- Thread starter
- #25
mountaingirl196
Songster
I think you're right about the water, Kathy.
I wandered through the forum and the interwebs and am pretty sure this is thrush, rather than canker. The two prescribed cures for this (nystatin and copper sulfate) aren't immediately available locally. An old thread here on BYC recommended using Listerine on a Q-tip to soften the fungus, and the vet agreed with me that the obstruction was to the point that I was going to need to go in with hemostats to try and remove as much of it as we could reach. The vet suggested using a swab with a very dilute bleach solution to wipe the fungus we couldn't remove in order to kill it. One of my local chicken friends mentioned to me that she did something similar with rabbits exhibiting thrush or other fungal infections.
Here is a research study on the efficacy of killing oral fungus with mouthwash.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4834379/
We'd already started with the mouthwash by the time the vet called back, and per her suggestion switched from Q-tips to hemostats for removal of the obstruction. I was able to remove three marble-sized segments of fungus. There is clearly still fungus remaining, and we irrigated his mouth with mouthwash using a baby nasal syringe to reach as much of it as possible.
The patient was feeling very sorry for himself after all of this, but was up and drinking pretty quickly afterwards. The water seems to be going down his throat, by and large. AND he walked over and started eating!
I mixed up a scrambled egg with some plain Greek yogurt (another anti-fungal agent) and put it in there for him to snack on.
So, to wrap up what's happening to treat at this point:
ACV in water (one T/quart) as an antifungal, along with electrolytes to support compromised system.
Irrigation of mouth cavity with mouthwash (I'm using Listerine, Oral-B was tested and efficacious in the study). This is to both soften fungus and kill it. Care taken to ensure mouthwash was not aspirated.
Removal of fungal obstruction with hemostats.
Provision of plain Greek yogurt (another anti-fungal) as food.
Tomorrow morning we'll see if we can remove any further obstruction, and will swab what we can reach with a 50 ppm bleach solution (one capful of bleach to one gallon of water).
I wandered through the forum and the interwebs and am pretty sure this is thrush, rather than canker. The two prescribed cures for this (nystatin and copper sulfate) aren't immediately available locally. An old thread here on BYC recommended using Listerine on a Q-tip to soften the fungus, and the vet agreed with me that the obstruction was to the point that I was going to need to go in with hemostats to try and remove as much of it as we could reach. The vet suggested using a swab with a very dilute bleach solution to wipe the fungus we couldn't remove in order to kill it. One of my local chicken friends mentioned to me that she did something similar with rabbits exhibiting thrush or other fungal infections.
Here is a research study on the efficacy of killing oral fungus with mouthwash.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4834379/
We'd already started with the mouthwash by the time the vet called back, and per her suggestion switched from Q-tips to hemostats for removal of the obstruction. I was able to remove three marble-sized segments of fungus. There is clearly still fungus remaining, and we irrigated his mouth with mouthwash using a baby nasal syringe to reach as much of it as possible.
The patient was feeling very sorry for himself after all of this, but was up and drinking pretty quickly afterwards. The water seems to be going down his throat, by and large. AND he walked over and started eating!
I mixed up a scrambled egg with some plain Greek yogurt (another anti-fungal agent) and put it in there for him to snack on.
So, to wrap up what's happening to treat at this point:
ACV in water (one T/quart) as an antifungal, along with electrolytes to support compromised system.
Irrigation of mouth cavity with mouthwash (I'm using Listerine, Oral-B was tested and efficacious in the study). This is to both soften fungus and kill it. Care taken to ensure mouthwash was not aspirated.
Removal of fungal obstruction with hemostats.
Provision of plain Greek yogurt (another anti-fungal) as food.
Tomorrow morning we'll see if we can remove any further obstruction, and will swab what we can reach with a 50 ppm bleach solution (one capful of bleach to one gallon of water).
