Tumor or abscess? I think tumor ...

[Chick-N-Fun]

Wow! What an improvement! I agree with casportpony....all that yellow gunk looks to me like puss and needs to be scraped out. Kudos for a job well done! Hoping things only improve with more treatment! Keep us posted!

 

[Firefoot]

Okay, guys, thought I'd give you an update. Sorry for the delay, I've been super busy.

Sylvie remains acting normal in every possible way. She grooms herself, dust bathes, eats, drinks, her poops look great, she runs and flies around with the other babies (she spends afternoons out with her friends because she's just beyond lonely and I didn't want her to be depressed), and I don't see anyone picking on her. As she turns 19 weeks this week, her comb is even getting a bit pinker by the day.

Her wound, though...I don't know if I'm on the right track. I've been cleaning it twice a day and am not able to scrape much more out. It bleeds easier, which is good in one way, but also I don't know what to do about this donut of tissue. It seems bigger, but I don't think the infection is spreading? It does not smell anymore, and most of what I can see looks like tissue as opposed to yellow gunk. I am picking scabs as I can, washing with warm water, flushing with saline, dressing with dissolved SMzs and Vetericyn Plus gel. When she goes out, she gets a little Blu-Kote on it. (Anything black in the pic is Blu-Kote)

What are your opinions? I am extremely hesitant to do any chicken surgery as I have no way to anesthetize her and that seems cruel. Will the saline do anything to help take care of the excess tissue/any infection? I am not able to wrap it with anything which I think is helping in terms of keeping it dried up/not proliferating bacteria. There is a small animal vet near me who I could talk to but she explicitly told me she is not very comfortable with chickens. She looked at the initial photos as she was at the equine vet when I picked some stuff up the day it happened and did not recommend surgery at that point. I am reassured that her behavior is normal in every way, so I do not think she is unduly uncomfortable or in pain. But, wtf man.

 

[Kiki]

Just keep doing what you are doing. I am not sure sugery is a good idea. It is my understanding that chickens don't do well with anesthesia anyways so I'm not sure that is even really a good option.

 

[Firefoot]

Just keep doing what you are doing. I am not sure sugery is a good idea. It is my understanding that chickens don't do well with anesthesia anyways so I'm not sure that is even really a good option.

Thanks, I am super not into trying to do a surgery/tissue removal. I will keep on truckin'.

 

[Eggcessive]

I might just use the saline every day, and not be as agressive to see if it will heal now. Sometimes we can be so agressive with cleaning and debriding that we can prevent healing. The reason I am saying this is that I was doing some reading about wound care. In the old days, we would do wet to dry dressings with saline or betadine, and then when the gauze was dry, we would rip off the gauze and the infective tissue would come off along with healthy tissue. Nowadays the people who specialize in chronic wounds, tend to avoid the things we used to use like those wet to dry dressings, peroxide, betadine, dakins solution, and many feel that neosporin can even eventually cause a bad reaction with repeated use. It seems that less is more. Watch for signs of infection. Hopefully it will heal, but we are not positive that this is only an infection versus a tumor.

 

[Firefoot]

I might just use the saline every day, and not be as agressive to see if it will heal now. Sometimes we can be so agressive with cleaning and debriding that we can prevent healing. The reason I am saying this is that I was doing some reading about wound care. In the old days, we would do wet to dry dressings with saline or betadine, and then when the gauze was dry, we would rip off the gauze and the infective tissue would come off along with healthy tissue. Nowadays the people who specialize in chronic wounds, tend to avoid the things we used to use like those wet to dry dressings, peroxide, betadine, dakins solution, and many feel that neosporin can even eventually cause a bad reaction with repeated use. It seems that less is more. Watch for signs of infection. Hopefully it will heal, but we are not positive that this is only an infection versus a tumor.

I totally agree. Thank you, I think I needed “permission” to be less aggressive. If it is just infection, I think it will heal, tho slowly, and I have definitely had situations in the past where less was more. Hopefully that is all it is. If it’s a growing tumor, I’m less certain. Either way, I’ll keep going and try to stop obsessing about its progress.

 

[DiamondSwan]

Off the top of my head I think I read sulfa doses are ~50 mg/kg per day. Let me do some more research.

I remember one person giving their duck ether 1/2 or 1/4 of a 480 mg tablet twice a day.
I think that was @DiamondSwan. @DiamondSwan, do you remember how much you duck weighed when you were treating him for bumblefoot? And did you give 1/4 or 1/2 a tablet ?

Yes, my vet usually says to give 1/4 tablets for birds with bumble foot around 4 pounds (I was giving 1/2 tablets to my Pekin drake). I think the dosage depends on what you are treating as well because sometimes my vet would say to give a tablet twice a day.

Also, I get the Bird Sulfa since it's easiest to get your hands on.

 

[Kiki]

@Firefoot How is it looking today?

 

[Flockandfowl46]

I believe strongly that this is a tumor and I don't want to be the party pooper here I agree less is more just be wary of fly strike and others picking at it I'm sorry your having this problem and I hope I'm wrong

 

[Eggcessive]

I believe strongly that this is a tumor and I don't want to be the party pooper here I agree less is more just be wary of fly strike and others picking at it I'm sorry your having this problem and I hope I'm wrong

I think we all have felt from the beginning that this could be a tumor, but it also could be an abscess. Time will tell.