Bad case of Canker? Pox?... Help!

[McMillsh]

Hi everybody

*Please see attached photos*

I have an Easter Egger that is about 2-3 years old. She recently came down with a bad case of canker...or pox (wet or dry?) and I am new to these diseases...I have isolated her from the other chickens.

She has a horribly disfiguring lesion(?) on the right side of her face, beak, inside her mouth. She has swelling around her right eye & it is bubbling/foaming. Poor girl's right nostril is not even visible anymore. I feel horrible. She is my favorite and eldest chicken and I can't believe I didn't notice this sooner.

I have read up on some of the other forums and have spoken with my vet. My vet says he can't legally give my Flagyl. He says it could be pox or something else so he recommended starting out with oxytetracycline in the water, applying chlorahexidine cream (which I don't have yet so he said I could apply some old silver sulfa cream - but then again that is not "legal" to recommend...we simply can never eat her eggs again) to the lesion, and also can apply some cipro opthalmic drops.

I am planning on doing this routine for a few days to see if she gets any better...but I am also wondering if we should just put her down? I don't want to prolong her suffering but then again she is still somewhat active, eating & drinking (as best as she can). Does anyone have any experience with a case this bad? Does the beak and face heal and return to a normal state?

Thank you so very much!

 

[casportpony]

Hello and welcome to BYC!
Is taking her to the vet an option? Your vet could run some tests to see what it is. If it is canker, you can buy fishzole (Flagyl/metronidazole) without a prescription.

 

[casportpony]

This person is dealing with something similar:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/rooster-with-multiple-sores-on-face.1284222/

 

[McMillsh]

I thought about taking her to the vet but he was unavailable yesterday and today due to the holidays. He said I could drop off a stool sample to test and rule out other things but he wouldn't get to it until Wed.
Yah I will try and find that Fishzole and start that! -Thank you!

 

[McMillsh]

This person is dealing with something similar:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/rooster-with-multiple-sores-on-face.1284222/

Thanks!

 

[McMillsh]

UPDATE:
Hi I just wanted to reach out to those who might have read my post or read it in the future.
So I treated my hen for several days w/oral antibiotics and silver sulfa cream as initially recommended by my vet over the phone. She seemed to still be okay activity wise and with eating and drinking, but the lesion on her face got worse and more necrotic...I decided to have her euthanized and submitted her for necropsy at CSU. We just received the report today.

Ultimately my Easter Egger had two types of cancer. The mass on her face was squamous cell carcinoma. She also had ovarian cancer that had metastasized throughout the coelomic cavity (carcinomastosis), liver and spleen. There was no gross or histological evidence of an infectious etiology.

Thanks casportpony for your response and help.