Bumblefoot or ??

[dano7]

You might consider the vaccination--since the disease vector is not through water or droppings and your other birds may be clean and ready for the MBL treatment.

Siegel's says to leave it be and the lumps will go from whitish to yellow, dry up and fall off--better than pulling them off and traumatizing the tissue.

[Trees Gray]

It is a very easy brush on vaccination. I have never had any problems with my youngsters vaccinations, they usually just get one pox on the one leg where the vaccination was applied. They do not get the full blown disease itself, and didn't suffer the effects. I noticed a couple of them not so active for one ot two days, and that was all.

If you pox one you should do them all at the same time, as they are contagious. Birds that are poxed must stay indoors for at least six weeks after application.

Keep them on a good nutritious diet and make sure they get their vitamins.

Since I live in Florida it is just a part of their preventive maintenance program, and every bird I have has already been poxed or will be poxed.

Treesa

[Birdmom4ever]

Thank you for the good advice. The mistake I made was believing that pox wasn't a big problem in this part of the country. I should have done it before we let them have babies this spring. We have six chicks on the way now. I assume I should wait, then, until after they hatch? Because if vaccinating the parents makes them contagious, wouldn't the newly hatched chicks be vulnerable?

We still aren't sure that Duchess has pox, and we won't get results from the biopsy until next week. In the meantime, the vet performed surgery on her feet (the left foot had a few bumps, too, though not as many as her right). They made little "sandals" for her out of foam padding and neon pink vet wrap. She appears to be wearing platform shoes--it's hysterical. She has to go back twice a week for four weeks for a foot wash and shoe change. She is also on oral antibiotics. She will be a very expensive little pij when this is all over, but everyone at the vet's office has fallen in love with her. She's a very good patient and doesn't struggle at all when I give her the medication.

She is managing ok with her shoes. Fantails kind of toddle around anyway, so you can imagine how she walks with platform shoes! I'll try to get some pictures today and post them.

[Trees Gray]

I'm glad you took her to the vet. How adorable the little fan tail must look in her platform shoes.. Please do take pictures and share.LOL

I wouldn't pox anybody until the babies are six weeks old and can be poxed also. You should do all of them at the same time, as it is contagious, and they need to stay in for 6 weeks. If you do only the breeders they would have to be isolated from their young, and there is no way you can do that when they are feeding their babies.

Get your veterenarians advice on all this, also.

Treesa

[Birdmom4ever]

Yep, that's what I was thinking, Treesa. I'm going to ask her before I vaccinate. Something that has held me back from vaccinating is that we now have several special needs pigeons with health issues, and I'm afraid to vaccinate because of possible risk to their fragile systems. Will discuss this with the vet, too.

My hubby and I are hopeful it isn't pox because we think the baby would have been sick by now if it was. Anyway, that's what we're hoping.

I took pictures! Check out my new webshots album, "Fancy Pigeons," to see Duchess' boots. http://community.webshots.com/user/birdmom4ever

Some of you probably remember the fancy pigeons that were abandoned in a park in San Jose last year. The senior Archangels and red fantails were among those pigeons. The white fantail and Capuchine were given to me by friends.

[Trees Gray]

Hi Again,

Do you have a seperate coop for the special needs pigeons, where they aren't near the others? If they already have health issues, I don't think at this time they should get the vaccination.

I have a special retirement cage for my old, retired,show, and handicapped pigeons. I keep them out of the "fast lane". ..you know... away from my flying machines.

I'm going go check out your pigeons now.

God bless you for helping the pigeons in the park!

Treesa
http://community.webshots.com/user/duiven49
You can see my retired and handicapped birds.

[dano7]

Treesa,

Good to see the much loved Skye; my Yogi is a blue bar with a generous "pouch" as well. Sorry about Pee Wee. I like the lines on Silver. Talent in that drawing.

[Birdmom4ever]

Two of my special needs pigeons live in small aviaries on the patio with their healthy companions (didn't want them to be alone). One of them requires special supplements in her water, while the other has a weak immune system and is better off not being exposed to large numbers of pigeons. A third is not special needs in terms of daily care, so he's in the loft, but vaccinating him could be risky because he almost died of poisoning (Jacques). I don't have anywhere else to put him. The patio cages are big enough for one pair each. Unfortunately we don't have room for a second loft. Most of our back yard is occupied by birds. LOL

We really enjoy the fancy pigeons we got from the park. They are gorgeous--it's hard to understand how someone could just dump them, but I'm glad we have them.

[Birdmom4ever]

Here's the link to my Webshots album again. I added a close-up of Duchess' shoes in the Fancy Pigeons album.
http://community.webshots.com/user/birdmom4ever

[Reti]

Love her shoes.
Reti

[Chikory's Inner Chicken]

He he, those shoes are cool! I had to do that for Brownie. He wasn't as well behaved and he hated it when my mum and I came after him in the morning to change the dressing on his foot and give him his needle. Duchess is a beautiful pigeon!

~Chikory

[Trees Gray]

Hi Birdmom,

Duchess is so into style, isn't she! Love the shoes. lol

Is your patio screen enclosed? If it is, they have got mosquito protection because of the netting. If not, you might consider getting the patio enclosed. That way you could hold off vaccinating the ones with low immune response.Also consider putting mosquito netting around the coop, where the others sleep at night.

Treesa

[Birdmom4ever]

Isn't Duchess a cutie pie? She's such a little sweetpea, too. She's the best patient I've ever had to give meds to. Although the vet reported she didn't appreciate her foot wash yesterday. lol

No, our patio isn't enclosed. I'd like to enclose it, if for no other reason than the next-door neighbors feed the squirrels and we are overrun with them. Gr-r-r-r They dig up my flowerbeds and dump peanut shells all over the patio.

I'm considering mosquito netting. West Nile virus is supposed to be a threat this year, though I haven't heard that it's a big problem for pigeons. Where do you get it? Mosquitoes aren't normally a big deal here in CA, at least not like they are in other parts of the country.

We're still hopeful Duchess doesn't have pox. She still has no lesions on her face and her baby and mate are still clean. I'll let you all know when I get the biopsy report next week.

[This message has been edited by Birdmom4ever (edited April 17, 2004).]

[Birdmom4ever]

Update: Finally got the biopsy results back. It didn't show pox, though they couldn't entirely rule it out. But I'm sure it's not pox, because there were no other symptoms and none of the other pigeons got sick. What the biopsy did show was a proliferation of bacteria, which was consistent with the culture they took, as well. Basically Duchess had some nasty and tenacious bacteria (e. coli and staph) growing on her feet. The vet is keeping her on Baytril for another week, but I'm happy to report that she removed her "boots" today, and we were able to cancel the last three appointments for a foot wash and boot change. I'm to put prescription cream on Duchess' feet twice a day and take her back for a check-up in two weeks.

I had never seen this before, but I guess it makes sense that they can get a bacterial infection if there is any opening in the skin on their feet, considering that they walk in poop a lot! I guess I'm surprised that more of them don't have this problem. I keep our bird enclosures as clean as possible and disinfect periodically, but birds will be birds.