Turkey E. Coli Upper Resp

[yesterDAYNE]

Hello. I have a turkey who, for mostly the whole year, has been sick with what is apparently E. Coli. Earlier this year her sister also had it, and we took them to the vet, treated them with Tylan, and her sister recovered. This hen did not. She has had a swollen sinus with pus and drainage from her chonoal slit the whole time. I have done rounds of Tylan, a round of Baytril, multiple different rounds of eye drops/ointments (Terramycin, Neomycin, Cipro, Tobramycin) and none of it ever cleared it up. I've removed big hard chunks of pus from the bump next to her sinus multiple times this year, but since I can't get the infection to clear up it always just grows back.

Since the last vet visit in the summer, the swab they did on her sister at the time cost me $400. I can't afford that again. I found out that IQBirdTesting does bacterial testing via cloacal swabs, so I recently ordered one. I got the results.

So, I am a little confused as to why the Baytril or Cipro eye drops never showed any improvement, maybe I had weights wrong or didn't do the right dose.
I have access to: Ciprofloxacin Opthalmic Solution .3%, Baytril 10% Oral.

I do not have access to Amikacin, Cefpodoxime, Ceftazidime, Marbofloxacin, Pipercillin, Cefotaxime or Chloramphenicol as far as I'm aware. I work at a veterinary clinic for dogs/cats, and if you think any of these medicines might be better, I can take a look and see if we have any of them.

What dosage do you guys suggest? Should I try both the baytril oral twice a day, and then also the cipro eyedrops at the same time? How many times a day?

I am going to try and buy a new scale today to get a more accurate weight on her.

 

[SmiYa0126]

@Wyorp Rock @azygous @Eggcessive can you guys help?

 

[azygous]

Good grief. You've been treating it with the best meds already. About the only thing I'd suggest would be adding a steroid to the regimen. I've used this on sinus infections with good results. https://www.kvsupply.com/item/neo-poly-dex-ophthalmic-suspension-5-ml/406366/

Has the bird been on an oral antibiotic, as well as eye drops?

 

[dawg53]

Since you've thrown everything including the kitchen sink at your turkey and there's no improvement, I'm wondering if there's a viral issue going on since antibiotics havnt had any effect? However if it were viral, your other turkey would still be sick, yet she was successfully treated with Tylan, an antibiotic.
Is there a foul odor around the head of your turkey? If so, get her started on sulfadimethoxine or SMZ-TMP.
You might as well get her started on one of the sulfa drugs I mentioned, they are the only ones that you havnt used to treat her. You have nothing to lose.

 

[Eggcessive]

Respiratory diseases are chronic, and they can come back again and again for life, and infect the other birds in your flock. Since you have treated with so many things already, and they have mentioned E.coli which leads to air sacculitis, I am not sure that this will ever clear up. But if you try the SMZ-TMP and it does not help, I would euthanize her and get a necropsy by your state vet. You have gotten a lot of good advice from some smart people. Just to keep medicating a sick bird over and over with expensive vet visits and medicines, is not good for you or your turkey. I sympathize with you wanting to help her, but this case does not seem to have a good outcome. Very sorry.

 

[teach1rusl]

I had a 7 yr old silky hen with a swollen sinus a few years back…did take to the vet, but did not have a culture done. I treated with SMZ-TMP…seem to recall 2x/day for at least a week. She fully recovered and lived another two years. Worth a shot anyhow…

 

[yesterDAYNE]

I'll bring her in soon and try a mix of both of the baytril and the eyedrops at the same time, I haven't done them both simultaneously. I'll give a shot to the other things as well. If not I am definitely willing to take her to the vet again, my turkeys are like my dogs/cats to me and if it's something that can be fixed I'd like to make sure I at least went down every avenue I can afford before euthanizing her, but of course if it ends up being something that can't ever be at least manageable I will consider it. It's odd, she seems fine besides the snot and sinus buildup, she never acts odd or has bad poops, and I definitely don't think it's viral because none of my other birds have caught it despite being around her the entire time. I'll look into seeing if I can get ahold of the SMZ-TMP as well! Thanks guys.

Also the only oral treatments I've tried on her were Tylan and Baytril, but never at the same time as the eyedrops. So I'm definitely going to try that next since I already have them on hand. Also bought a new scale to try and get a more accurate weight on her. I also think I have the Neo-Poly-Dex drops, I'll look around and see if I can find them.

Oh also, no foul odor on her head or anything. I've smelled all around her and in her mouth and never smelled anything other than normal turkey breath and smell lol.

 

[azygous]

If you do try the steroid eye drops, limit it to just a few days as it can start lowering immune system responses.

It might just reduce inflammation and mucous production enough for the antibiotic to make some headway.

 

[teach1rusl]

Another thing you can try with an OTC product is oxytetracycline injections every three days for 5 injections. I can look up dosage if interested. I had ‘something’ go through my flock that first covid year…2 of my chickens and 2 of my turkeys ended up with LOTS of mucus…gurgling in the chest. The oxytetracycline injections did the trick…improvement seen within a few days, although I finished the series,...
It scared me enough that I “sacrificed” a chicken hen who had been chronically sick over the past year (different symptoms) to have tested for MG/MS at Purdue (negative for both). When I spoke with the pathologist, he told me that between the time of year (fall) and it being responsive to oxytetracycline, it was a form of flu, which could be caused by a few different bacterias (blanking on the 2-3 possibilities he mentioned).
Oxytetracycline is over the counter, and not $$, so maybe try it??

 

[dawg53]

@yesterDAYNE
Here's where you can buy SMZ-TMP. Dosage is 1/2 tablet twice a day for no more than 7 days for your turkey.
https://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=91F10ACA-FB33-44F4-9A6C-40FCD628F49B