PERITONITIS
Peritonitis in turkeys is often mistaken for blackhead. It is a very difficult disease to treat, and it is only with the milder cases that success can reasonably be expected. The affected bird must be kept quiet, protected from any current of air, and opium in doses of one (1) grain every four hours is recommended to quiet the pain and reduce the movement of the intestines, or mix three or four drops of aconite in a half glass of water and give a teaspoonful three or four times a day. Injections of tepid water are recommended to counteract constipation. Take a hot water bag. Do not have the water so hot that it would be uncomfortable for the turkey; wring a flannel out of warm water and lay it over the hot water bag, and then place the bag against the wall of the abdomen. Renew them as often as necessary to keep up a moist heat. This treatment should be continued from a half hour to an hour. Repeat three or four times a day, drying the surface of the wall afterwards so that the bird will not take cold. If there is a great weakness, one or two drops of ether, or four or five drops of tincture of camphor may be injected under the skin as a stimulant.
In case the disease is due to rupture of the oviduct or perforation of the intestine, treatment is useless; if it has followed inflammation of the intestine, the treatment for enteritis should be combined with that for peritonitis.
On opening the abdominal cavity of a turkey which has died from peritonitis, the lining membrane is found to be a deep red in color, and is sometimes covered by an exudate, which may consist of a thin, transparent layer, or it may be thick yellowish or reddish yellow. The abdomen may contain more or less liquid which may be transparent or it may be turbid with a yellow or reddish color. If the trouble is due to the perforation of the intestine, the liquid will have a very offensive odor from the multiplication of the putrefactive germs. If it has resulted from the rupture of the oviduct, the egg, either intact or broken, will generally be found in the abdominal cavity, and the ruptured place in the wall of the oviduct is easily discovered.
The writer had two cases of peritonitis in her flock of turkey hens just around the laying season. One died and the other I succeeded in saving by the breaking of the bound egg and washing out the rectum with a syringe. For a wash of this kind four or five drops of iodine should be added. It is good to relieve pain and acts as a stimulant for the bird. The bird must be kept very warm and comfortable after a thing of that kind for three or four days. It is well to feed the bird on stimulating food and keep her away from the breeding pens until she recovers her strength.