Best Treatment Details for Egg Yolk Peritonitis?

[Laraeaf]

Hey guys,

I'm really hoping to find some detailed advice for this...

A few weeks ago, my 2 year old ISA brown rescue hen, named Valentina, started showing signs of being unwell. She was lethargic, diarrhea, with a funny posture (tail up, but legs not in typical wide-stance position), but was eating, drinking, and behaving normally aside from being a bit slow and tired. I should mention that after finishing her moult about 2 months ago, Vally didn't come back into lay, but I wasn't too concerned about this given she was acting totally normal.

About 3 weeks ago, on top of her other more minor symptoms, her abdomen started looking quite distended and she laid a 'lash' egg. I immediately took her to an avian vet, who said she very, very likely had health issues related to her reproductive tract, which is what I expected. He recommended we give her a 12 month suprelorin implant, which I happily agreed to. It's been 3 weeks since then, and while Vally no longer has a distended abdomen, I can feel about 2 hard lumps in the abdomen and all of her more minor symptoms still persist (though she's still acting pretty peppy).

So, back to the vet today. He basically told me the suprelorin would have kicked in by now, so the hard lumps are very likely older eggs that have fallen into the abdominal cavity (egg yolk peritonitis) or eggs stuck in the oviduct (egg binding). He also said an x-ray and/or ultrasound wouldn't be able to distinguish these two masses, and that my only real options were euthanasia or surgery to fix the issue. He guessed she would have a 50% chance of surviving surgery, and would then also have to recover from the post-op care. Vally has always been a bit weaker than the other hens, so while I was willing to fork out $2,000 for the surgery, I didn't like the idea of doing that if she was going to die or have prolonged suffering. So, I asked the vet for a day to think about it (she is on anti-inflammatories in the meantime).

I have a few specific questions about this that I'm hoping to get some guidance on:

1. If I don't do the surgery and Vally has egg yolk peritonitis, can I treat this with antibiotics and anti-inflammatories? Or, if the yolks are now hard in the abdomen, is it totally futile to treat because the yolks have nowhere to go/can't be reabsorbed? Or if I treat for long enough, could this rectify?

2. If I don't do the surgery and Vally has egg binding, is she likely just to have a backlog of nasty eggs, and can these be passed naturally at this stage?

3. Since Vally laid a lash egg, I'm guessing she could potentially have a salpingitis infection in her oviduct. If so, what is best used to treat this?

I've successfully treated egg yolk peritonitis in my ISAs before. I have access to sulfadimidine, trimethoprim, and enrofloxacin, but am unsure which one is best to use if I do treat - any recommendations?

Thanks everyone! Any and all advice would be very welcomed : ) I have a vet appointment booked for tomorrow morning to follow up.

 

[nuthatched]

Honestly, I'd just lay her to rest. Any method, IF successful, will only extend her life minorly, and she'll still be uncomfortable.

 

[Chicken_tiger_catt]

Hey guys,

I'm really hoping to find some detailed advice for this...

A few weeks ago, my 2 year old ISA brown rescue hen, named Valentina, started showing signs of being unwell. She was lethargic, diarrhea, with a funny posture (tail up, but legs not in typical wide-stance position), but was eating, drinking, and behaving normally aside from being a bit slow and tired. I should mention that after finishing her moult about 2 months ago, Vally didn't come back into lay, but I wasn't too concerned about this given she was acting totally normal.

About 3 weeks ago, on top of her other more minor symptoms, her abdomen started looking quite distended and she laid a 'lash' egg. I immediately took her to an avian vet, who said she very, very likely had health issues related to her reproductive tract, which is what I expected. He recommended we give her a 12 month suprelorin implant, which I happily agreed to. It's been 3 weeks since then, and while Vally no longer has a distended abdomen, I can feel about 2 hard lumps in the abdomen and all of her more minor symptoms still persist (though she's still acting pretty peppy).

So, back to the vet today. He basically told me the suprelorin would have kicked in by now, so the hard lumps are very likely older eggs that have fallen into the abdominal cavity (egg yolk peritonitis) or eggs stuck in the oviduct (egg binding). He also said an x-ray and/or ultrasound wouldn't be able to distinguish these two masses, and that my only real options were euthanasia or surgery to fix the issue. He guessed she would have a 50% chance of surviving surgery, and would then also have to recover from the post-op care. Vally has always been a bit weaker than the other hens, so while I was willing to fork out $2,000 for the surgery, I didn't like the idea of doing that if she was going to die or have prolonged suffering. So, I asked the vet for a day to think about it (she is on anti-inflammatories in the meantime).

I have a few specific questions about this that I'm hoping to get some guidance on:

1. If I don't do the surgery and Vally has egg yolk peritonitis, can I treat this with antibiotics and anti-inflammatories? Or, if the yolks are now hard in the abdomen, is it totally futile to treat because the yolks have nowhere to go/can't be reabsorbed? Or if I treat for long enough, could this rectify?

2. If I don't do the surgery and Vally has egg binding, is she likely just to have a backlog of nasty eggs, and can these be passed naturally at this stage?

