# Pigeon with huge growth on its face-is it Canker?



## Bella_F

Over the last year, we began leaving seed & water for wild birds in our back yard, which mostly attracts wild pigeons and doves. Some are small native Australian doves, and the others are ferals consisting of white King pigeons, rock pigeons, and some interesting looking white-grey offspring from many generations of interbreeding.

They are a plump, glossy, healthy looking bunch, except for a new one that has appeared about 4-5 times in the last 2 weeks. This one looks very, very sick. When she turned up, she had a smallish wart-like growth in the area of her cere, which has been growing rapidly. The growth is now huge, and it extends down each side of her face down to her beak, it looks like its extending into her mouth now. On one side of her face, the huge growth now covers most of the front part of her face, extends out about half an inch or more, and is covering part of her eye. Not to be rude, but shes the Frankenstein of all pigeons, the poor thing. It looks like its preventing her from properly closing her beak too. 

Other pigeons are avoiding her and avoiding eating with her. They look almost shocked when they see her. One hen just stood there, erect, staring at her for about 5 minutes yesterday, blinking, and flew away. This is unusual.

Up until yesterday, she was perky and eating well when we saw her, but yesterday she showed signs of sickness, such as weakness, being fluffed up, and sitting down on the grass drooping her head forward. But I couldn't get near her, and she flew off when the neighbour came home, banging his gate shut. There's been no sign of her today, and I would be surprised to see her again, actually.

My question is do you think this could be canker, and are there any precautions I should take to protect the rest of the flock? I've been cleaning out the water carefully, but should I do something more, like feed them somewhere else? I have no experience with this, so 'd be very grateful for your help.


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## jameswaller

*sick pigeon/canker*

i do not feel qualified to answer,this but the canker i was just familiar with is in the mouth/throat area,and was treatable with antibiotics,,this ferril-stray pigeon needs treatment, first problem is catching,perhaps where she feeds you could drop a large vegetable,bird net over her/left untreated animals meet their own demise,..you are a good person/most are tuned out of the wild life picture with far too busy lifes to care,or notice,..good luck,for you and the pigeon,..sincerely james waller [email protected]


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## Whitefeather

I am so sorry to hear about this little one.
Many thanks for looking out for her. 

Your description doesn't sound like canker to me, rather more like a fast growing tumor. 
If she does come back, please do whatever you can to catch her. 

Cindy


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## Bella_F

Thanks for your advice. She hasn't turned up today, and she was an infrequent visitor anyway, which is why I don't think I'll see her again. She looked too far gone to make it another few days.

Its really tough with the wild ones that can't be caught. At this point I just want to do my best for the rest of the flock, if there's anything to be done...


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## alhowiriny

Does it look somthing like this:










if so then i have the same thing a month a go with 2 pigeons (the photo is one 
of them the other was bigger), it was sinus canker from what i read.

What i did is gave it anti-canker (Ronidazole) for 5 days then the swelling became
softer and i started to gently squeeze it towards the tear duct and get the accumulation
out like a toothpaste.. i did this for like 3-5 days while cleaning the eye, the swelling
started to reduce then disappeared.

you could check the tear duct, if there is white spot (accumulation) then probably its
not tumor, but again you should check a vet if you can.​


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## Jaye

Maybe pox, too ?

Anyway, Bella....as you said...hard to catch them when flighted. All we can do is hope that she has some days of flying left in her and will return.

Just keep your eyes peeled and get some sort of apparatus (net) ready in case she returns.

Thanks for tying to help her.


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## Bella_F

Thanks heaps for your advice and encouragement, and for the posting the picture too, to help with the diagnosis.

She came back this afternoon, and stayed until dusk, eating food we had left. I manged to get some pictures, but they came out blurry, I'm afraid, but I'm hoping you can see the growth in the pictures, perhaps enough to help me with a diagnosis. 

I care about it's pain, but I have no idea how to catch a bird this wild. I tried talking to it for half an hour in a soothing voice, to get it used to my presence, but if I got within 15 paces of it, it would fly away onto the roof. It clearly needs the food and water and I didn't feel good about scaring it away. I just can't get near it. 

These are the pictures I got, sorry about how bad they turned out:

Can she be saved do you think? I'll try again to think of something to catch her, I'm not sure that i can though.


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## alhowiriny

Ok, before i rant.. let me explain one thing:
I'm not in any form or shape a vet, nor a qualified expert. i'm more like a regular 
person with a bunch of birds + bacteria/viruses (to fight  ) my opinion is more like a
guess than a diagnose. So all in all i urge you to take another opinion along with mine
to come to a better conclusion.

Now, from the photos.. it looks just like my other pigeon.. it started as a small pimple
and in days ended as a big ugly tumor like and the tears wetting the feather around
the eye, it was healthy and active though. i didn't treat it at first because i didn't have
any vet near me and didn't 'think' it was canker because no canker symptoms appeared 
(ex. no yellow buttons on mouth and no increase in drinking water) at that time it looked 
more like Coryza (infectious Catarrh) any way long story short the pigeon became more 
sick, like puffed up plumage, it didn't like to be social with others and started to get skinny 
and other pigeons started to attack it, after 2 weeks from this state i've noticed its beak 
half open when i opened it i saw nodules on the slot at the roof of the mouth. this's when 
i searched for this symptom and knew it was sinus canker.

