Photojournal showing recovery from severe canker

The following series of pictures shows a pigeon with a severe case of canker and document’s his recovery. Initial treatment was with metronidazole (1/2 of a 100 mg Meditrich tablet every evening) and baytril (1/4 of a 50 mg enrofloxacin tablet every morning). Using Q-tips, a paste made of ground up Spartrex was applied directly to the visible canker growths on day two (as soon as it was realized that this was canker and not an injury.) On successive days a paste of metronidazole and water was applied several times a day to all visible growths on the face and in the mouth and throat (as far as could be reached.) Note that with this particular bird, it was necessary to feed him an hour before administering the baytril in order to prevent vomitting. Due to obstructions in the throat and suspected obstructions in the crop due to canker growths, it was necessary to syringe-feed this bird. For the first three days a mix of 2/3 Kaytee Exact formula with 1/3 applesauce was fed in 8 to 10 cc doses every time the crop emptied with a goal of 40 to 50 cc's per day total intake. Beginning on day four, feedings consisted of 100% Kaytee Exact formula. Typical feedings after day three were 15 to 20 ccs, with a goal of 60ccs per day total intake. On Day 6, a piece of folded paper towel dipped in warm water was used to gently rub off many of the dried-up canker lesions in the beak area. On Day 7, a similar method was used to reduce the remnants of the lesion over his eye into a gummy mass, most of which was then "cut" off by gently sawing with a fingernail. By day 8, the bird was eating on his own, with normal-looking droppings. On day 11, the metronidazole treatment was changed to 1/4 of a 100 mg Meditrich tablet every morning and 1/4 of a tablet every evening with 1/4 of a 50 mg enrofloxacin tablet half way in between. The canker appeared to start returning and on day 13 a Spartrex tablet was administered half way between the two 1/4 Meditrich tablets. Over the next few days, it appeared that the canker growths were increasing, although there was no diagnostic canker oder. On day 14, the baby was taken to see Dr. Latas at the Arizona Bird Clinic. Dr, Latas did a great job, took throat and mouth swabs as well as swabs of the growths, and she couldn't find any Trichomoniasis protozoa. She diagnosed the growths as a secondary skin infection and presecribed 200 ml Zosyn injections twice a day, for 7 days, along with a once-a-day application of Silver Sulfadiazine cream directly on the growths. The growths seemed to continue to get bigger over the next few days. On Day 20, the entire mass of growths fell off, exposing healthy, healing tissue underneath. The bird showed minimal distress, and possibky some relief over, the loss of tissue and seems able to eat and drink without problems. Several drops of a mixture of articficial tears and sulfadiazine was applied twice a day to the newly exposed tissue, as directed by Dr. Latas at the Arizona Bird Clinic. On day 21 the lab work came back from the vet visit on day 14. The cultures showed that the baby was infected with a human strain of the Pneumonia bacterium, and she was treated with 20 ml injections of Amikacin twice a day for 7 days.

After the Amikacin treatments, the baby was given a few days with no medication to give her natural systems a chance to stabalize. Her exposed sinus occasionally got red and irritated. Sometimes a yellow mass would form in the sinus and then disappear a few hours later. This was assummed to be a natural reaction to exposing the sinus cavity to the outside world.

Since chronic canker can persist internally with no outward symptoms, as a safety measure, beginning on day 34 a six day course of treatment was begun by giving the baby (and all the other birds in the rehab "mini-flock") nothing to drink except a solution prepared by dissolving 400 mg of Ronidazole 10% powder in 2 liters of water. (Actually, 2 one-liter solutions were made, 3 days apart, with one half of the 400mg Ronidazole sachet being dissolvied in each liter.)



Day 1:





Day 2:



Day 3:



Day 4:



Day 5:



Day 6:



This enlargement of part of the previous picture shows the damage the canker caused to his beak, basically giving a "cut-away" view of the interior structure of the beak:



Day 7:



Day 8:





Day 9:





Day 10:







Day 12:







Day 14:



Day 15:




Day 17:



Day 20:











Day 35:





I’ll continue to update this post by editing it every now and then to add new pictures.

February 2012, roughly a year and eight months after the previous photo:



Interestingly, a lot of her cere has grown back -- probably because she was so young when she lost the original tissue...

Thany you for posting this photo journal, Jim.
I'm going to post the link to your original thread so we can use that for discussion and updates and leave this thread for photos only.
Squeaker with missing eye