Turkey with Golf Ball Cyst on Wing--Surgery Advice/Experience, Anyone?

[fin29]

I know this goes in the Poultry forum, but I need to get this guy into the barn for the winter and I only want to wrestle his 40+ lb. body once. :no:

My tom has a golf ball-sized cyst on the elbow of his wing. It appears to have a brown spot or two on it (injury?) and it appears to be a bit lumpy and hard. There are no feathers on it. I'm thinking it's either an infection from a little injury or a feather follicle cyst. Either way, it looks pretty gnarly. I'm thinking I need to wash it with betadine, make a 1/4" cut, and squeeze this goo out, then put him on tetracycline for a week. I could also lance it or aspirate it with a livestock syringe, but it looks like it has a hard substance in it.

Any other ideas/advice?

[Farmer Brown]

I lance a pockets of "crud" on cows quite often. We once had a large growth on a chickens wind which we snipped of with not much bleeding. Chicken lived a l ong life after that. FB

[fin29]

After I examined it more, I noticed that it was a hard mass attached with just a stalk of skin. I called a vet, who said that it's most likely a lipoma, or fatty tumor, which has a pretty extensive blood supply and could cause excessive bleeding if I cut into it. He recommended tying the stalk tightly with a length of dental floss, and it should fall off in 2-3 weeks. So, that's what I'll do.

It's nice to know that there are still vets out there that will give free advice over the phone and not try to get you into the office. I'm not even a regular patient there.

Nan, if you see this, feel free to move it to the poultry forum. I'll give an update when I see some progress.

[Gayle in LA]

fin, don't be too hard on the vets (I am one). We are awfully gun-shy about giving free advice over the phone and then getting our charitable a--es sued for "bad advice" because we haven't examined the patient. Happens.

[fin29]

Oh, I'm not being hard on all vets, just those ones who put their bottom line before their oath to relieve animal suffering and protect animal health.

This guy knew that the treatment for this issue could be done at home, and that the home care solution would be less invasive and stressful than bringing the tom in to get it cut off. So, IMO, the doc's primary concern was for the welfare of the patient, rather than the potential financial benefit to him. I think that's a good thing.