# Another pigeon with canker!



## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

I went down to river green this morning and released my first canker pidgie. I watched the flock closely as they ate and was able to grab another one with canker.

Perhaps it is just as well that I am feeding them for JOan, because I think that I can identify sick pigeons earlier than she can, so they stand a better chance.

Below is a photo of my latest "patient". I think that is 8 out of 60 in two weeks.

Cynthia


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

Poor you  - another patient - but she is lovely.....

There really is an epidemic where you are!!! I have only ever seen one pigeon with canker and he was a juvenile who was literally dying on the pavement 

It was too late for him ( I did pick him up and take him back with me but he died very shortly afterwards) - but your bird looks lovely - I am sure you have caught her in time. 

Take care of yourself though.

Tania xx


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

I have had very few pigeons with canker, even though it is such a common disease. I think I have had as many this past fortnight as I have had in 5 years.

Cynthia


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Hi Cynthia,

I'm sorry to hear you have another Canker patient, I can't believe this one is white, your rescues look so domestic. 

This bird is one lucky bird to be one of your patients now. Thank you for being their protector and rescuer.


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

> I can't believe this one is white, your rescues look so domestic.


I have 6 "patients" indoors at the moment and 5 of them are white.

Cynthia


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## Whitefeather (Sep 2, 2002)

cyro51 said:


> * *I have 6 "patients" indoors at the moment*
> 
> and ** *5 of them are white.*
> 
> Cynthia


I'm so sorry to hear of your latest patient Cynthia.  

* Please do keep your mask handy ( *& wear it*  ).  

** I was going to ask you if there was a flock of white pijjies you were tending to, as I 'think' I recall you recently mentioning/posting pictures of white rescues.

Wishing the best in recovery for all of them.

Cindy


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

Yikes, Cynthia! I'm so sorry this flock is so infected with canker but glad you are able to get them and that the treatment is being effective.

Terry


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## pigeonpoo (Sep 16, 2005)

So pleased that you are able to help these pigeons.  I know that they are living as wild birds but, is there any way of treating the whole flock? In the food maybe? Once they've been infected are they then immune? Will they become reinfected or infect the other birds?


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

Pigeonpoo, I have been asking the same questions!

Most of the water they drink iis provided in a large bowl and before I started visiting the flock myself I provided a canker treatment to put in the bowl. I don't know how effective that was, it was a couple of months ago. After that the water was treated with canker deterrents like Can-Kex.

The problem is that the pigeons that are on the nest would probably come down after the treated food or water had gone. And the squeakers are getting it in the nest, Two of my current "patients" are squeakers.

I don't know whether they will have built up a resistance after having recovered from canker. I hope that they have,

Cynthia


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## feralpigeon (Feb 14, 2005)

cyro51 said:


> ........
> 
> I don't know whether they will have built up a resistance after having recovered from canker. I hope that they have,
> 
> Cynthia


Cynthia, according to Chalmers, the less virulent or milder strains are the ones that produce the 'characteristic lump' in the throat of the squeakers/jouveniles and will help in the future to protect them against the more deadly strains.

I don't think that you can assume when he refers to this as a milder strain that it won't or can't have a life threatening impact on the bird if left untreated, it just won't move through the bird with as deadly a speed in it's path of tissue
distruction as the more virulent strains.

fp


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## sabina (Mar 11, 2006)

Cynthia,

Were you using the can-kex prophylactically when you put it in the water? ie, is that something we should do for the feral pigeons that we feed? Or were you responding to canker infections that you saw at that time?

Sabina


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## Guest (Feb 6, 2007)

Sabina,
If I'm reading your post correctly, you're asking if you should treat a feral flock with a canker medication. I don't recommend doing that. All pigeons have the trichomonads in them. It's only when the birds become run down from something else, that they develop a full blown case of canker. If you treat the flock, what is going to happen is that the weaker organisms may die but the more resistant trichomands will not and since Nature hates a vacuum, by killing some of the organisms, the remaining ones will have an opportunity to set up an even worse case of the infection in the birds.

