Can I give my hen prednisolone?

[rcentner]

I am a vet tech for cats, we use prednisolone all the time...here is my dilema:

Janis has canker, I am tube feeding her due to the large plaque/lesions keeping her beak from closing correctly, she has been getting 250mg of metronidazole once daily in her tube feedings. The vet I spoke with thought it would be a few weeks that I could be tube feeding her. After 1 1/2 weeks, I don't see any improvement in the lesions. She is getting pretty weak still. I have noticed that she has lice and began treating for that with the permethrin dust this past weekend. I also bought her some whole kernel corn pieces since I saw her actually pick one up and eat it yesterday. She wants to eat and hangs out with the flock and seems to drink just fine.
Anyhow, after reading about trichomonas and why the plaque/lesions form (auto-immune response) I thought, "why not pred?" If it were a cat and it had mysterious lesions, pred would work. I just want to give Janis all I've got.
I realize my question is a bit technical, and there is a dose for birds in the vet drug handbook, but after all this work I would hate to find out that it was a bad idea.
any opinion is good too!

 

[chickerdoodle]

Have your veterinarian contact an avian specialist and you'll get the answer. Luckily, we have 2 veterinarians that treat chickens in our area!

 

[rcentner]

I hate to bother the specialist I know and he suggested that this was a non painful process, I disagree. I think having your beak really crooked is likely uncomfortable. So if I ask this guy, he will likely say it is not needed. that is why I didn't just go ahead and ask him.

 

[perolane]

As you know, prednisolone is used in felines because there is a question as to whether their liver can convert prednisone to prednisolone.

As to fowl......prednisone, prednisolone, corticosteroids are anti-inflammatory, immunosuppressive, may predispose birds to other fungal infections, diarrhia, etc. & should be used only with extreme caution (either orally, topically or injectably).

With that said....will the hen eat anything at all? Canned corn, yogart, mash made into a gruel??

It seems to me that tube feeding for this amount of time will have it's own negative effects such as trach & esophageous damage....or just plain old soreness that will keep her from eating.

IF SHE WERE MINE....& I knew that this was the last ditch effort....I would discontinue tube feeding & try to get her to eat on her own. Just put it in her beak if necessary...no more tubing. I would discontinue the metronidazole as it is not working. Prednisolone 0.1 mg per lb IM 1x day for 3 days....then every other day -2x....STOP.

Make sure she drinks water w/electrolytes...squirt into beak if necessary.

If you do not see progress by the 3rd day...or if she is suffering at any time....you will have to do what is needed as hard as it may be.

Needless to say...use no eggs from this hen for awhile if she recovers.

I hope this helps & I wish you the best!

 

[rcentner]

I was worried about damage to the espohagus through all this. I started the prednisolone tonight in her tube feeding. I was able to get corn big enough and she can eat that a little, but not enough to survive. If I discontinue tube feeding, she will die. I fear that this may not end well, but I must give it all i've got. I suppose this could have been a misdiagnosis and it is cancer maybe. This is the 2nd reason I wanted to use pred. She cannot get regular food down her beak and I have been trying a lot of different sized items. I will take your reccomendation on the pred, thank you very much for that. I am worried about possible infection somewhere, but I really don't want to add any more meds to the regimen right now. oh boy! I think I will try and discontinue the metronidazole as it has been 10 days of treatment and the trichomonas should be gone, now just waiting for the lesions to go away. Thanks again

 

[alaskafarmgirl]

Great to find your post -- my injured bird seems to be doing better with an expired 2 mg daily dose of methylprednisone, which I've given to her every other day for 6 days. I'll cut back to 1/2 mg daily for a couple of days and stop, but she is so much better now. I've been searching everywhere for this info, so thanks.


Quote:

 

[alaskafarmgirl]

I know this is an older post, and I hope your chick made it -- mine has done very well on methylprednisone for humans, weakened dosage by having expired a few years ago -- but it seems to help to have given her 2 mg. every other day for 6 days. Now I'm cutting back to 1/2 mg. for 2 days, then stop and see what happens. Much improvement seen, but it could be that time heals all, too.

 

[rcentner]

I used the pred for a few days, but after speaking with peter brown, he did not feel it would help. As for the hen I was speaking of....she passed on after I tube fed her for 2 weeks as I could not get enough nutrients into her (since I work 12 hour days making it impossible to feed her 3-4 times a day) and 2 times a day was not good enough. She passed peacefully and Peter Brown and I talked and he felt that the trichomonas had been there much longer than I thought and likely spread to her internal organs.
It was very sad and I could not bring myself to do a necropsy on her...somewhat out of fear of what I might find that I had done wrong, but mostly because I had a diagnosis and I felt it was best to move on.

To all that need to use pred (of any sort) be sure to taper the dose when you want to stop using it...this is a chemical that the body naturally makes and you need to give the body time to kick back into making on it's own again.

 

[Suzie]

Rcentner

So sorry that your chicken died despite your best efforts to save her - I take prednisolone as part of my medication for my Rheumatoid Arthritis - I had no idea it could be used for animals too.

I don't think I would ever consider giving it to any of my chickens as it has such a negative effect upon me!

My thoughts are with you at this very sad time for you

Suzie