Injured Feral. Wounds Under Wing

[amyable]

This is where the wounds are. I'd taken a bit of the scab off on the edge.


I took off the smaller scab first right under the wing, to see what was underneath. There is a small hole left.
Then I took a deep breath and tried to loosen the large scab. I was really surprised at how deep the hole was. As I started to lift it out I stopped to take a picture. I really wasn't sure if I should be doing this and thought I'd better check with someone first!


Anyway I carried on and this is what came out, it is about 5cm long and not a solid chunk as I'd expected. There is still some more in there which I couldn't get. It is very deep. I spoke to Cynthia to see what she thought I should do next as I can't see how much further the hole goes. She thought it best leave it be for now.
The poor darling was so good and just sat there on my lap, wincing occasionally, such a sweetheart, I'm giving him/her a good rest for now.


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[Pidgey]

Seen a million things like that. Give or take a dozen. Anyhow, the holes tend to close surprisingly rapidly when you pull the crap out. Ideally, of course, you want to get it all out because if it seals in, it can become a nidus of infection that they can't get rid of. The body will try to form a granuloma around it, of course. I've had to dig in as much as two to three centimeters inside just grabbing the stuff and bringing it out. And then flushing with body-temperature saline. Sometimes, you gotta' repeat the performance until tissue granulates into the cavity and epithelializes. You'd almost think this guy got something jammed in there that dragged in feathers and all, like a BB or pellet wound.

Pidgey

[TheSnipes]

Everything in that 2nd picture looks very slimy and unhealthy, good on you for getting that gunk out of there! It is an ugly, amorphous blob of YUCK. I hope you can get the rest of it out of the poor guy. It sure sounds like he knows you are there to help him, what a smart bird.

[cyro51]

Hi Janet,

I would't poke around in the wound just yet, now that it is open and being cleaned with saline and dressed with Intrasite there is the possibility that the remaining gunk will rise to the surface as it would have if the wound had not scabbed over. Poking could make things worse. But you will have to remove any scabbing daily.

I think that the Les Stocker book that you have describes the healing process and how to help it along.

Cynthia

[amyable]

Hi Snipes, I couldn't have put it better. When I asked my daughter to take the picture for me while I held the bird, she just shut her eyes and hoped she'd pointed the camera in the right direction. (she hadn't, so had to do it myself). Got no stomach these younguns!!!!!!!!

Sorry, I just looked at it myself and didn't realise how graphic it was, should have put a warning sign on for the queazy!

[amyable]

Hi Cynthia,

Does that plug look anything like the tracking abcess you had before?

Janet

[cyro51]

Hi Janet,

The plug that I took out of Little Red Feet was solid, but the wound was a lot older and I didn't look into the hole to see what else was there further down - this was in my early days of rescue, after that I learnt to keep the wound open and allow it to heal from within, I haven't had any tracking abscesses since then.

I put Little Red Feet on Synulox, then flushed the wound and debrided it daily until it healed properly from the inside.

Cynthia

[TheSnipes]

What's a "tracking abscess?" Or do i just need to read farther back in this thread?

[cyro51]

What's a "tracking abscess?"

When an infection is sealed in then an abscess can form and create its own drainage track, that is when it becomes a "tracking" abscess.

Cynthia

[TheSnipes]

Originally Posted by cyro51

When an infection is sealed in then an abscess can form and create its own drainage track, that is when it becomes a "tracking" abscess.

Cynthia

Double yuck! Then...it can drain to..anywhere? I can't envision where an abscess 'knows' what direction to drain, so it leads inward rather than out?

[cyro51]

As far as I remember it follows the route of least resistance.

Cynthia

[TheSnipes]

Originally Posted by cyro51

As far as I remember it follows the route of least resistance.

Cynthia

That could be like a along a blood vessel, or ?? like I said, maybe inward rather than out. Not a good thing in any case. Well it's very interesting, and educational to read about this.

[cyro51]

Janet, I know I have asked you this before, but would the vet treat this one as a pet and give you a consultation? I couldn't get off to sleep last night for worrying about it.

I really think that trying to clean out the the remaining gunk without the proper tools or painkillers and without knowing how deep it tracks, would be invasive and extremely painful for the pigeon.

Cynthia

[amyable]

Hi Cynthia,

I've just been reading a previous thread that you posted for my last white pigeon regarding a tracking abcess. I did take that bird to the vet but didn't have much joy. It didn't have such a deep hole though as this one.
I will take it in and ask.
They will no doubt ask me to leave the bird with them as usual for the day but as long as they agree for me to have it back then that's what I'll have to do if they won't give me an appointment.
I'm just going to have a look at it myself before hand with my 20x magnifier. It was too dark last night. It shows up very close and I hope I can see how far it goes in.

I'll report back in a mo.

Janet

[amyable]

I've just had another look and feel of the wound area.
The opening of the hole looks a bit smaller today and around the edge is a lot softer than it was. Can't see right in unfortunately, too dark, but flushed it with saline and gave a slight squeeze and some bits of tissue and pinkish blood came out. Where I could see, I picked out a bit with tweezers, it isn't coming out black this time.
Has got a slight smell not too over powering.
I'd say it was better and just maybe the flushing is helping but I probably would be best popping it to the vets to put my mind at ease.
Have given him half of Synulox this morning.

Janet