Best Treatment Details for Egg Yolk Peritonitis?

[Laraeaf]

Hey everyone,

Quick update for you all. Vally survived the surgery, recovery, and is doing well post-op. She's already eating and drinking small amounts, and having gentle walks around her recovery pen. It was a 1.5 hour surgery. The vet had intended only to remove the mass, but when they opened her up, they found lots of issues, as expected:

1. The mass itself was a grapefruit sized lump of old eggs. Initially, one egg had likely gotten stuck in her uterus, causing impaction, and all other eggs released after that merged with this first one. They had accumulated in her uterus, and became a kind of giant, rotten lash egg that she couldn't have passed.

2. The mass had caused her uterus to expand so much that the uterine walls had fused to the walls of her abdominal cavity, so the entire uterus had to be removed.

3. They removed only the uterus (partial hysterectomy), as there were too many blood vessels around her ovaries to safely remove these. This means eggs would normally still be released, but if I keep very on top of her Suprelorin implants, we can avoid future problems related to egg releases.

4. She's now on Amoxcylin and Enrofloxacin to prevent infection, and Meloxicam for pain relief.

The surgery cost roughly $700, which I think is worth it given she's a young and otherwise healthy hen!

I'll post some photos when the vet has sent them through, but it was very nasty. The next 24 hours are still risky and there is a high chance of infection over the next 1-2 weeks, but we're keeping her clean, warm, and dry and hoping for the best. Despite this massive procedure, she seems MUCH more comfortable than she did beforehand.

 

[Sally PB]

Thank you for the update. Looking forward to hearing more good news.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hey everyone,

Quick update for you all. Vally survived the surgery, recovery, and is doing well post-op. She's already eating and drinking small amounts, and having gentle walks around her recovery pen. It was a 1.5 hour surgery. The vet had intended only to remove the mass, but when they opened her up, they found lots of issues, as expected:

1. The mass itself was a grapefruit sized lump of old eggs. Initially, one egg had likely gotten stuck in her uterus, causing impaction, and all other eggs released after that merged with this first one. They had accumulated in her uterus, and became a kind of giant, rotten lash egg that she couldn't have passed.

2. The mass had caused her uterus to expand so much that the uterine walls had fused to the walls of her abdominal cavity, so the entire uterus had to be removed.

3. They removed only the uterus (partial hysterectomy), as there were too many blood vessels around her ovaries to safely remove these. This means eggs would normally still be released, but if I keep very on top of her Suprelorin implants, we can avoid future problems related to egg releases.

4. She's now on Amoxcylin and Enrofloxacin to prevent infection, and Meloxicam for pain relief.

The surgery cost roughly $700, which I think is worth it given she's a young and otherwise healthy hen!

I'll post some photos when the vet has sent them through, but it was very nasty. The next 24 hours are still risky and there is a high chance of infection over the next 1-2 weeks, but we're keeping her clean, warm, and dry and hoping for the best. Despite this massive procedure, she seems MUCH more comfortable than she did beforehand.

Thank you for the update. Glad to hear she made it through the surgery.

Looking forward to more updates and photos.

 

[ManueB]

I'm glad she survived the surgery. As you say she's not out of the wood yet so hoping for a good outcome.
It sounds like you have a good vet, and the quote seems reasonable compared to what I read about in the US.

Do you, or some of the other readers, happen to know why the combination of amoxicillin and enrofloxacin? I thought both were wide spectrum and would alone target ecoli and staph on their own.

 

[Eggcessive]

It would be good to see any pictures of the vet’s findings during surgery. We seldom see pictures like that. Glad that she has tolerated the surgery so far, and hoping that she continues to do well.

 

[OrpingtonManiac]

Hey everyone,

Quick update for you all. Vally survived the surgery, recovery, and is doing well post-op. She's already eating and drinking small amounts, and having gentle walks around her recovery pen. It was a 1.5 hour surgery. The vet had intended only to remove the mass, but when they opened her up, they found lots of issues, as expected:

1. The mass itself was a grapefruit sized lump of old eggs. Initially, one egg had likely gotten stuck in her uterus, causing impaction, and all other eggs released after that merged with this first one. They had accumulated in her uterus, and became a kind of giant, rotten lash egg that she couldn't have passed.

2. The mass had caused her uterus to expand so much that the uterine walls had fused to the walls of her abdominal cavity, so the entire uterus had to be removed.

3. They removed only the uterus (partial hysterectomy), as there were too many blood vessels around her ovaries to safely remove these. This means eggs would normally still be released, but if I keep very on top of her Suprelorin implants, we can avoid future problems related to egg releases.

4. She's now on Amoxcylin and Enrofloxacin to prevent infection, and Meloxicam for pain relief.

The surgery cost roughly $700, which I think is worth it given she's a young and otherwise healthy hen!

I'll post some photos when the vet has sent them through, but it was very nasty. The next 24 hours are still risky and there is a high chance of infection over the next 1-2 weeks, but we're keeping her clean, warm, and dry and hoping for the best. Despite this massive procedure, she seems MUCH more comfortable than she did beforehand.

Thats great news! I'm glad shes doing a little better now

 

[Laraeaf]

I'm glad she survived the surgery. As you say she's not out of the wood yet so hoping for a good outcome.
It sounds like you have a good vet, and the quote seems reasonable compared to what I read about in the US.

Do you, or some of the other readers, happen to know why the combination of amoxicillin and enrofloxacin? I thought both were wide spectrum and would alone target ecoli and staph on their own.

I'm not sure why both were prescribed, but she had been on Amoxyclav a few times in the past so perhaps the vet was a bit worried about antibiotic resistance and wanted to play is safe?

I'd definitely recommend just asking multiple vets for thoughts and prices based on my experience.

 

[Laraeaf]

Hi all,

We're at Day 4 post-surgery now and Vally is going fantastically well. Basically back to her normal self and very energetic. It's hard trying to keep her quiet to prevent her damaging herself or tearing stitches out, but so far we've been very successful.

Here are the photos from the surgery. 6 is the incision they made to access the mass right beside her cloaca. 3 is the removed uterus and that yellow-brown stuff inside is narcotic (dead/dying) tissue caused by previous scarring and damage. 4 is the mass of coagulated lash eggs they found in the uterus (they said the smell of this was absolutely putrid!)

If I have any advice after this experience, it's to seek out multiple opinions. While the first vet was an avian vet (and was fantastic in his own right), I didn't get the sense that much could be done after our discussion, whereas the other vet was willing to try something a bit different given it was Vally's last hope. These vets didn't jump in assuming normal anesthetic would work, and instead did some research into how to carry out this procedure with minimal risk possible, which is something I am so grateful for. I believe they did a very light anesthetic with a powerful analgesic.

 

[Sally PB]

Thank you for the update and information. Here's hoping she continues to improve!
And hugs for you, too.

 

[ManueB]

The pictures are very impressive ! Thank you for the update and explanations.

Glad to hear she is so much better. I suppose she is over recovering from the surgery, so if she doesn't develop an infection she should be fine .

It's great that you found a vet willing to try that. Unfortunately it seems that for many people, it's difficult to just find a vet that agrees to seeing chickens !
I quite appreciate the clinic where I bring my chickens for a number of reasons, but there are some things I don't like about them, one of which is the systematic use of global anesthesia, even for a relatively short surgery.