3. Since Vally laid a lash egg, I'm guessing she could potentially have a salpingitis infection in her oviduct. If so, what is best used to treat this?

I've successfully treated egg yolk peritonitis in my ISAs before. I have access to sulfadimidine, trimethoprim, and enrofloxacin, but am unsure which one is best to use if I do treat - any recommendations?

Thanks everyone! Any and all advice would be very welcomed : ) I have a vet appointment booked for tomorrow morning to follow up.

I just saw a thread on this from 2023.......... you should look up the issue in the search bar/ scroll down in recent threads. if I recall, the poster said their hen is still alive a year later, after being treated with vitamins, herbs, honey, and a low dose of antibiotic.

 

[Chicken_tiger_catt]

I just saw a thread on this from 2023.......... you should look up the issue in the search bar/ scroll down in recent threads. if I recall, the poster said their hen is still alive a year later, after being treated with vitamins, herbs, honey, and a low dose of antibiotic.

edit. was for a similar condition, but not the same. I would still try the antibiotic.

 

[ManueB]

Hey guys,

I'm really hoping to find some detailed advice for this...

A few weeks ago, my 2 year old ISA brown rescue hen, named Valentina, started showing signs of being unwell. She was lethargic, diarrhea, with a funny posture (tail up, but legs not in typical wide-stance position), but was eating, drinking, and behaving normally aside from being a bit slow and tired. I should mention that after finishing her moult about 2 months ago, Vally didn't come back into lay, but I wasn't too concerned about this given she was acting totally normal.

About 3 weeks ago, on top of her other more minor symptoms, her abdomen started looking quite distended and she laid a 'lash' egg. I immediately took her to an avian vet, who said she very, very likely had health issues related to her reproductive tract, which is what I expected. He recommended we give her a 12 month suprelorin implant, which I happily agreed to. It's been 3 weeks since then, and while Vally no longer has a distended abdomen, I can feel about 2 hard lumps in the abdomen and all of her more minor symptoms still persist (though she's still acting pretty peppy).

So, back to the vet today. He basically told me the suprelorin would have kicked in by now, so the hard lumps are very likely older eggs that have fallen into the abdominal cavity (egg yolk peritonitis) or eggs stuck in the oviduct (egg binding). He also said an x-ray and/or ultrasound wouldn't be able to distinguish these two masses, and that my only real options were euthanasia or surgery to fix the issue. He guessed she would have a 50% chance of surviving surgery, and would then also have to recover from the post-op care. Vally has always been a bit weaker than the other hens, so while I was willing to fork out $2,000 for the surgery, I didn't like the idea of doing that if she was going to die or have prolonged suffering. So, I asked the vet for a day to think about it (she is on anti-inflammatories in the meantime).

I have a few specific questions about this that I'm hoping to get some guidance on:

1. If I don't do the surgery and Vally has egg yolk peritonitis, can I treat this with antibiotics and anti-inflammatories? Or, if the yolks are now hard in the abdomen, is it totally futile to treat because the yolks have nowhere to go/can't be reabsorbed? Or if I treat for long enough, could this rectify?

2. If I don't do the surgery and Vally has egg binding, is she likely just to have a backlog of nasty eggs, and can these be passed naturally at this stage?

3. Since Vally laid a lash egg, I'm guessing she could potentially have a salpingitis infection in her oviduct. If so, what is best used to treat this?

I've successfully treated egg yolk peritonitis in my ISAs before. I have access to sulfadimidine, trimethoprim, and enrofloxacin, but am unsure which one is best to use if I do treat - any recommendations?

Thanks everyone! Any and all advice would be very welcomed : ) I have a vet appointment booked for tomorrow morning to follow up.

I'm sorry that I don't have an answer. I was in a similar situation in July 2022 with my hen Caramel and chose to let her have surgery. She did not survive. The vet had warned me, like yours did. She had said that the alternative, bringing her home with antibiotics, would only buy her a few months.
Confronted with the same choice now, I would only do surgery for a hen that seemed in otherwise relatively good health. Caramel passed from the anesthesia, her heart could not take it.

I have read several times on BYC that enrofloxacin is the antibiotic the most efficient for EYP. It is completely forbidden for veterinary use in my country, so I have not tried it. Another option would be to ask the vet to do a culture, to know which bacteria is affecting Vally.

 

[Laraeaf]

Update for everyone. I took her to another vet for a secondary opinion. They offered (free of charge - bless!) to do an x-ray, which didn't reveal anything hard-shelled, but a subsequent ultrasound revealed a large shell-less egg (probably a lash) stuck very close to the cloaca. They believe that since she is otherwise healthy, behaving relatively normally and the mass is close to the cloaca, we should give her the chance to pass it.

They've prescribed Amoxyclav to prevent infection, and have recommended an epsom bath twice daily. They're also consulting with one of their avian specialist vet friends to see whether the mass can be removed manually somehow, without doing a very risky open surgery.

