Ruptured Oviduct--A Case History

[Pidgey]

Pattie Cakers had to get another surgery roughly a year and a half later from the first to remove more of the stuff. This time, it wasn't one discrete ball within the oviduct. The oviduct had developed a diverticulum-like (extra pocket) section with a mass in it as well as a few more in various little bubbles here and there. There were also "adhesions" to the intestines and in other spots. Adhesions are where normally separate tissues have developed scar tissue connections and the like. The really difficult thing about connecting to the intestines is that you cannot be sure that the removal of the tissue that you, by rights, should take out won't affect the other. This is because blood supply can become a tricky matter--it might end up coming from the tissue that you remove and going to a portion of the tissue that's remaining. In such a case, it could cause, for instance, a small section of the bowel to die which would be catastrophic a few days down the road.

We treated it bit by bit and removed what we could. These are the removed pieces of which only one was viable tissue, the others being inflammatory debris (the disc at the far right is a quarter to give an idea of scale):



Dr. Weir only suggested Orbax pills or Baytril for recovery.

Pidgey

Note: Lately, my computer hasn't been showing the little images that some of these links are made into. Since other computers may have the same problem for whatever reason, I'm including the raw link here just in case:

http://pets.webshots.com/photo/20282...73664377zeRlWG

[Pidgey]

I was contacted recently by a lady here in my town who was referred to me. She's got a rescued pigeon that has been her pet for many years. The symptoms that she described over the phone included the depression, gooey poop and a blob of stuff that could only have come from the oviduct. Sight unseen, I gave her some Baytril and Metronidazole with instructions for their use and dosing. She started that the tail end of last week and finally had a chance to bring the bird over about 5 or 6 days later.

The abdominal mass was obvious from the first touch. The bird's respiration rate was about 100 breaths per minute. The lady told me that she gets pretty anxious away from home so I told her to count the breaths over the next few days and chart it. The bird was back down to ~68 at home that day (4th) and was running 48 to 52 earlier this morning. I have seen this with these birds when they're responding to the Baytril/Met combo so it's falling pretty well in line with Pattie Cakers' symptoms and response.

The mass is every bit as big as Pattie Cakers' first time as well as the bird had lost a lot of weight. She's perking up pretty well now and eating up a storm. I had the lady get in touch with Dr. Weir to make an appointment and I'd like to be there if possible. So far, that's for 2:00 PM this coming Monday (the 9th). Personally, I'd rather see her put a little more weight on just to help build up some blood volume before the surgery if nothing else and I told the lady to call 'em up and suggest that as a possibility since she's doing so well. Anyhow, will include a follow-up post when the time comes since it's relative to this thread.

Follow-Up Note:

Sunday, five days later, the bird's maintaining a 46 to 60 respiration rate so that's probably not going to go down until after the surgery. She weighs 350 grams at this point and so the fattening up will be continued for the next week or two since the bird is in otherwise very good spirits. We'll try to get a weight just before and then just after the surgery to see how big the thing is.

Pidgey

[mr squeaks]

WISHING the lady ALL the BEST with her pijie's surgery and recovery! She will probably be a basket case worrying!! Glad you are there to help!

Please let us know as soon as you can how things go!

Love, Hugs and Scritches

Shi

[Pidgey]

The bird, Pearl, had her surgery yesterday. The lady and the vet agreed that it'd be better to postpone the surgery until Pearl gained some weight. Then the lady's mother got sick, the lady got sick and the vet went on vacation, all in sequence. So, Pearl had plenty of time to get ready. She ended up getting a combination surgery--removal of a really big mass (larger than the one that came out of Pattie Cakers) and removal of the oviduct as well.

She felt pretty crappy overnight but was walking, preening and eating this morning. Not real energetically, mind you, but it's looking pretty good. The resting respiration rate was down in the low 30s this morning and it had been running about 50.

Pidgey

[TAWhatley]

Thanks for the update, Pidgey! I hope Pearl is now on the road to a full recovery!

Terry

[Lady Tarheel]

Pidgey, great news - some things make me want to cry and this is one of them.

[Pidgey]

Well, the 72-hour report is that the lady's got a new bird altogether. Pearl's doing some tail-fanning now that the lady hadn't seen in a very long time. She started thinking that it's been "months and months and months" since she's seen Pearl feeling this good. Some of these oviduct problems can stretch out for a very long time.

Pidgey

[Lady Tarheel]

Great news Pidgey. Thank you.

[mr squeaks]

ABSOLUTELY TERRIFIC, PIDGEY!!

WISHING PEARL ALL THE BEST!!

With love, hugs and scritches

Shi & Squeaks

[Pidgey]

Pattie Cakers had to be brought in over a month ago because she was going downhill again. I really think she's just too willing to not eat and stay on the nest. She just gets too far behind in such cases. Anyhow, I caught her looking a little spacey and decided she needed to come in for observation. Her appetite and respiration were fine but I could tell she didn't feel well and she'd lost weight so we started her on Baytril and Flagyl.

After a 10-day course of Baytril and a 7-day course of Flagyl, we shifted to the Trimethoprim/Sulfa combo and held that for a full two weeks. Poops sometimes had that funny snot-like liquid that seems to go with oviduct problems. Occasionally, out would come a lump of stuff from her oviduct but they were usually a little smaller than a dime.

She's finally recuperated enough to pop out a couple of big ones. I expect that she'll REALLY start feeling better now. When I started writing this post, there was only one, but now there are two. Here are pictures:



(Gotta' go to the upper right and navigate to the next pictures)

Pidgey

[TerriB]

So glad she is feeling better! Good thing you noticed her being off!

Intriguing! Could the darker lump possibly be an embryo?

[Pidgey]

No, they come out looking like pure snot (super boogers, which is what they are, in essence) and darken as they dry. The second one's already turning dark. I'll cut them open tomorrow.

Pidgey

[mr squeaks]

Darn, Pidgey...sounds chronic!

Sure hope Patti Cakers will be OK!!

HUGS and Scritches

Shi

[TerriB]

Interesting - looking forward to seeing what is at the core of these lumps!

[Janet]

I found this topic very interesting and helpful. I read through the entire thing. I just posted a topic a few minutes ago about what I think is the same thing you've been talking about. My pigeon is only a few days old though and a hard lump is forming in her abdomen area. I had 2 others that had the same symptoms at an early age and died. I have a strong feeling this one will to. I'm going to make an emergency vet appt. first thing in the morning. THANK YOU soo much for this post of yours and for sharing your experience with your birds. I certainly hope that their doing well and you are an amazing caretaker.