An update on Cinnamon

Yesterday I was convinced that Cinnamon had a blockage that she was trying to clear. When I got back from the vet we gave her the first dose of baytril at half past four. She had a dish of mash and water in the cat box but made no attempt to have any.

At half past seven she suddenly started eating. I added sunflower hearts and chopped grape to her mash which she ate.

I now have to conclude that it wasn’t a blockage that she was trying to clear but that she was trying to clear the foam from her throat and beak. This makes me think that it must be mycoplasma. This is a different set of symptoms to any that I have seen before and the vet had’t come across this before and I also couldn’t find it in my research on the internet.

Never the less with my past experience I know that myco can present many different symptoms and I can’t come up with any other explanation for the foam that Cinnamon had. It is really odd that this has happened in summer as it is usually cold weather that brings it on and also Cinnamon was always the least effected in the past.

There has been no stress in the chicken run apart from the heat wave but seramas are good with heat as they originate from a hot country (Malaysia).

This morning we gave Cinnamon her second dose of baytril. I topped her mash with some more sunflower seeds and chopped grape. She tucked into those and drank from her water dish.

At ten o’clock I put Cinnamon back in the run. I put in some of our lettuce (from the allotment) that had gone to seed and she was soon tucking in to that with the other girls.

I couldn’t keep Cinnamon in the cat box and the other girls have already been exposed so it was best for her to go back in the run. We will give her the baytril twice a day to her beak for seven days. The egg withdrawal period is a further twenty eight days. Cinnamon only lays once a week and her eggs are distinct plus she is the only girl that lays in the corner of the new chicken shed.

Cinnamon hadn’t laid for ten days prior to this so that may have been indication that something was adrift. I am certain that if I hadn’t taken Cinnamon to the vet when I did we would have lost her.

Unfortunately this shows that myco is still in the flock but at least the vet was happy to give me baytril. Because the baytril is administered to one girl only and followed by egg withdrawal it doesn’t pass any antibiotic into the food chain. Having said that, the vet said she would have given me tylan, if it had been in stock.

This makes me wonder if the other vet has left or if there is poor communication within the vet’s surgery. Either way if I have myco in my flock in the future I will be fighting to get medication and will treat any individual girl as soon as I see any symptoms.

I am now hopeful that Cinnamon has a good chance of complete recovery.

Cinnamon today with Speckles sticking close by

And here they are again

Yesterday when we realised that Cinnamon had a problem Speckles was stood close by her. Speckles has hardly left Cinnamon’s side today.