).

It's so strange how quickly this all seemed to come on, Saturday morning she was absolutely fine and tucking into her feed, Sunday afternoon and she's like this!

She's being a little trooper so far but I'm so worried for her!
 
I agree with Foxy and would give one treatment at a time as she is obviously so run down. If you give all these treatments, you will not know what it was or what cured it if she gets better.
 
Just as an aside, am I right you got her a week ago? What breed are they and are you sure they are 17 weeks old.
When you say she is sleepy, is she very "fluffed" up in appearance and pale?
 
Yes, got them Saturday 15th Oct and the lady we got them from said they would be 17 weeks on Friday.

We got three together, two the same age - the one that is poorly is a light sussex hybrid. The other is a barred rock hybrid, she is fine. The third was a bit older, she had been in lay for around a week when we got her and layed two eggs at first and has since stopped, although she seems fine health wise.

Mai stands all fluffed, often on one leg, and hunched up, like she has got no neck! It's hard to tell if she is pale as she has no comb or wattles yet but I would say that she doesn't look too bad, her cheeks have colour in them!
 
Just got home from work, she was just standing in the rain so have bought her in again.

She's gone downhill from yesterday. Now when I'm syrynging liquid into her beak rather than slurp it like she has been she's going sleepy and shaking her head and spitting it out.

I've got an appointment with the vet at 2.50 but things don't look good.
 
Could be a strain of coccy, they are still young enough, and these are classic symptoms in one way or another, blood in the poo isn't always appearant, there are 9 different types of coccy with all or just a few of the normal signs.
Keep her warm and dry, and you could try a coxiod treatment, if you don't have any to hand, a strong solution of AVC in water, about 30mls per litre can work as a first aid until you can get some baycox or coxoid.
JubesX
 
She's just on water and the antibiotics now, the gurgling ony happens when she's taking in the fluid, it sounds like our stomach would if we don't eat for a day. I think it's coming from her crop, which is completely empty.

When she's in her crate she makes this little squeaky noise, when I take her out, wrap her in a jumper and sit with her she goes to sleep, so that's what I'm doing. I just want her to be comfortable.

I have some coxoid from the vet yesterday but have made it up in 2 litres of water (as instructed) at the rate I'm getting water into her it'll be weeks before she gets the dose! I'll try and get more into her this afternoon.

What should I be looking out for in her poos? To know if it is/isn't working??
 
If it is coxy, there may be some blood present. But not always, if it gets worse, there will most likely be blood. Her poo will be watery if she's not eating, and the gurgling sound is because her crop is empty, with just fluid that you are putting in, so try not to worry about that too much, it's quite 'normal' (as normal as she is right now, bless her.) Coxy is not a nice disease to have, and she may not fully ever recover, i know alot of folks who cull birds which have shown signs of it as they never really 'blossom' and reach their full potential, but i understand this little lady is your pet, and you want to do everything you can to save her.
The reality is hunny, she is very poorly, and she might not make it, you have to understand that. And please don't think i'm being harsh, where there's livestock, unfortunately, there's always deadstock. :cry:
If she pulls through in the next few days, you have a little fighter, good luck with her, you have done your best, just keep her warm, and try to keep drip feeding her the coxoid medication. ;)

JubesXX
 
Thanks for the support Jubes, I'm convinced now it's coxy that we're fighting. In some ways it's just good to know. She is very unstable on her legs which I think is related to the disorder but she must be weak through not eating too. I have managed to get quite a bit of medicated water down her today and will keep trying tomorrow, although I might add an egg yolk, just to get some nutrition inside her as she can't cope on water alone. Do you have any suggestions on what else I could liquify for her to eat?

I got more baytrill and coxi+ from the vet so that I can treat the other two and keep Mai on the antibiotics during treatment. I'll be doing a full clear out of their pen too. Mai must have bought the parasite with her and I'm worried the other two are bound to pick it up. Their pen is bare earth and woodchips and not built to be movable (that's the next thing we will look at doing!), the idea was that they would be able to free range frequently. It was built new for them and as they have only been in it for 11 days I didn't think it could be too bad, I regularly poop scoop too but I know these parasites can spread millions of eggs!

From what I've read at this stage in the infection/infestation things are critical and I only hope she gets through the night so that I can help get her through tomorrow. Still no blood in her (liquidy) poos so I'm hoping that's a good sign.
 
I was also wondering if they may have been infected with coccidiosis. The medication will help if that's the case and very quickly. The very fatal strains usually take the youngest growers very quickly, as yours are a bit older and if cocci is the problem, you should be OK.
Just a note, if using coxoid therapy avoid using any vitamins at this stage.
Good luck and keep us posted!
 
Thanks Foxy, I know realistically things could get worse but it's good to have some sense of optimism too...I'll let you know how she goes.
 
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