Trevtom

Hi all new to this forum

I live in Thailand and retired and have a African Grey as a great friend and good company !!

She is 3 years old speaks all day many words a great character

this morning I noticed a pink lump under her break like an abscess ?

I've spoken to the vet she seeing her tomorrow

does anyone please have ideas what it is

I've tried to upload 3 pictures







Thanks
Trevor

Sawasdee and welcome to the forum, so wonderful to have a member from the Kingdom of Thailand, my fave country in the world!

Sorry Trevor I have zero info for you about your problem with your beautiful bird, I hope you get the help you need from your vet.

There are several amazingly knowledgeable African Grey custodians who will no doubt be along shortly who may be able to offer you more insight.

Until then, welcome once more and please keep us posted when you have a diagnosis

I have greys, and no idea what is going on there.
A lot of swollen skin - but you knew that already.


I hope your vet has some answers for you.

Hello, and welcome.

GOOD FOR YOU for heading for the vet.

Good luck to you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh my, that just showed up overnight? Is the bird kept in an outside cage? It kind of looks like he's outside, and if so, and if it just popped-up like that overnight, then I'm going to guess that something has bitten him, like an insect, a reptile like a snake, etc...It looks like it's swelling badly, which could be due to a reaction to whatever bit him or what it injected into him, if anything...If this is the case, you have to worry because of where it is on his body, as his entire throat may swell up. Watch him closely, and if you hear any wheezing or labored breathing, or he starts open-mouth breathing, or he becomes very lethargic, has trouble standing or becomes unsteady, etc., then it's an emergency...

Other than a reaction to a bite of some kind, it could be just about anything...It doesn't look like an abscess to me, though it could be. I doubt it's a cyst or a tumor or anything like that since it popped-up out of nowhere...

Welcome to you and your magnificent grey!

I have not experienced what your image displays, hope it is not serious. Are you able to take her to an avian certified vet, or equivalent? Many vets have some training with avians, but do not have the best education and experience to manage serious issues. Please let us know the outcome and how she is progressing.

Very good point that Scott has just made about taking him only to either a Certified Avian Vet (CAV), or an Avian Specialist Vet who only treats birds...A lot of people mistakenly take their parrots to an "Exotic's Vet" who treats every type of animal/pet imaginable, but has no extra education or training in treating any of them. They will see a reptile and then a dog, and then a bird, and then a rodent, etc. And birds are very, very unique in their anatomy, physiology, and most of all, in their behavior when they are sick or in pain, and there are quite a few Avian-specific conditions that a Vet will not be aware of at all unless they are an Avian Specialist...And with something like this, it's going to be extremely important that the Vet that you take your bird to knows about bird anatomy, and of any specific conditions that might cause something like this.

I've not ever seen anything like this, not ever. It's location is quite alarming, as it looks like it's actually coming out of that open depression/hole that is located under the bottom of their beaks...That area has a very large blood-supply, and is connected to both their neck/throat, their Crop, and then of course the floor of their mouth...So this could be just about anything.

Be sure that whatever Vet you do take him to doesn't just look at the bird visually and then just tells you that it's "probably due to an infection of some kind" and then just gives you an Antibiotic to give him. Unfortunately a lot of Exotic's Vets do this all the time because they don't know what else to do; they fail to run any diagnostic tests at all and just put the bird on an Antibiotic, like Baytril, and that's it.

I can't tell just by looking at the photo whether that is actually a "growth", or if it's simply the bird's own skin/tissue that is just badly swollen; I also can't tell if it's hard, soft, fluid-filled, air-filled, etc. These are all things that the Vet needs to determine by doing some diagnostic tests, and that's what I mean by not just allowing the Vet to look at your bird and then just prescribe an Antibiotic and maybe also an Anti-inflammatory and that's it, without doing any diagnostic testing. Depending on what it feels like and whether or not it's an actual growth or just the bird's skin/tissue swelled-up, the Vet should either do a Fine-Needle Aspiration, where they take a needle on a syringe and try to draw fluid from the mass/abscess, or if it's a solid growth they need to take a Fine-Needle Biopsy and send the sample off to a lab for diagnosis. I wouldn't be at all surprised and would even request that the Vet also take a regular X-Ray so that they can see how complicated and involved it is, and then would also probably request that they draw some blood and run routine blood-work at the lab to rule-out an infection, among other things. They need to actually make an effort to properly diagnose exactly what this is instead of just guessing and just "seeing" if antibiotics and/or an anti-inflammatory will make it go away...This could be nothing or it could be extremely serious...

Again, it's very rare that an actual Tumor or Cyst would just suddenly appear overnight, or even in a matter of days. An Abscess might form very quickly, but there should be other signs of infection or the cause of the infection, such as an open wound, a bite, discharge or bleeding from the bird's mouth/throat, etc.

*****I forgot to ask you how your bird is acting otherwise...Is he behaving normally? Eating and drinking normally? Has he lost any weight? Are his droppings normal, or are they watery/runny? Any blood in his droppings, or any bleeding from his mouth, nostrils, or anywhere else? Is he acting lethargic or sleeping more than usual? Any vomiting? These are the signs/symptoms that you need to be looking for so that you can tell the Vet about them as well...

Oh my goodness that is alarming I’m glad you are going to the vet. The advice here already is spot on.


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Hi and welcome! How did the visit with your vet go?