Wing boils or something else?

[dnrslucky1]

Squidget seems healthy except for those thing on his wings. They get bigger and bigger. They seem to grow like a mushroom shape. Small yellow blisters form on the edges, dry up and turn hard, blend in, then a few more form and the process starts all over. He was on Baytril for 4 weeks, which helped his weakness but not the wings. They look like large warts, wrinkly and black on the top.
Now he is growing a bald spot on side of his head with two tiny bumps! I wonder if it is the same thing, spreading? His feathers are awful, but that could be because he can't stand or walk.
Any ideas?
Denise

[Trees Gray]

Hi Denise,

How are you? I have been wondering how Squidget is doing.

Is he on any medication or nutrition.

I can't advise you on what may be going on, but I would get him on garlic caps and such if you haven't, as it is a wonderful natural antibiotic, anti-fungul, that purifies the blood and builds the immune system as well.

[Pidgey]

Going to need a picture on that one. The yellow blisters are spent leukocytes, indicating that the immune system is fighting something still yet. That's usually the kind of deal that requires a culture being performed (by a vet).

Pidgey

[re lee]

Could be paratiphoid As wing boils do show up on birds that are effected with it. Do you have meds to treat it. for 5 days.

[dnrslucky1]

Yes Treesa, he still gets a garlic cap once a week and acv water once a week, also probiotics and vitamins once a week on his seeds with wheat germ oil. Thanks for asking, I am doing fine right now, except for my GS Dog, he has been costing me all the tax money I made! Vets can't find anything wrong with him, he's had every test possible and is in constant pain! He is now on cortizone, they are thinking it may be spinal.

Denise

[Pidgey]

Can you tell us specifically how the wing boils went when you first started treating them? They never completely disappeared, did they?

Pidgey

[dnrslucky1]

Pidgey,

My daughter has my camera right now, but I will get it back and try to take a good pic. I have been trying to pick at them a little each day, but it dosen't seem to be a scab. His feathers seem dry and easy to crack off to me also! But he eats lots and poops good! Sometimes I think he is depressed, because he trys so hard to move and can't!

Denise

[dnrslucky1]

Pidgey,

No they never dissapeared, in fact I think they got bigger! When I took him to vet, she said it was scar tissue, but scar tissue doesn't grow like warts!

[dnrslucky1]

I was wondering do Pigeons get a sort of Herpe Virus?

[Pidgey]

Yes, they can. I don't remember what the symptoms are for that right now (would have to look in the book) but it seems to me that it was far more serious than in us.

Oh, well. Usually you keep up the Baytril until the wing boils are gone for awhile. It might be a good idea to put him back on the Baytril for two months. I just finished one a couple of months ago that took three months to clear them for good. I had to give him a slight overdose of Baytril plus aspirin every day. I also did a regimen of Amoxicillin/Erythromicin for awhile in case it was the L-form. That was vet-directed.

Pidgey

[dnrslucky1]

Thanks Pidgey,

I will be a little scared of the 2 months on Baytril, as he lost so much weight on 1 month, but I guess I need to try something! He is not sick in anyway but he can't servive if those thing keep growing!

Can you tell me the most reasonable place to order Baytril from?

[Pidgey]

Well, in that case, let's work on getting some Cipro (Ciprofloxacin) instead of Baytril (Enrofloxacin) because it's a lot easier on the stomach, they say. And we oughta' let Terry think this one over as well.

Pidgey

[dnrslucky1]

What is Cephalexin? I have 15 capsules at 500mgs left over from my GS Dog, that didn't have an infection after all! And by the way he weighed 111 lbs when prescribed.

[Pidgey]

Cephalexin (Keflex) is a first-generation Cephalosporin, which is a very good antibiotic that also covers a few anaerobic bacteria. It's actually not the "big gun" that the Fluoroquinolones (Cipro, Baytril, Levaquin, etc.) are but it can do things that they can't. It wouldn't be what you'd use for Salmonella (Paratyphoid) but it's pretty doggone useful--don't throw them away!

Pidgey

[Pidgey]

Well, after looking it up, I found this page:

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/pag...92&pageindex=4

...which is from an article comparing Cefaclor to other drugs, one of which is Cephalexin. There's actually far more to setting a dosage than you'd normally think. What we see in the formularies are ungodly simplified because of economics. You rarely know for an absolute certainty what (all) you're fighting so you make a guess. Well, it just so happens that different bugs actually could require different dosages. That is, you can take different amounts to achieve different PDCs (Plasma Drug Concentration) and design the protocol to maintain a PDC above the required MIC (Minimum Inhibitory Concentration) in the blood.

This page shows that Cephalexin has demonstrated significant activity against 32 tested species of Salmonella at a 12.5 micrograms per milliliter MIC. That doesn't always mean that it will do that in vivo because the drug's path through the body may not go the route necessary, so to speak.

Practically speaking, I've never heard anyone (a vet) try to get Salmonella with Keflex but it looks theoretically possible.

Pidgey