Mycoplasma synoviae, gout or just general arthritis?

[SarahL2021]

First let me say I’m grateful for this web site and all the wonderful wisdom you all dispense!

My 2.5 year old Rhode Island Red has had swollen ankles and feet for the past 2.5 months. She is eating and drinking great, no bluish crown or color. Her feet just keep getting bigger and bigger. From my research on here I thought it was gout and began feeding her tart cherry, the powder from the pills each night for 5 nights. I didn’t think it was helping and didn’t see any decrease in swelling so I quit. Other points in time I’ve tried to inject tylan daily for 5 days to see if it was mycoplasma synovaie, but didn’t see any change (prob 2months ago)

I have switched her feed to grower/finisher so it is very low calcium and low protein in case it’s gout. Some days I mix acid pak 4 way with her water which may have helped (or at least kept the swelling at the same place).

I’ve also soaked her feet in Epsom salts which seems to be relieving for her but have not been able to keep that up everyday.

At this point it just seems like arthritis since nothing seems to get the swelling down, but I just thought I’d check on here as a last ditch effort. I’m thinking of trying some tart cherry and antibiotics again (I have the powder tylosin soluable), just to see. Some background for this gal, she did have coccidiosis about a year ago and vent gleet 6 months ago which resolved after treatment. She used to love yogurt which I fed her from time to time until this flare up occurred (since she’s had the swelling, I fed her yogurt once and she swelled even more so I definitely don’t want to go back to that, since it might be that her liver or kidneys are not able to process calcium or protein). Any ideas? Thanks for brainstorming with me, she seems in good spirits and relatively comfortable, she’s higher on the pecking order so even though she’s laying around more I don’t see much picking on her. She still roosts each night.

A fecal sample from the vet showed a relatively high count of tapeworm so I just wormed the whole flock (of 8) with Worm X. She seemed a bit perkier after that for a day and then worse today with seeming balance issues. It’s very cold here in temperature (PA).

Oh, and I also treated for scaley leg mites too at one point, with sprays in the beginning. Nothing has done the trick for my sweet Red.

 

[Folly's place]

You can have a test done for Mycoplasma, and you need to know if it's actually the problem. Check with your vet, or the state veterinary lab, for information.
What does your vet think about it?
Mary

 

[Eggcessive]

Where are you located? Can you get a picture of the bottoms of her feet while someone holds her? Does she lay eggs anymore? Her swollen ankles appear to look like a chicken with mycoplasma synovitis, a bacterial arthritis. But her toes have a bit of the appearance of articular gout, which has many different causes. Either one of those is hard to treat.

It sounds like you are doing the right things for those two possible illnesses. Tylan works fairly well on mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG,) but most antibiotics do not help or cure MS. Baytril, which is banned in chickens, might be something to use since it is very powerful, as long as you don’t need the eggs.

Is she able to roost at night? Does she have any breast bone sores or blisters that may be seen in chickens with MS? For gout the people who use sour cherry extract say that it seems to help the pain. If you can get your regular local vet to give her some meloxicam, it might help the pain and inflammation. The only concern is that it might cause some kidney issues if she is suffering from gout. Aspirin might be okay to use instead.

This is all just speculation and my opinion since I am not a vet. I would try to keep her comfortable with the meloxicam or aspirin 81 mg twice a day. If you lose her one day, I would get a necropsy by your state vet, where you should be able find out which disease she had.

Here are a few articles to read:
https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poultry/mycoplasmosis/mycoplasma-synoviae-infection-in-poultry

https://thepoultrysite.com/articles/gout-management-in-poultry

https://www.hyline.com/aspx/redbook/redbook.aspx?s=5&p=36

 

[SarahL2021]

Hm, I’ll research how to get the test. If it’s a blood test I’m likely not gonna pay for that. I live in the country and have worked with 3 different local vets, all of whom don’t see chickens but do on occasion for me as a favor - at this point I feel like I know more then them in most of the cases. For this girl I’m now treating her at home, to save some expense. With her it’s kind of just last ditch efforts here possibly just gonna give up and keep trying tart cherry, foot soaks and maybe glucosamine.

Thanks for your reply.

 

[SarahL2021]

@Eggcessive - really appreciate your comment! Confirmed a lot of what I was thinking. And helped bc I think I thought MS and MG were the same. I won’t worry about the antibiotic now I don’t think. I’m in Pennsylvania and the vets I have near me are not very helpful. When she dies I’ll definitely be sending her off for necropsy just to get my final answer.

I’ll try to get a bottom foot photo later. She doesn’t have bumble foot as I’ve treated that many times and there are no marks or sores on the bottom of her feet. I totally agree though that I think it started as MS as originally it was only the ankles, more recently it has spread to the toes and feet which seems like the gout. I think palliative care is what I’m gonna do for now, like you said: soaks, cherry and maybe some aspirin.

She is still roosting at night but has not laid an egg in 5 months (she was molting just prior to this). Thank you!

 

[Eggcessive]

A picture of the bottoms of the feet sometimes can help to see gout more clearly. Again, not a vet, but just interested in reading about different diseases. Here are some pictures of possible gout from older threads—not one of the chickens does have some bumblefoot which is not related:

 

[SarahL2021]

 

[Folly's place]

Ouch! If it's gout, there's a medication for it, at least for people and dogs. It's inexpensive too.
Mary

 

[Eggcessive]

Oh my, that does look like gout. I thought that it looked more like MS from the swollen ankles, but those toes really look like gout. Allopurinol is a drug used in humans, and apparently in poultry as well, to treat symptoms of gout. It might be good to talk to a vet or avian vet about this if you would like to get a diagnosis and possible treatment. Here is some about the drug:
http://www.poultrydvm.com/drugs/allopurinol