Canker caught late - too late to save?

[azygous]

Canker removal is a must to prevent choking and starvation. Best to find a scraping tool like an ice cream stick and scrape the stuff. Expect it to cause bleeding. It cannot be helped. After the scraping, a mixture of diluted hydrogen peroxide can help reduce bacteria and hopefully healing can get started.

 

[CrystalAnon]

Canker removal is a must to prevent choking and starvation. Best to find a scraping tool like an ice cream stick and scrape the stuff. Expect it to cause bleeding. It cannot be helped. After the scraping, a mixture of diluted hydrogen peroxide can help reduce bacteria and hopefully healing can get started.

I found some long tong tweezers in my husbands’ tools! It worked beautifully. Def some blood while removing the plaque, but not a ton. We worked on her twice. Pulled out a ton of plaque. Her comb regained the red color rather than purple on the tips. She could breathe out of her nose again.
Today she drank a ton of water, all on her own! I took her out to the porch with me, so she could get some mental stimulation & love. It’s way boring being quarantined from the rest of the flock!
Then she discovered my cat’s food dish & started eating it!! I had to pull that from her & give her something different to eat because my cat has phosphorous binders in her food. My cat almost died from renal & liver failure a few weeks ago, so she has special food with special supplements added.
Lucy continued eating, all on her own! That was so exciting because she tried eating a few days ago & choked on the grain getting stuck on the plaque in her throat. She was afraid to eat after that.
I think she’s over the hump… I think she’s actually going to make it through this!
Gave her more metronidazole today. This is the 3rd 250mg dose. Before this I gave her two doses of fenbendozole because it’s the most gentle anti-parasitic I had on hand, until I found the metronidazole at a local tropical fish store.

 

[CrystalAnon]

I found some long tong tweezers in my husbands’ tools! It worked beautifully. Def some blood while removing the plaque, but not a ton. We worked on her twice. Pulled out a ton of plaque. Her comb regained the red color rather than purple on the tips. She could breathe out of her nose again.
Today she drank a ton of water, all on her own! I took her out to the porch with me, so she could get some mental stimulation & love. It’s way boring being quarantined from the rest of the flock!
Then she discovered my cat’s food dish & started eating it!! I had to pull that from her & give her something different to eat because my cat has phosphorous binders in her food. My cat almost died from renal & liver failure a few weeks ago, so she has special food with special supplements added.
Lucy continued eating, all on her own! That was so exciting because she tried eating a few days ago & choked on the grain getting stuck on the plaque in her throat. She was afraid to eat after that.
I think she’s over the hump… I think she’s actually going to make it through this!
Gave her more metronidazole today. This is the 3rd 250mg dose. Before this I gave her two doses of fenbendozole because it’s the most gentle anti-parasitic I had on hand, until I found the metronidazole at a local tropical fish store.

I didn’t find a pure metronidazole product at the tropical fish store. I found two that had metronidazole, but with another ingredients with it (praziquantel in one & sodium chloride in the other), and both are recommended for use against canker as well.
I've been switching between the two... one every other day. I figure this is a full-spectrum approach.

 

[CrystalAnon]

I didn’t find a pure metronidazole product at the tropical fish store. I found two that had metronidazole, but with another ingredients with it (praziquantel in one & sodium chloride in the other), and both are recommended for use against canker as well.
I've been switching between the two... one every other day. I figure this is a full-spectrum approach.

Good progress a couple days ago. Got the most plaque I’ve ever been able to get. When you’re doing this for the first time, be easy on yourself! It’s really hard to do, until you get the hang of it.
Today, Lucy had a field trip out of her cage in the house, into the yard (without the other chickens out… they attacked her last time). She ate a bunch of weeds! She also ate some feed for the first time since she choked on it, a bit more than a week ago! She had been afraid to eat regular feed since then. I just put it in the yard, and she thought she “discovered” it. Then she took a dust bath for the first time in over a week! She loved it. It was a nice warm day, so she wasn’t shivering, and she ate a bit yesterday, so I think she got something to warm her up internally.
We’re looking good at the moment. It’s been an emotional roller-coaster. This canker is nasty stuff!

 

[CrystalAnon]

Good progress a couple days ago. Got the most plaque I’ve ever been able to get. When you’re doing this for the first time, be easy on yourself! It’s really hard to do, until you get the hang of it.
Today, Lucy had a field trip out of her cage in the house, into the yard (without the other chickens out… they attacked her last time). She ate a bunch of weeds! She also ate some feed for the first time since she choked on it, a bit more than a week ago! She had been afraid to eat regular feed since then. I just put it in the yard, and she thought she “discovered” it. Then she took a dust bath for the first time in over a week! She loved it. It was a nice warm day, so she wasn’t shivering, and she ate a bit yesterday, so I think she got something to warm her up internally.
We’re looking good at the moment. It’s been an emotional roller-coaster. This canker is nasty stuff!

Miss Lucy (my first & most prolific egg layer, before she got sick), and my 15 yr old kitty, Bee. Bee will be 16 yrs old in March.

 

[CrystalAnon]

Things are going well now with Lucy!! She’s been taking dust baths when I let her outside before the rest of the chickens.
She’s eating quite a lot. Not enough regular food yet, not enough to let her out into the coop yet.
I let her out like I have in the last three days, for her to eat weeds & forage. I was working, went out to check on her & she was no where to be found! I walked around the house & she had made her way to the coop behind the house!
It drove our rooster crazy cause he couldn’t get to her. She spent about two hours hanging around the coop. She started getting in a spat with one of the other hens through the run fencing. It was adorable!! She’s feeling so much better! They were puffing up, staring each-other down & pecking at one another through the hardware cloth. We have another freeze coming Saturday night, so I won’t be attempting a re-integration before that. If you have any tips & tricks about how to re-integrate a hen that was sick & got well, let me know! My husband would be SO happy to get this hen out of our spare bedroom! Please?!
All joking aside, I’ll be happy to get her out of our house too, and she’ll be happier being with the flock again, as long as they don’t kick her fluffy butt everyday.

 

[orelsi]

I've treated milder cases of Canker with Metrodinazole before. Never so severe. It did not work in one case, but the others got better.

Something else that is helpful is Thyme. Put it in boiling water as you would do with tea, let it cool down and give a couple of tea spoon twice a day, at the same time when you are giving the medication for example.

 

[CrystalAnon]

I've treated milder cases of Canker with Metrodinazole before. Never so severe. It did not work in one case, but the others got better.

Something else that is helpful is Thyme. Put it in boiling water as you would do with tea, let it cool down and give a couple of tea spoon twice a day, at the same time when you are giving the medication for example.

I ended up mixing fenbendozole & metronidazole toward the end of her treatment period (last 2 out of 9 days), because she was getting better, then not so well after I was giving her just the two metronidazole products for a few days. So I figured I’d go back to what seemed to help, along with the metronidazole. Full-spectrum parasite cleanse, I figured.
I’ll try the thyme tea! I love that. Some is still growing in our herb tower.
She wouldn’t let me catch her today after I let her outside to forage & get a dust bath. Had to let the other chickens out, so I just let them out anyway. She let me catch her after she got humped by our rooster Polko.
She spent over an hour with the flock today, which was a good start. Had some scuffles with the other hens, but she was quite good at standing up for herself, eventhough she hasn’t gained the weight she lost yet.