The treatment is amazingly simple and fast, give anticanker (i use 4mg of Ronidazole
5% powder in 2 liter drinking water for 5 days) in the sixth day the pigeon will start to
be more active than usual, now half the treatment is over, the other half consist of taking
out the accumulation.. where i read it said i should make incision from the corner of the 
eye (the tear duct) to the half of the swelling and get the accumulation at once, and since 
i won't do it i came up with the "squeezing" technique..  for 5 days (or as long as 
you feel best) when you squeeze a tiny yogurt-like substance will come out, you should 
clean it with tissue after you wet it in salt water (yeah old fashion) the substance may go 
into the eye (or under the third eyelid) make sure to clean it and be careful not to harm the 
bird's eye. the swelling won't go from the first day.. in my case the 3rd day of squeezing 
i could notice the swelling starting to reduce in the 5th day the swelling reduced by 90%.. 
after a week or so (without squeezing) it disappeared.. you may give it another course of 
anticanker after 5 days of squeezing for 3-5 days. i also read that a sinus flush should be 
made.. i didn't do it though.

To catch it see the drawing i made 

And i apologize if this's to much ranting but i think there might be someone doing
search on google and might end up here, i want them to get every detail of this.​


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## Whitefeather

Bella,
Now that I see the pictures, I am more inclined to think it probably is canker. A very extreme case.
Others will be along to offer their thoughts as well.

It would be great if you could catch the little one and get her started on medication.

Please keep us posted on how things are coming along.

Cindy


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## Bella_F

Hi AZWhitefeather & alhowiriny, Thanks for confirming that its probably canker, or at least there is a high risk of it. alhowiriny, you did very well to save your little one, well done with that. Should I put something in the water to protect the other pigeons do you think? Is a Canker outbreak like this one cotnagious, or is it something that only effects very weak birds do you think? Our pigeon looks like a juvenile.

I love the diagram for constructing a trap, but this is more along the lines of how I think that trap would pan out.(I used to unsuccessfully try to trap birds as a kid, so I know a lot about how to fail)


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## KIPPY

The pij is probably having problems eating. He definately needs to be caught.

I've had luck with a medium size dog carrier with a little food in the back. Pij goes in and you close the door. You can even use string if you need to be aways back and pull the door closed.

Hope you have some meds on hand. 

Bella_F, your diagram was funny!

I put ACV in the feral flock water. If I get 3 sick birds in a row I will put Global Multi Mix in the water.


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## alhowiriny

Bella, Thats true.. the net might get stuck and scare it. I'm not the best person when it comes to traps..
here's a link with other idea: 
http://www.margosupplies.com/canadian1/product_support/live_traps/pigeon_trap_instructions.htm

Or hire a chimp to take care of it.. this one is doing a great job!  










Yes, canker is contagious by water or pigeon milk/or through feeding youngsters and some say via faeces
of infected birds... it killed some of my squabs (1-2 days old), in my loft the most effected birds are the 
younger ones (1-4 months) they develop 'wet canker' + Diarrhea and if not treated they will get real sick 
quickly not because of the canker but because of a second infection..and might not respond to treatment 
if its to late, the older ones usually develop 'sinus canker' and respond very fast to treatment. 

From what i gathered the protozoa (trichomoniasis parasitic that causes canker) has variable pathogenicity
(ability to cause disease) according to L. D. Schwartz on his book "Poultry Health Handbook". This's why 
sometimes you may have canker on pigeons with different levels/symptoms.

Some pigeons have very strong immunity others don't. the pigeon on my 1st photo used to be sick while 
having babies, one died the other survived and now in very healthy condition, from what i read it suggested 
that the parents might sheded a tiny amount of the protozoan in the younger one that survived which gave 
it the ability to form a temporally immunity (much like a vaccine).

I usually give medication for 3 days, before hatching period, after weaning or on seasons changes. When sick
i treat for 5 days, And when i treat i treat the whole flock. You might notice pigeons 'sneezing' when on 
treatment, it will go away when you finsh the treatment.

Be careful on the dosage if not correct the birds might develop resistant against the medication and thats not
good, if you decided to treat with 'Ronidazole' you should get the 10% instead of the one i have 5%, if you did
then read the prescription for the correct dosage..

And when you decide to use the squeezing technique i described don't do it before making sure its canker and
if so then don't do it before giving the anticanker or before making sure the swelling is soft. If the swelling isn't
soft you would see (when you squeeze) that the accumulation will peep from the tear duct and once you let go it
will go back inside, and you could see the bird's face in discomfort. when its soft and you squeeze the accumulation
will come out like toothpaste.


*Anyway,*
I take no responsibility for anything whatsoever. I posted my experience and conclusion to the practice
i followed according to my research and my understanding to what i've found.​


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## Bella_F

That's a cute picture of the chimp with the dove (or photochop, lol)!

Thanks again for the info about how you saved your little thing from sinus canker. It sounds like it was a lot of work, and it paid off in the end. I'll bet squeezing puss out of a bird's tear duct wasn't the most fun you've ever had.

We haven't seen `canker-face' again (thats our nickname for her, meant affectionately). I wish she'd came back, and flew into my loving arms and let me heal her. But it wasn't to be, I guess. If only we could talk to them, and show our intentions.


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