It's better to save the medication for when you get in a bird in with a canker infection. That way, you will hit the entire colony and be able to get the infection under control.

Racing and fancy pigeon enthusiasts have periodically been treating their birds with canker medications prophylactically and the canker responded by becoming immune to them. It's just not a good idea to arbitrarily clean out a system because that system will be even more sensitive and open to infection.

It would be the same thing if I took an antibiotic for a full year because I didn't want to get bronchitis. I'll get bronchitis and when I do, the antibiotics won't work and then what?


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## feralpigeon (Feb 14, 2005)

What is Can-kex, I would want to know more about that product first. If it's a natural/herbal mix the way Trikanox or some of these others are formulated, I wouldn't have a problem using them or some of other 'like' remedies prophylactically.

I overall agree w/you pigeonperson, although there are some aspects that 
would make a difference to me. For instance what percentage of a flock is 
showing symptoms and is it a flock that is feeding from you everday and/or how many consecutive treatments are being considered. Hard to be precise w/a feral flock, but there are some indicators by and large.

fp


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

Hi fp,

This is what it says on the bottle:

Can-kex has powerful alkaloid based agents, designed for unwanted bacteria, protozoa (canker) and yeast (fungal crop) organisms


My "Coughs, colds and canker" booklet suggests using Milton sterilising fluid or bleach (1 tsp) in their water.

Pigeons that develop a mild strain of canker will still die, because of the nodules that will continue to grow and eventually cause suffocation or starvation. But I think that what I am dealing with is a mild strain because the one that came in on Sunday stinking of canker and with a number of nodules in her mouth has a clear mouth now. So hopefully there is no invisible (to me) damage and they will all be releasable.



> It's better to save the medication for when you get in a bird in with a canker infection.


Pigeon Person

That is assuming that you have access to every bird in the flock and to their nests, can check their mouths to see the first sign of canker and can catch and treat sick ones.

Even fanciers that can do all of those things treat the whole flock once they know that the canker they have come across is not a "one off" thing.

From this link : _If you can be certain that there are only one or two birds in a particular loft that have disease symptoms, then isolating the affected birds and treating only them could be good advice, but I would keep a cautious eye on that flock for several weeks, and if any more pigeons were to become afflicted, *immediate flock treatment would be the most prudent action to take.* _

I have to do something for the ones I don't catch and squabs that are dying in the nest. Catching 5 pigeons with canker from such a small flock in two weeks means that the canker is a real problem and that it is most probably quietly killing pigeons where they roost and nest. Towards the end of last year I had two patients die oof it and Joan took another to the vet to pts.

Cindy, I even have my mask on now because the computer in just under the attic access!



> Were you using the can-kex prophylactically when you put it in the water?


Sabina, yes, I was. The water bowl is probably the place where infection starts, it is then spread by beak to beak contact and feeding and then, when it was affected the thoat sufficiently in any pigeon, by healthy pigeons picking up the seed that a sick pigeon has scattered.

Cynthia


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## feralpigeon (Feb 14, 2005)

cyro51 said:


> Hi fp,
> 
> This is what it says on the bottle:
> 
> ...


Doesn't sound as though one of the family of Trichomoniasis medications, does it? Or at least I'd think that it would say so. 

Yes, I know the can still die from a mild strain left untreated, Cynthia. I also
think that you are caught between a rock and a hard place because of the number of birds that are showing up sick. 

fp


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## Guest (Feb 6, 2007)

Cynthia,
I know you're going to try this so I hope something good comes of it. I think the odds of this working are very high but you feel you have to try something so I'm wishing all of the birds and you luck.


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

> Doesn't sound as though one of the family of Trichomoniasis medications, does it?


No. it wouldn't help a pigeon that already had canker but I hope to stop it spreading or at least minimise its spread.

There are only a couple of canker treatments that we can get here without a prescription, one is spartrix.

Cynthia


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