Help! My pekin has a swollen head and eye

[Bantamman141]

Hi all,

Looking for assistance for my pekin bantam, she's around one year old, just got back from holiday and her head and eye is massively swollen/infected, we have flushed it out with saline solution and orally given vet rx to try and help her. She often has periods of lethargy but she's very lethargic and losing weight. She can't see out of the bad eye.

Add ideas on what it could be and how to treat it?

Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Shabby Chic-Hens]

I think she has an eye infection… @Wyorp Rock thoughts?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Welcome To BYC

Is there a bad odor?
Have you added new birds recently?
Are you in the U.S.?

I'd flush with saline, press out the pus. Apply an eye ointment like Terramycin in the eye.

 

[Eggcessive]

Make sure that she is getting fluids and food held up to her beak since she cannot see well. Try to rule out a respiratory infection that has caused the swelling in the eye, versus a peck or some foreign body in the eye. Any pus needs to come out, and flushing the eye with saline and pressing out any pus is necessary.

 

[Bantamman141]

Hi all, thanks for helping, there doesn't appear to be any bad smell. We are in the UK so cannot get hold of the terramycin. The lump is relatively hard, how hard should I squeeze it while trying to get the pus out?

Definitely not a peck or injury. And doesn't appear to be a foreign body in there.

Haven't added any new birds to the flock, we have had health issues with this group of birds since we got them 7 months ago. Sneezing, occasional lethargy, had to put one down as it suddenly got a paralysed leg and deteriorated from them.

Could this be something worse?

Thanks

 

[Eggcessive]

The leg paralysis in the one you lost could point to possible Mareks disease. If these birds were hatched by someone else, they could have come with a chronic respiratory disease, such as MG (mycoplasma gallisepticum.) Pus can become hard around the eye and in the sinus cavity. Gently squeezing may get it out. The video posted above is good. Get some normal saline or make some at home to use to flush the eye. Two teaspoonsful of table salt added to (a liter or quart of water) is brought to boil, reduced to a simmer, then cooled and placed into a clean jar is the saline recipe. Here is a second more graphic video on getting pus from the eye to reduce swelling:

 

[Bantamman141]

Thanks, do you push the top or the bottom of the eye? Should we put a warm compress on it first to try and soften it? The videos look very painful!