I found a pigeon yesterday just sitting in the middle of a large plaza. She has very bad canker--I can feel a hard mass on the outside of her lower mandible and there are hard layers of plaque inside her beak, both upper and lower. I can't even visualize the glottis. Is it possible for her to be breathing with her glottis covered in canker plaque??? (She does do a little open-beak breathing, but not as bad as I would expect.)
She weighs in at just 180 grams. Gave her fluids yesterday and started her on Kaytee this morning. Wondering if it might be good to add an antibiotic here (doxy? Baytril?)
Jennifer
Hi Jennifer,
What color is the plaque?
Anyway, I have had fairly good luck with these by a regimen of both Metronidazole, and, of Baytril ( or Baytril and other Antibiotics concurrently) , orally, tubed in via a very thin Catheter when need be...along with tube feeding, of course.
If I think it is too 'iffy' for these Birds to drink when they can drink, and or once the 'mucous' phase is begun, I will tube in additional Liquids also just to be safe to save them the danger of drinking.
Also, and maybe importantly, I have gently saturated any visible plaque or infection areas with a Q-Tip, dipped into a solution of say, three or four Anti-Canker Tablets of whatever sort ( Spartrix, Metronidazole, Ronidazole, or 'cocktails' made of all three...) into which I have added a few drops of "DMSO".
This solution I make for topical applications, is so that the several ( say, four ) tablets of Metronidazole or it and other anti-canker meds, are dissolved in say, one Tablespoon of Water, in a Shot Glass...amd dissolved thoroughly of course...and stirred with the Q-Tip before each occasion of swabbing, since the particulates will settle at liesure.
Then, gently saturating the efflicted areas, AND saturating their counterparts outside, saturating the skin there, useing a Q-Tip, and when saturating inside areas, being mindful of their unseen Tracheal aperature laying as it can, under local plaque, so that I do not cause any of the solution to dribble where it could cause a problem there.
Usually, if the inflamitory debris or placque is thick, the plaque will loosen it's attatchment to the unerlieing tissues, partially at first, then more...and the Pigeon will 'shake' it loose and out on his own.
These artefacts can be startlingly huge sometimes, and one I recall the Pigeon shaking out finally was close to an inch and a half long and 3/8ths of an inch wide and thick...and was like firm 'Tofu' and very 'rubbery'.
When attatched or partially attatched, it is usually adhering too strongly on one end or in other partial ways, to be removed, so I am patient with this and I do not tug on semi-loosened debris, but instead, I let the Pigeon decide and let him shake his head for it to come out when it is ready.
Oxytetracycline AND Byrtril combined, have been my recourse sometimes, and probably should always be, and you might want to consider using them both along with the Metronidazole for this sort of occasion.
I prefer to swab on the topical application of the anti-canker Solution three or four times-a-day.
They can get into open Beak breathing when the placque or debris is compromising their Thracheal aperature, and this CAN get much worse once the adhering portions of the plaque are in-effect dissolving their bonds and getting mucousy and making lots of slime, and one deals with this as one may, if one can at all.
At that phase, once lots of slime has been getting made for say two or three days, I have sometimes folded a small cotton cloth to be about the size of a Cigarette package, and had it lightly but definitely saturated with pure Gum Spirits of Turpentine, and set it into the Cage, into tha Cage bars but 'low', and each time the Pigeon has sought it out and spent the night with his face right in it, and next day, caughed or shook out sometimes HUGE debris-artifacts or 'plaque' material, and were then breathing normally again and looking very happy about it.
One can try cleaning out the mucous at this phase also, using a dry Q-tip and gently rolling it into the goo to lift and remove the slime, but it is being produced usually at a rate where one would be doing little else but that, just trying to keep up.
Anyway...
Good luck..!
Provide good 'warmth' of course if he is thin or if any doubt about his quality of endothermy while he is dealing with this.
Phil
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