# Cancer in birds



## Reti (Jul 20, 2003)

I am wondering how many pigeon lovers/rescuers have had birds with cancer.
I might have another one, Alice's mate.
Lucky bird came to me four years ago, he had a missing eye due to infection. The socket is covered by the eyelids with just a little opening which occasionally drained clear fluid. My vet had told me this is normal.
About a week ago I noticed the eye socket started swelling. I started him on Cipro and Flagyl only to see it grow, not much but enough to make me take him to the vet today.
The vet thought first it is an abscess and put him under anesthesia to open up the opening more and take the junk out. Once he looked inside he noticed it is a tumor not an abscess. 
He told me that tumors at this site are generaly malignant and Lymphoma (what Alice had) in birds is caused by a virus. So, there is a good chance Lucky has cancer.
He will take it out on Monday and send it for a pathology exam, then we will know for sure.

I talked to a friend in Broward who has pigeons and in the past two years she had three birds with cancer. 
That is a whole lot. 

Reti


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## Margarret (May 3, 2007)

Reti, 

I'm sorry to hear about Lucky bird's having a tumor. I haven't thought much about cancer until I had a very sick bird a couple of months ago. I treated her for every thing I could think of, as she had gone light and didn't have any specific symptoms. I did take her to the vet who told me I was already doing what he would prescribe. He did raise the issue at that time that she could have cancer. I have hung in there with her and she is slowly coming around, with some weight gain. I had to hand feed for about three weeks tho. This is the first time I have heard of cancer being virally caused in birds.

I do hope that the tumor comes back benign and that Lucky bird has a few more years left. Will watch for your posts next week.

Margaret


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

Reti,

I so hope that Lucky will be OK. I, personally, have never had a bird with a definite diagnosis of cancer, so I have no useful information to offer .. only my hopes for a good outcome for Lucky. I also was not aware that cancer in birds can be or is caused by a virus. I'll have to do some reading on this to get myself up to speed.

Terry


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

My understanding is that some cancer in birds is caused by herpes virus.


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

Charis said:


> My understanding is that some cancer in birds is caused by herpes virus.


Thanks, Charis. I didn't know that.

Terry


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## Forest (Jun 4, 2006)

Reti, 
I don't know if it would be of interest, but the "holistic bird" list has had a good bit of discussion on cancer in birds. An interesting list (I must admit I hoard most of their mail for reference at need rather than reading it at once). Their home page:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/HolisticBird/

Hoping the very best for Lucky bird!
Forest


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## Reti (Jul 20, 2003)

Thank you for your replies.
I hope Lucky will be alright, if it is cancer hopefully it is localized and by removing it we're done with it. He is doing fine, eating, preening and being his mean self (although he is not quite as mean as he used to be).

There is evidence that some cancers in humans are caused by virus. A certain type of Lymhoma (Burkitt's Lymphoma) is caused by Ebstein-Barr virus (the mononucleosis virus) and HTL-1 virus causes Leukemia.

Thank you for the link Forest. Will do some reading today.

Reti


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Reti,

I'm so sorry to hear about Lucky, but I hope and pray he will be fine, and the tumor removed is benign. 

I remember Maggie was talking about a bird that she had that the vet said had cancer, not sure if it was a just a guess on the vest part or an actual diagnosis.

Thanks for sharing the holisitic bird link, Forest. I'm going to check it out too.


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

Reti, we have had two that our vet was pretty sure had cancer. Both were in the abdominal area.

The first one, Gracie, was pretty bad. She was about 12 - 14 years old when we had her PTS because she was so sick. She had severe swelling from her breast area to her rump. When the vet went in with a needle to drain the fluids to give her some relief from the swelling, only blood showed in the syringe. The vet said that usually occurred only with cancer. She went downhill very rapidly and was obviously in pain and severe discomfort.

The second one, Silver, who had only one leg, started having convulsions one afternoon and died within minutes. We had already had at least two tumors removed from his stomach and they came back along with others. I honestly can't remember if she had the ones she removed analyzed but she said it was cancer. He was very young when he had the tumors removed - just months old and died when he was about 4 years old.

I so hope Lucky lives up to his name and you find that his is benign. Will be thinking about you and him.


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## Reti (Jul 20, 2003)

Thank you for your input.

When the vet opened up the tiny hole to remove the lump (which we thought was an abscess) it also started bleeding quite heavily. Also the lump is not mobile, that should have given us a clue that it is not an abcess. I also think it has grown some in the past few days. 
I hope it is benign.

I am attaching pics so you can see what it looks like.


