Hen with clear eyes, but mucous, blood in mouth. Canker? *pictures*

[Pear Pear]

I was convinced my hen, Red, had canker, but she did not respond yet to Metranodazole, and now is starting to bleed in her mouth.

SYMPTOMS
- starting drooling clear mucusy liquid one week ago
- has big gooey clump of "cheese" in back of throat
- at first had horrible breath, but no longer
- struggles to eat or drink. Gurgles with head up
- has clear nose & eyes
- no coughing or sneezing
- walks around quite a bit (she is free range), but otherwise slumped by herself
- is VERY thin
- is old (5+ years)
- rest of flock (17 girls, various ages) looks pretty good

TREATMENT SO FAR
- The first day I swabbed her throat with VetRx and some cheese came out and a little blood. I also massaged her crop.
- After some research, I ordered some Metranodazole to treat canker.
- In the meantime I daily swabbed her head & nose with Vet Rx, fed yogurt or eggs with garlic and gave some Gatorade.
- last 4 days she got the Metra, about 100 mg/day
- tonight she was drooling out some blood and I gave her some Metcam for pain

QUESTIONS
-The vet suggested LS50, as an upper respiratory antibiotic, but she doesn't seem to have those symptoms? Should I try it anyway for the whole flock?
- I'm also worried about things like wet pox, coryza, etc, but she doesn't seem to have quite the right symptoms?
- Was my dose too low for Metra? I'd did not seem to improve at all, so now I'm thinking it isn't canker.

The other girls are doing very well, but I'm worried that they got some germs. I just separated Red tonight when I saw the blood. Tomorrow is Sunday, but Monday I will probably take her to the local lab for euthanasia and diagnosis. I would have sooner, but it's a 2-hr round trip drive, and also I guess I wanted to give her a chance.

Sorry this is so long!! Any help, input etc is welcome! Thanks!

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. Sorry about your chicken. Canker and wet fowl pox are sometimes hard to tell apart. I haven't treated either one, but they are both difficult to treat. Have you seen any dry fowl pox in your flock recently? I think you can give 250 mg daily of metronidazole for canker. Casportpony or Michael Apple may be able to help you.

 

[dawg53]

It would be best to take her to the lab. Canker can be transmitted to other birds as well as Infectious Laryngotracheitis (ILT.) It could be a type of cancer too, not sure though.

 

[Pear Pear]

Thank you for the feedback! I have her completely seperate now in her own little run and coop and am giving her a few more days as long as she is eating and drinking decently. There hasn't been any more blood and she's getting LS50 antibiotic at the vet's suggestion.

I sort of can't believe she is hanging in this long! I'll take her to the lab soon, but I hate having to take a bird there, kinda depressing. Will be good to know what she's had going on though, I will add an update when I find out.

 

[Pear Pear]

So it turns out the poor old girl had cancer in her esophagus, not very common, and obviously not very treatable. Glad she is now at peace, and glad it's not anything contagious.

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry for your loss, but thank you for giving us an update on what was wrong. Cancer seems very common in chickens.

 

[jgoldy2]

Welcome to BYC. Sorry to here that, you have done the right thing. No madder how many gift you give, the one to give peace is the best gift ever

 

[silly4buttons]

Iam so sorry for your loss

 

[justplainbatty]

Very sorry for your loss But,