I've seen them before - they're ugly, but they eventually fall off. I saw one that was a few feathers all near each other get really gross - I helped it out over a couple of days since the bird kept snagging it and making it bleed ... things worked out with that one.

This is a different bird, the "tumor" is about the size of a marble and it's got me worried. It appears to be a flight feather since there's a gap there. She's not picking at it - it really doesn't seem to bother her at all. Thing is, I can't even find where the feather's supposed to erupt normally ... In the past I could see part of the feather under the skin but not so with this one. What's the deal? Is this thing going to explode and cause her to bleed to death? Is is just a nasty pussy mess and I should leave it alone until it just falls off? Should I see if I can pull it off (gently! I'm not just going to yank the thing) and pack it with styptic if it bleeds (like I did last time)? Trying not to spend $$$$ on a vet bill if I don't have to, and someone told me NCSU vet school doesn't do avian. (were they liars?)

8/1/2006 9:33:12 PM

Post some pictures.

Macro mode (flower icon, usually) if available will be very helpful if you're taking a closeup.

8/1/2006 10:56:44 PM

From what I have read, feather cysts generally need to be surgically removed. But don't worry about the size of it, they're supposed to be on the large side.

Avian and Exotic is where Sonia and I both take all of our birds and we're both really pleased with the doctors there. You should give them a call. They may have some advice for you even if you don't want to take your bird in.

http://www.avianandexotic.com/

I wouldn't try to do it myself without expert advice.

[Edited on August 1, 2006 at 11:35 PM. Reason : More.]

8/1/2006 11:31:22 PM

ugh, they may be alright for birds, but they totally butchered a gecko i took there once, and charged me more than i felt appropriate. i take my birds to Dr. Brown at Dixie Trail, she is great!

8/2/2006 12:32:11 AM

yea while i do think they're good vets at avian and exotic... i was kinda frustrated after spending $900 on 2 vet visits for my iguana to find out that they dont really know whats wrong with him and dont know how to treat him.... (he had something funky going on with his skin... )
they told me to give him more baths and keep doing everything right,, which i had been.

good luck with the bird. i dont know of any good avian vets around here though

8/2/2006 2:46:26 AM

There is an avian vet in durham as well. You can email him and see what he thinks.

http://www.birdieboutique.com/

Good luck and hope the bird gets well soon!
~skip

8/2/2006 6:25:57 AM

Well, I love Dr. Dan at Avian and Exotic. Our Quaker liberated himself from his cage (back before we knew he was an escape artist) while my husband was asleep. The phone rang, startling my husband awake, who hopped right out of bed and onto the bird who was on the floor. Mina ended up with a broken femur. Dr. Dan performed surgery to put pins in his leg so that the leg could heal properly. Over a year later, Mina doesn't even have a limp.

8/2/2006 10:29:20 AM

[Edited on August 2, 2006 at 4:12 PM. Reason : .]

8/2/2006 4:12:30 PM

poor 'tiel. i hope he/she gets better soon!
let us know what you end up doing...
~skip

8/2/2006 5:26:40 PM

Poor prinny! Styptic powder/pencil is only for nails and non "living" tissue-- use cornstarch to staunch bleeding on a bird's skin.

I have seven beebs and I've never seen an ingrown feather before. Could it be a cyst, puncture wound, or abscess? The way new feathers form (a piece of fluff will erupt followed by the pinfeather) usually keeps ingrowns from happening. When you say they fall off, do you mean the growth or the bad feather?

I've had bad experiences with people other than Dr. Eckerman-Ross at A&E. If you can be picky, see her and no one else. The Other People handled my birds poorly and were related to the poor health and death of some other TWWer's pets. The Vick Rd emergency clinic (off Glenwood near Crabtree) might have an avian specialist on hand depending on what time of day it is, but emergency visits cost more. Definitely call ahead. They've been good to three species of animals I've brought in there at midnight. ;p

8/2/2006 7:09:35 PM

how is the little one doing???

~skip

8/5/2006 9:08:51 AM

I'm adding to this one instead of creating a new thread

We went to the vet today, and they took blood - results will be back tomorrow. He wants to take it off (duh) and says he's "very concerned" because it's ulcerated (? I think that's what he said.) Anyway, at $100 for routine bloodwork/checkup, $300 to take the thing off and $80 to find out if whatever he takes out is malignant ... that's a lot of dough I don't really have.

I was looking into VPI anyway before I got her back but hadn't gone for it for the same reason - didn't realy have the dough. They say there's a 14-day waiting period before they will approve something, so I can't be sneaky and get them to pay for the routine diagnostics However I can wait past that for the surgery. BUT, it is technically a "preexisting condition" ... and frankly I don't want to buy the insurance now and have them deny the claim. If I buy it and they pay it, it's a wash for the year. I still shell $300 but if things go south after the surgery I still have the insurance, which costs $255. If I buy it and they deny it, then I'm out $555.

Anyone else dealt with them?
Do you think they will pay it?
Is it worth it (to get it at all, not just for this one thing)?
Are there other companies out there that anyone here's dealt with?

9/26/2006 4:06:34 PM

Insurance will do everything they can to avoid paying it. If there are complications from the preexisting condition they probably won't cover that either. Does your vet offer a payment plan so you don't have to pay it all at once?

I only had insurance (VPI) for one of my birds because he was prone to infections because he was a drama queen and rescued from a pestmart-- it wasn't worth it for the other birds because the insurance wouldn't've offset the cost of yearly wellbird checkups and at least one serious business visit. But he was always going in for something (megabacteria, faking asphyxia, false alarm red runny nares, loose droppings, butt infections, random vomiting) so it was a deal on him. He was having a butt infection at the time he was getting insured and they wouldn't pay for anything until after he cleared up after a month.

Since this is a one time thing I'd go ahead and soak it and put it on a payment plan. If you think she's going to need a lot of treatment in the future you might want to ask VPI how preexisting her condition is before you buy the plan. (Pretend to be someone else on the phone, right.)

9/26/2006 4:23:58 PM

that's the catch 22 ... if this is malignant, then that's really bad, and it would require additional treatment. The bloodwork that we just got done will come back and tell us if there's any liver/kidney failure tomorrow. The test on the tumor/growth would tell us if it's malignant. I'm in that gray area -- she has this tumor before getting VPI, but I don't technically know if it's just a really bad ingrown feather requiring antibiotics or malignant cancer. She's at least 10 years old if not older and was in very poor shape when I rescued her from a wanna-be breeder, so I'm kind-of expecting her health to start failing pretty soon. My others are 9 and 12/3 respectively, and perfectly fine, aside from one being a little thin and the other a little fat

I digress; the tumor is preexisting, but my knowledge of whether she has terminal organ failure or if the tumor is malignant is unknown as of the time I type this. :/

9/26/2006 9:18:51 PM