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## Reti (Jul 20, 2003)

Lucky had surgery today. Unfortunately the tumor could not be removed, it is an ugly looking tumor atached to the tissues and impossible to remove in totality, it has no margini and is bleeding a lot when trying to detach from the surrounding tissues. 
It looks like it is a sarcoma and those type of cancers are very aggressive. Radiation would be the only option but there is nobody in the area who does it in birds. Even that wouldn't guarantee a cure.
So, we are still waiting for the pathology exam and we take it from there.

Since we got back from the vet Lucky is just standing in the back of the cage facing the wall. I gave him Metacam cause I am sure he is in pain. Hope he will eat later.
This is so sad, I am heartbroken.

Reti


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Reti,

 I'm so sorry to hear this is such a difficult and ugly tumor and can't be removed in its entirety.

I will say a little prayer for Lucky and hope he is not in any pain and eating soon.


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

Ah, Reti, I'm really sorry. It is so bad when it is attached like that. From the pictures, it is swollen quite a bit. Still keeping fingers crossed that it is benign.


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## Hambone (Feb 19, 2008)

Hi Reti ,

My heart goes out to you and your little friend . I know how heartbreaking it is to have a pet get very sick or lose them . It doesnt seem fair ... they hurt no one and yet sometimes they suffer . I'm hoping for the best ........


hambone


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## Reti (Jul 20, 2003)

It is so sad indeed, those little creatures have not hurt anybody and they have to go through such pain and suffering.

Maggie, this is very unlikely to be a benign tumor the way ot looks. 

He hasn't eaten yet, he just sits there. I will bring Fanny (his mate) in here today and will keep them both in the living room so I can watch him better.
It is very difficult to give him his Metacam as I have no way of holding his head without hurting him. This thing seems like it is growing by the day and it is still bleeding some.

Reti


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## Reti (Jul 20, 2003)

I just received the pathology results. It is a fast growing malignant round cell tumor with grave prognosis.
The recommendation is euthanasia. There is no point in removing it as it will grow back within a week.
It has grown considerably in past week, but he is still eating, mating, biting, he just can't fly anymore but it doesn't seem to bother him.
This is devastating news, I still was hoping that there was something that could be done.

Reti


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Reti,

I'm so deeply sorry to hear the news, I know it is very devistating  

to find out that nothing other then euthanasia can be done for him at this time.

Do you know if he is in any kind of pain?


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## Reti (Jul 20, 2003)

Trees Gray said:


> Reti,
> 
> I'm so deeply sorry to hear the news, I know it is very devistating
> 
> ...


I don't know if he is in pain, but from reading in my medical books and emedicine, he probably is, considering that the tumor is quite large and located in the head area.
Most likely at this point he has also metastasis.
I will start him on twice daily Metacam and when I notice he stops eating and enjoying life I will make the decision.

Reti


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

Reti, I'm so sorry..........You have to make the decision because you're there, but we all know that you will do what's best for the bird, period, because that's really all that matters. Hugs.


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

I will pray to God to give you the strength to know when it is time for Lucky to be released of His earthly wings and bondage and to leave this troubled world.  

Meanwhile I know you will do everything to keep him as comfortable as possible, you always do.


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

Reti, this really is sad news. I had also hoped for a better prognosis. It still sounds like Lucky is content and I doubt he could do all the things you describe if he is in severe pain. Much love to you.


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## Reti (Jul 20, 2003)

I don't think he is in severe pain, but the tumor is so large I can't imagine he is not in some pain.
Here are some pics today. It has grown a whole lot in the past two weeks.

I am posting the pics for educational purposes. If someone has a bird with something ugly like this, most likely it is not good.

Reti


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## Reti (Jul 20, 2003)

It is as if Lucky heard the results himself. As of last night he sits puffed up with his head leaning towards the good side. He hasn't eaten, won't sit on the eggs, won't do anything. Once in a while he will come out of it and wing slap Fanny, for no reason. He must be in pain.
I thought he still would have a few weeks of good quality of life. Lee doesn't want to hear of putting him to sleep, I don't want to see him suffer. 

Reti


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## jenfer (Jan 7, 2008)

I'm sorry about the prognosis, Reti. Martin Goldstein recommends curcumin (tumeric) to help shrink tumors. Can you give him the Metacam drop by drop from the outside of the beak so you don't have to grasp him? 

I also think it's important generally speaking not to assume that things will take a certain course. 