I'll keep you all updated and thank you for the advice!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

1. If I don't do the surgery and Vally has egg yolk peritonitis, can I treat this with antibiotics and anti-inflammatories? Or, if the yolks are now hard in the abdomen, is it totally futile to treat because the yolks have nowhere to go/can't be reabsorbed? Or if I treat for long enough, could this rectify?

Glad you were able to have a second vet evaluate her.

I will give my opinion.

Will antibiotics help? Perhaps for a period of time they may offer supportive care and comfort.
If she has material in the oviduct hopefully she can expel that. Calcium Citrate given once daily for a few days may help with contractions, speak with your vet about that.
Generally, once Salpingitis has started, the lash material will continue to form and accumulate even if an antibiotic is given. Some hens will expel the material and be fine for a while until more accumulates.

It's very possible that the material will clog up the reproductive system. Very possible for the material, eggs, yolks, etc. to also drop into the abdominal cavity through reverse peristalsis. This material is not usually absorbed by the body, but it however will eventually become more and more encased by "caseous exudes" in the body's attempt to encase the material that doesn't belong in the abdominal cavity. As these masses are encased, they get larger, cause inflammation and sometimes infection. They can begin to press on the internal organs inhibiting normal function and cause other symptoms like a slow digestive system/crop problems, press on nerves causing some neurological symptoms, cause mobility problems, cause breathing difficulties due to less expansion of air sacs and/or you may also find that fluid is starting to accumulate in the body as well (Symptom Ascites).

Can't say whether surgery is a good option or not. It is not something I would even remotely consider for me. Again, giving my own personal opinion. Some folks have found that surgery was helpful and extended their hen's life for another year or two, for others, then hen died or died shortly after surgery. No one can say how well surgery will go, so this would be something for you to discuss further with your vet.

Here's an example of what an Oviduct looks like that is impacted with lash material.

For me, I will treat symptoms to see if a hen will rally, this may include giving medications but nowadays that's rare that I will even give meds. I do try to make a hen more comfortable, but when it's clear that she's suffering from a chronic or terminal condition and her quality of life is lacking, then I put her down.


Photo and Thread Reference

which didn't reveal anything hard-shelled, but a subsequent ultrasound revealed a large shell-less egg (probably a lash) stuck very close to the cloaca. They believe that since she is otherwise healthy, behaving relatively normally and the mass is close to the cloaca, we should give her the chance to pass it.

2. If I don't do the surgery and Vally has egg binding, is she likely just to have a backlog of nasty eggs, and can these be passed naturally at this stage?

3. Since Vally laid a lash egg, I'm guessing she could potentially have a salpingitis infection in her oviduct. If so, what is best used to treat this?

 

[Laraeaf]

Another update for everyone (as I'm hoping this thread will be useful for others in this situation). Epsom salt baths, antibiotics, and anti-inflammatories didn't appear to be helping the mass move along. The mass appeared in the ultrasound to be very close to the cloaca, but it can't be felt when gently inserting a finger.

After 2 days of this treatment, Vally was still eating, drinking, pooping, and dustbathing. But during the epsom baths, she was clearly straining and trying to get this thing out, and every bath left her totally exhausted and shaking from pain. Through all of this, the mass didn't move at all, so I figured it was likely an egg fused to the oviduct or a tumor.

I contacted the vet again this morning. My intention was to euthanise as I felt Vally was suffering too much for no reason, and the vet offered to do a removal of the mass under light anesthetic, as they felt it could be removed safely and quickly given it's proximity to the cloaca and surface of the skin. If she appears stable, they will try to remove any unhealthy looking materials inside and would go for a full blown hysterectomy if it is an absolute must for survival. They've quoted a significantly lower price for the surgery ($400-600), maybe because of the light anesthetic, but I think they're also hoping to learn from this experience themselves...

We don't know if Vally will pull through the surgery, but whatever the result, she'll finally be free of this pain. Fingers crossed!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Another update for everyone (as I'm hoping this thread will be useful for others in this situation). Epsom salt baths, antibiotics, and anti-inflammatories didn't appear to be helping the mass move along. The mass appeared in the ultrasound to be very close to the cloaca, but it can't be felt when gently inserting a finger.

After 2 days of this treatment, Vally was still eating, drinking, pooping, and dustbathing. But during the epsom baths, she was clearly straining and trying to get this thing out, and every bath left her totally exhausted and shaking from pain. Through all of this, the mass didn't move at all, so I figured it was likely an egg fused to the oviduct or a tumor.

I contacted the vet again this morning. My intention was to euthanise as I felt Vally was suffering too much for no reason, and the vet offered to do a removal of the mass under light anesthetic, as they felt it could be removed safely and quickly given it's proximity to the cloaca and surface of the skin. If she appears stable, they will try to remove any unhealthy looking materials inside and would go for a full blown hysterectomy if it is an absolute must for survival. They've quoted a significantly lower price for the surgery ($400-600), maybe because of the light anesthetic, but I think they're also hoping to learn from this experience themselves...

We don't know if Vally will pull through the surgery, but whatever the result, she'll finally be free of this pain. Fingers crossed!

Let us know how it goes.