Antibiotic question - second round?

[alcstreetman]

I have a little lavender orphington that's about 9 weeks. She has struggled since she was about a week old and I'm still not sure what is wrong.

She started to act sick around 1 week, eyes closed, squinting, and sleepy but no other symptoms, no drainage, nothing. I treated my flock with corid, just in case it was cocci but she didn't get better. My daughter noticed she had lice, so we treated the flock which was pretty easy. She didn't get better. We separated her because she started to get picked on. She was also not growing at all. Tried nutridrench, poly vi sol, eggs, mealworms, she wasn't getting better or worse really, but she obviously wasn't good.

I got some tylan from TSC and gave it to her orally and like magic she showed great improvement with the first dose. I gave it to her twice a day for 10 days because her eyes still seemed the tiniest bit squinty. For about two weeks she's been great, she's growing, slowly but growing, and she's perky and normal, that is until today.

Now she is seeming sleepy again and keeping her eyes closed more than normal. Ugh. I'm nervous about giving her tylan again but coming here for advice on if anyone thinks I should, I don't want to over do it and cause more harm than good but she did pretty much a complete 180 with it previously so maybe I just didn't do it long enough? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I have a little lavender orphington that's about 9 weeks. She has struggled since she was about a week old and I'm still not sure what is wrong.

She started to act sick around 1 week, eyes closed, squinting, and sleepy but no other symptoms, no drainage, nothing. I treated my flock with corid, just in case it was cocci but she didn't get better. My daughter noticed she had lice, so we treated the flock which was pretty easy. She didn't get better. We separated her because she started to get picked on. She was also not growing at all. Tried nutridrench, poly vi sol, eggs, mealworms, she wasn't getting better or worse really, but she obviously wasn't good.

I got some tylan from TSC and gave it to her orally and like magic she showed great improvement with the first dose. I gave it to her twice a day for 10 days because her eyes still seemed the tiniest bit squinty. For about two weeks she's been great, she's growing, slowly but growing, and she's perky and normal, that is until today.

Now she is seeming sleepy again and keeping her eyes closed more than normal. Ugh. I'm nervous about giving her tylan again but coming here for advice on if anyone thinks I should, I don't want to over do it and cause more harm than good but she did pretty much a complete 180 with it previously so maybe I just didn't do it long enough? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Can you post some photos of her?
You mention her eyes are squinty? Do they have a discharge? Have you noticed coughing/sneezing or any other respiratory symptoms?

You have other chick(s) that have Necrotic Enteritis and are treating them - do you think this could partly be what's going on with this one?

 

[alcstreetman]

Can you post some photos of her?
You mention her eyes are squinty? Do they have a discharge? Have you noticed coughing/sneezing or any other respiratory symptoms?

You have other chick(s) that have Necrotic Enteritis and are treating them - do you think this could partly be what's going on with this one?

Yes, I'll post a picture of her. There isn't really any discharge, it just doesn't look nice and open. No sneezing, coughing, or nasal drainage. The tylan helped her so much but I'm worried I didn't do it long enough because she's returning to the way she was (sleepy, keeping eyes closed, looks somewhat swollen, not gaining good weight). The whole time she has been eating and drinking well, though. Also, her chirp is weak and somewhat raspy. All the respiratory illnesses I've read about don't seem to fit.

I don't think it has to do with the enteritis since the two that died showed completely different symptoms and it came on suddenly, they were VERY healthy until the two days before they died. This chickie has just had it rough since week 1.

Do you think another round of tylan would be okay? Would it overload her system? You commented on my other question thread about tylan... you mentioned 3xs a day but I did 2xs a day for 7 days... maybe I didn't give her enough? Has she now built up an immunity to it?!

 

[alcstreetman]

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Looks like she may have conjunctivitis which could be from respiratory illness or some other type of infection.
I would try the Tylan50 again at a dose of 0.25ml per pound of weight given orally 3 times a day for 5 days. Also flush the eyes a couple of times a day with saline and apply an eye ointment like Terramycin (do this for 5 days too, even if the eyes start to look better in a day or 2, continue for the whole 5 days).

What are you feeding her including treats?

 

[alcstreetman]

Looks like she may have conjunctivitis which could be from respiratory illness or some other type of infection.
I would try the Tylan50 again at a dose of 0.25ml per pound of weight given orally 3 times a day for 5 days. Also flush the eyes a couple of times a day with saline and apply an eye ointment like Terramycin (do this for 5 days too, even if the eyes start to look better in a day or 2, continue for the whole 5 days).

What are you feeding her including treats?

Perfect! I gave her the tylan again yesterday evening and got the terramycin and I've been flushing her eyes with saline. Her demeanor was almost immediately better with the tylan. I just started the terramycin today as my local TSC was out yesterday but luckily my parents were visiting so I had them pick it up from their store before coming. We'll see if she improves.

I'm feeding them all purina start and grow medicated feed, I was going to feed this until 18 weeks. I haven't really done treats. I started giving her live mealworms, approx 10 a day, hoping she'd grow faster, and I've given her crumbled tofu and scrambled eggs with nutridrench a few times, maybe 4xs. Just the other day I gave them all some watermelon.

Fingers crossed!!