HticH has a large abcess? on the side of his face

[the Old Rebel]

All right. For the THIRD time I'm going to try to get this posted. I HATE computers, because they hate me!!!! Who knows WHERE the other two posts are about now.

Anyway, this is Harry-that-I-call-Henry. He gotten bitten in the ear and two other places on the side of his face by a weasel or mink back in October. Now he has this large lump (abcess??). THANK GOD it does not involve his ear. Don't know if it is related to the bite wounds or not.

I tried to soak the lump in warm water to get it to open up. That works on cat bite wound abcesses. But this would NOT open up. The black scab is hard and did not soften at all. The edges are yellow and soft, but they wouldn't open up either. So I inserted a hypodermic needle at the base of the lump and withdrew 2 or 3 cc's of yellow, cloudy fluid mixed with a little blood (at the end). I assumed the yellow fluid is pus and that indicates infection.

He is acting normal. He went after a hen today that got in his pen by accident. He didn't have anything in his crop tonight, but my DH says that may be because of another problem (rats eating his food). I will keep him up tomorrow to see if he is eating ok.

Does anyone have any idea what could be causing this and what to do about it?? Should I start him on an antibiotic?? If so, which one? I have Terramycin and Sulmet, but a friend suggested that Baytril may be better. Should I continue trying to drain it down. I'm a little nervous about sticking it with a needle that close to his ear, beak, eye, brain, etc.

I'll certainly appreciate any help anyone can give me. THANKS!!











I can't believe I actually got this finished and the pictures posted. Sure hope this comes out!!

 

[chickensioux]

This looks like an abcess to me that has ruptured at some point or been picked at by another chicken or a little of both. I would keep it clean with a betadine solution and soak it if possible. Keep a close eye on it to make sure that it gets smaller not bigger. It doesn't look as if it needs to be lanced again unless it enlarges. Unless he stops eating completely, I wouldn't nec. start antibiotics yet. Put antibiotic ointment (without pain killer) on it. Hope this helps and call me if it changes for the worse.

 

[the Old Rebel]

Chickensioux and her WONDERFUL DH came over last night and helped me help Harry-that-I-call-Henry. They couldn't believe how LARGE the abcess was.

We very carefully lanced the abcess (a tiny little hole), drained out the pus, and irrigated it with liquid Povidone iodine. I'm watching to see if it fills back up again. We started him on Baytril to help him fight the infection from within. Still don't know if it is related to the weasel/mink attack, but I can't help but think that it is, since it is located in exactly the same spot.

HticH is feeling MUCH better now. He looks better too.

Thanks sooooooooo much for caring, Chickensioux and DH. I don't know how I got along without you two for so long.


A friendly reminder: Chickensioux is a vet tech. We weren't frivolous in our caring for HticH.

The only problem now is: I am supposed to find a loving home for HticH. And now I am TOO attached to him to let him go!!!!!

 

[chickensioux]

Anytime my friend......I think he will be fine. He is gorgeous, don't tell Ed I said this.......I'd keep him.

 

[the Old Rebel]

Thanks, Chickensioux. I love him toooooooo much. How could I EVER part with him?? We're just going to have to keep taking care of 10 roos. That seems to be our magic number. Can't seem to get away from that. One dies and somehow we add another one. Doesn't matter. I LOVE them all!!!

Hope you have a Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious-type day!!!!