Possible lymphoid leucosis neoplastic tumor + Update: Not injury. Confirmed to be a tumor

[azygous]

My five year-old Legbar/EE cross rooster Tootsie has what appears to be a tumor on his left shank. I first noticed a hard knot about a month ago, just a strange bulge with no exterior lesions. Lately, he's been behaving, while not exactly lethargically, definitely off from his usual high octane life style. He's also taken to pausing as he's walking and shaking the leg, as if to shake off something uncomfortable. Last night, he was reluctant to hop onto his roosting perch, eighteen inches high.

Today, I decided it was time to take a closer look. What I found was the bulge had hollowed out in the center where the tissue appears to be going necrotic. There is no sign of pus or wetness at all. But part of the lump is developing stringy tissue, abnormal growth. It seems to be causing slight to moderate pain.

Tootsie is one of only two chickens hatched from within my LL virus carrying flock that survived past their first year. If this is a tumor, it is likely associated with the virus he carries. I gave him an aspirin for the pain, and will continue to do so. I plan to document the progress of this lump and will post updates.

I've had two other chickens develop these types of tumors. They are dry, not bleeding, slow growing, and do become painful eventually. When Tootsie reaches the point where he's in too much pain to enjoy a normal life, I will euthanize him. Meanwhile, we will all follow his progress and maybe learn something.

 

[MaryJanet]

Thanks @azygous . I've added this thread to my watch list.

 

[Perris]

me too. What dose aspirin do you give him?

 

[kurby22]

Poor Tootsie, I’ll be trying to follow too!

 

[azygous]

Aspirin relieves pain, but it didn't appear to help Tootsie.

I'm now wondering if this is an abscess. @dawg53 what do you think? I'm leaning towards trying pine tar to see if this is infection from an abrasion.

 

[azygous]

@Shadrach what do you think? Is it an abscess or a tumor? Would you try pine tar?

 

[Eggcessive]

Maybe try an antibiotic to treat an abscess from an injury? I think some recommend clindamycin or cephalosporin (keflex, cephalexin) for bones. @casportpony do you have a suggestion for antibiotic? Carol, it still may be LL, but worth a try to treat it. Chlorhexidene 2% is good for disinfection and cleaning.

 

[Shadrach]

@Shadrach what do you think? Is it an abscess or a tumor? Would you try pine tar?

I'm really not sure azygous. Henry, the rooster at the allotments has a sore patch in the same place and I've seen it on other roosters.
What I think...
These patches I've seen (I'll try and get a picture of Henry's later) are at the limit of feather growth and the start of scales. Watching Henry and Twitch noteably in the past it was apparent that this area caused some irritation and they peck at it and pull feathers out. Do you think these sores could be the result of infected follicles?

Here in the UK and in Europe the farm vets keep more than one type of pine tar.
The one used for problems such as this has an antibiotic added. You could try a work around by either mixing triple antibiotic in the pine tar, or applying the ointment topically and then using pine tar.

I would try pine tar. I've had very good results using it on some injuries that looked very nasty but, I've been fortunate enough to get on the case before infection sets in.

 

[azygous]

You know you love chickens when you lose sleep over them.

Thanks @Eggcessive and @Shadrach . One way to diagnose is to try treating and rule it out of the treatment does nothing to help. I think I still have some clindamycin. But it's old and may no longer carry a punch.

I found some pine tar a friend from Switzerland gave me a long time ago. It's enough for me to get started.

The lesion is just above the scales and just right below the feather line. There don't seem to be any follicles involved. The dark center could be the origin of a wound. I plan on filling a metal bucket with warm Epsom salts and giving him a long soak and then I'll see if the dark center will debride. Then I'll gob on the pine tar over some triple antibiotic ointment.

 

[azygous]

The first photo is from last Friday. The second is from today, five days of treatment later. The greenish tint on the scales below the wound is from cannabis salve I've been using for his pain. I don't see any real difference, maybe a little less swelling. I'm not sure. I've been using Vetericyn and triple antibiotic ointment to treat possible infection.

Toots is getting around all right, walking unaffected, but he is in pain. He's also been on clindamycin for five days. I'm still not sure if I'm dealing with a tumor or an infection.