A while back, I found a stray cat who turned out to have advanced mammary cancer with lymph infiltration. We had the tumors removed, but they started coming back maybe a month later. The oncologist told me that animals with this type of cancer do not die peacefully, and that we would eventually have to put her to sleep once the cancer spread to her lungs and her breathing became labored. We fed her a good quality diet, treated her homeopathically, and Reiki was sent to her daily (there's a group of practitioners that specializes in animal Reiki). Above all else, we surrounded her with love. In the end, she never got to the point described by the vet--she did develop an occassional cough, and in the last couple of days had a poor appetite. Then one night, she simply crawled under the bed and passed peacefully.

Best wishes,
Jennifer


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## Whitefeather (Sep 2, 2002)

Reti said:


> *I just received the pathology results. It is a fast growing malignant round cell tumor with grave prognosis.*
> 
> Reti


I am so sorry to hear about Lucky, Reti.



> *He must be in pain.*
> 
> Reti


I would imagine the pressure must be pretty intense.



> *It is as if Lucky heard the results himself.
> As of last night he sits puffed up with his head leaning towards the good side. He hasn't eaten, won't sit on the eggs, won't do anything.*
> 
> I thought he still would have a few weeks of good quality of life.
> ...


We never want to let go of our pets, ever. 
Perhaps Lucky's actions are letting you and Lee know that it's OK to let him go.


* "Bless you all at this trying time" *

Cindy


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## Margarret (May 3, 2007)

Reti,

I am so sad to hear about Lucky's pathology results and the growth of the tumor.It appears that this is his time to pass. You are already doing everything possible to keep him as comfortable and pain free as possible. He has both his mate and you nearby. It is so hard to go through this. You are all in my prayers.

Margaret


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## FloridaLuv (Dec 19, 2008)

I'm at a loss for words Reti. ***sigh*** I will send my positive thoughts straight your way... your in my prayers... Bless you and your feathered family.


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## Reti (Jul 20, 2003)

He is sitting on the eggs right now, but he is leaning on his good side. I tried offering him some water, he only grunted and told me to go away.
I will give him some pedialyte when he gets up from the eggs.
I am not sure he is ready to go, how do I know when he will be.

My former vet is back in town and will go to the clinic tonight so I can pick up a stronger painkiller. 

Reti


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## ceren (Feb 20, 2009)

Reti said:


> .....and when I notice he stops eating and enjoying life I will make the decision.


And that makes you stronger and more merciful than a lot of pet owners. It takes a LOT to care so much that you can take the hurt to prevent one's cherished pet from suffering more hurt.


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

Reti said:


> He is sitting on the eggs right now, but he is leaning on his good side. I tried offering him some water, he only grunted and told me to go away.
> I will give him some pedialyte when he gets up from the eggs.
> I am not sure he is ready to go, how do I know when he will be.
> 
> ...


Reti...if you're going to get a stronger pain killer, this could be the time.
I can't see him in person but just looking at his picture, it's difficult to imagine how he couldn't be in pain. Birds do pretend to be OK until they can't possibly any longer.
I understand the agony of letting go and the finality of it all, but letting him go may be the last kind,loving and selfless thing you can do. It would be OK to let him go where there is no pain.


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

I'm so sorry Reti .. have already seen the other thread. You are a very smart and experienced lady with all things medical, so I KNOW that you KNOW when things are terminal. If this bird is terminal, then please go ahead and let him go. I know it isn't easy, but I think it's probably time to let him go, and bless you for trying so hard for so long.

Terry


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## Reti (Jul 20, 2003)

Thank you Ceren, Charis, Terry.
It is amazing how they can pretend that everything is fine. I took him with me to dr.K just for him to take a look and he acted as if nothing was wrong.
Since I moved Lucky into the living room he and Lee formed a special bond, they spend their afternoons together cuddling and "talking".
Lucky was handraised and is human friendly and very tame, but for some reason he never liked me but he loves Lee.
It is going to be very hard on Lee and of course his mate Fanny. 
It's holiday weekend and If I take him to the clinic I pay it a 170$ emergency fee, so we have to wait till Tuesday. So, we still have some time to say our goobyes.

Reti


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## Hambone (Feb 19, 2008)

Hi Reti ,

I'm very sorry . 

You guys are in my thoughts and prayers .


hambone


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## Mindy (Apr 2, 2009)

Reti, I just found this thread, through the thumbelina thread. I'm so sorry. I'm in tears just reading this, I can't imagine having to deal with it in person. My thoughts and prayers are with you and lee and lucky and little fanny..... min


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## Reti (Jul 20, 2003)

Thank you Hambone and Min.
He is still doing ok. The painkillers seem to help, he is eating and being more active, so we wait and see.


Reti


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