last sunday after loosing my fav hen to a uterus collapse, i smelled something awful and traced it to this hen, named sally. looking like a bacterial infection, i immediately started her on 1cc injection of tylan 50 and have for a week now. by last tuesday, the smell had diminished quite a bit, but to be honest, the infection looks worse and she is now having trouble swallowing. because it looked somewhat like canker and the tylan 50 barely touched it, i found some metronidazole in my nedicine cabinet that is about 5 years old. they are 500 mg pills. i broke them into quarters and just an hour ago gave her 125 mg crushed up with some cranberry juice as she couldn't seem to get the wet bread down. i also rubbed ketoconazole 2% around the outside of her beak on the sores. Is there anything else i should try before she gets any worse? Thanks for any input. rodster.
Hi and thanks for the reply. Well, i've watched her struggle to swallow long enough. I know at this pace she will get dehydrated, lose too much weight and lose her spunk, which she still has in good amount for now. I got a towell, burrito'd her and decided to get forceful enough to take a really good look into her mouth and from what i have seen and read, there is no more doubt that it's canker/Trichomoniasis. My biggest problem now is trying to remove enough of this yellowish cottage cheesy stuff so she can swallow again. she HATES having me into her mouth and jumps around very unexpectedly, causing me to have a LOT of trouble trying to grab this stuff with tweezers. i have been trying to scrape and dislodge it with a dental pick, but i'm afraid if she jumps at the wrong momment i could severely injur her, and that isn't the point of this exercise. the q-tips wont nearly touch the stuff, but after i slice and dice tiny bits off, i use the q-tip to bring it out of the mouth. for a sickly bird, she won't sit still and has plenty of vigor left. i just want to get her back eating before that changes. Does anyone have any idea on how to remove this stuff safely? Also, looking at the external swelling of her lower jaw and right side of her lower beak, it seems like there is also another secondary infection going on that tylan 50 hasn't been helping. I am now suspecting some form of a staph or other infection that isn't affected by tylan. i found some doxycycline around the house (again, 5 years old) and from what i am reading, 75 to 100 mg/day would be recommended for a 4# bird. I powdered it up, along with 150mg of metronidazole, 2 drops of metacam, mixed it with grape juice concentrate and used a dropper to give her about half of it so far. i know being unsure of what i am doing is not a good thing, but i have no where else to turn. i very much dislike experimenting, but short of getting into vetrinary school for 3 years, i see no other alternative. i have no work and very little money, so another vet visit is really out of the question. i also
need to mix up some electrolytes and make sure she eats, but again, i don't know just what to give her to keep her strength up. Any and all suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated. Rodster and Sally.
It could also be a bacterial infection or maybe even wet pox. Treatment for canker won't hurt if it isn't canker, so that's probably where I would start and I'd probably also give her baytril and tube feed her.
Hi Kathy and thanks. it's got to be canker as it matches up with the dozen or so pics i have seen thus far. i am just wondering about the external face and jaw redness and swelling. i found some mupirocin 2% ointment that works great on skin infections and abcesses, so i thought i'd try that, rubbing it over her jaw and face. Hopefully she looks even a bit better tomorro. Since i have no baytril, i am trying to use what i have onhand. Because tylan 50 didn't touch it, i'm thinking it's a different type of bacterial infection so i am trying to use the broadest spectrum antibiotic i can that i currently have. Since Doxycycline is actually used in birds, i figured it was the safest bet. i also have cypro, an even stronger one, but i found very little about it's use in animals, especially birds. other choices are clindamycin and cyphlexin. i finally have her confined with electrolyte water, layer/scratch mix, and a raw egg in a bowl. later on i will lightly scramble it over heat but i have so much else to do atm. at least now i am sure about the canker part. just waiting for the drugs to kick in and the swelling to go down. will have a buddy over tonight to help me get more gunk out of her mouth and throat. As for wet pox, it really doesn't look like it in my opinion.
Cipro is in the same family as Baytril, so that's what I would use if I had it.
FWIW, someone had one they thought had canker and necropsy found it was a bacterial infection. I'll try to remember who that was and see if they'll comment on it.
Hi, just an update.
This is day 4 on the metronadiazole and day 3 of the cipro. I think the junk in her mouth is starting to break up and the infection outside seems less red and is possibly starting to shrink. Certainly not the overnight miricle i was hoping for, but i will take any progress. She is eating but i don't see her drinking very much. not much poop to examine but what little there is is runny and kinda darkish. I am hoping by sat to see a noteworthy improvement. Does anyone know how long it will take to see a big difference? Thanks again for the comments and help.
If it is canker, it is contagious to your other birds via the saliva passing in their drinking water. (and feed) It loves stagnant water and will thrive there. I did a lot of reading on it when I had a bird that I thought had canker. Mine did not end up being canker, but here is the thread on it.
