Ringneck Dove Has Weird Issue With the Skin On His Legs and Feet

[EllenD]

When it rains it pours...

Dylan, my almost year-old male Ringneck Dove, has something nasty going on with the skin on both of his legs and both of his feet...If you're not familiar, some Doves/Pigeons have bright red/almost purple skin on their legs and the tops of their feet and toes...Well I noticed yesterday that the skin on both of Dylan's legs, feet, and toes (the skin all around his legs, but only the skin on the tops of his feet and toes, the bottoms of his feet and toes are normal) is not only flaking off quite a bit, but in spots it's actually peeling-off to the point it's opening-up and is bloody...He's got a few spots with really thin scabs too...It doesn't seem to bother him, but it looks incredibly sore...

At first glance it looks like a bacterial or fungal infection. It's just weird, like why would he have a bacterial or fungal infection of the skin on both his legs and feet? And it's the entire length of both legs and feet too, it's not in just certain spots, it's the entire legs and the tops of his feet...In most places it just looks like the top layer of skin is just peeling-off (the skin of the top layer that is coming-up is completely clear), but in certain spots it's split-open much deeper...He's not ever in an area where his feet and legs would be getting wet, and his cage is cleaned daily (not that he's ever in his cage anyway)...He flies all day long and usually sits on the huge play-gym I build for them...It's made of PVC piping and has Vet Wrap around all of the piping that is dry and clean. That's where he spends most of his day. So I don't know what would cause this...

I immediately thought about "Avian Pox", as pustules on their feet and legs is one of the common signs, but it doesn't look at all like Pox, and he has nothing at all on either his bill or his eyes, and with Avian Pox they typically have the pustules on their bill and eyes at the same time as their legs and feet, and they are really huge, ugly pustules...But of course I'm worrying about that now...

He's going to the CAV on Tuesday when I take Bowie in for his beak to be filled with acrylic, so I'm sure we'll do a culture...I just wondered if anyone else ever had anything like this happen before...It's hard to describe, but basically it's like the very top layer of skin over his legs and feet is just peeling off, on both legs/feet, and in some spots it's deep and has formed scabs...And it's weird because his legs and feet are very bright red in color, but the layer that is peeling off is clear, it almost looks like scotch-tape peeling off...

Always something...

 

[Laurasea]

C an you post pic?

 

[Jen5200]

I’m very curious what this is - hope you’ll share what your vet tells you!

 

[ChristaNL]

(not certain of course but maybe) mites?

 

[reeisconfused]

Oh EllenD, I’m so sorry this is happening. Could you post a picture?
Hope the CAV visit goes well. Keeping you and Dylan in my thoughts.

 

[noodles123]

Could it be so sort of allergic reaction to a perch,food, or another bird?
Aside from infection or mites....that is all I've got...other than deficiency...

 

[EllenD]

I'm going to take some photos when i get home so you can see...

I don't think it's mites or any type of parasites, it looks much more like either a Bacterial Infection or a Fungal Infection, it almost reminds me of Athlete's Foot, where the skin on your feet peel, but with a few little scabby areas and areas where the skin peeling goes deeper than the superficial layer...He's not at all bothering with it, I've been watching him and he hasn't once paid any attention to it at all. I cleaned his entire cage and area last night and disinfected it, and made sure it was completely dry...I also drew him a shallow, warm bath in the sink last night with some Betadine in it, and made him stand in it for a good 10 minutes (he was not amused, but at least Doves can't bite! Yay!)...I dried his feet and legs very well afterwards, and I tried putting a some topical Anti-Fungal cream on it afterwards, as it really does look fungal to me...This morning they look 50% better, there's much less peeling...So I am thinking it's fungal...We go tomorrow afternoon to the CAV, and he's going to swab it and take a look under the microscope to see what he can see...

 

[Inger]

I’m very curious to hear what the CAV finds. Sometimes in the winter my skin gets so dry it feels like it’s peeling off. I’m sure you keep track of the humidity in your home?

I’m also curious about doves as pets. How do they compare to parrots?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[EllenD]

Well, it might be okay, or not...My CAV thinks it may be the start of Avian Pox...Which means all of my flock has been exposed to it. It's a Herpes virus, so it hides for long periods of time, so he would have gotten it in that horrible pet shop the Rescue cleaned-up and that I rescued him from...

He did blood-work, which Dylan absolutely freaked-out about...Imagine a Dove completely losing it and trying to "beak" the Vet to death..It was actually funny as hell, lol...He also did a swab of both feet and legs, and sent it out to a lab to run a culture on. He made a smear on a slide and looked at it under the microscope, then did a Gram-Stain, but couldn't see anything but normally occurring bacteria like staph aureus, pseudomonas, etc. So we just have to hope that it's some kind of infection that he got somehow...

He said that the skin on the feet and legs of Doves and Pigeons is very different than that of Parrots, it's got a superficial layer of very thin, clear skin that often does peel-up when it gets wet or damaged in any way, which is what I was seeing when I said it looked like "clear plastic" peeling up...Actually, if you've ever gotten clear glue on your hands and you've peeled it off, that's exactly what the skin on his legs and the top of his feet looks like...But you can't see it until it's damaged or something like this happens because of their deep red/purple colored legs/feet...

Anyway, we're not doing anything right now until the blood-work comes back, it will be back before the culture. If he's negative for Avian Pox, then it's some kind of nasty skin infection, he said probably fungal from the looks of it, which is why he sent a culture out, for it to be grown-out to actually get a full diagnosis instead of guessing...If it is Avian Pox, then Kane, Bowie, Lita, and Duff all have to be tested as well, because he said that the only treatment that actually helps is Acyclovir, and that's only to suppress it, there is no cure, just like with Herpes Simplex Virus. The next phase is it spreads to their bills/beaks/faces and specifically all around/in their eyes, and they often go blind. So the anti-viral keeps it suppressed...The Budgies weren't ever anywhere near Dylan, they live two floors away in the aviary, and Dylan is on the third floor in my bedroom, so they're alright...But I guarantee Duff has it if he does, because they are attached at the hip and she preens him all day long...I don't know about the other 3, they aren't anywhere "near" him and haven't ever touched him, but you know how these kinds of viruses are...It's just wait and see...

On a happier note, Bowie's beak doesn't need any acrylic, it's actually already callousing over on it's own, and filling itself in, so he's fine in that regard. My CAV looked like he was going to start crying about this yesterday, so he didn't charge me a thing for the testing or exams...He's a good guy, and he knows this is going to kill me if they all have Avian Pox...uhg...

 

[Laurasea]

I was worried about pox....but didn't mention cuz I didn't know it could hide....I hope it isn't, and that you will educate us with pictures. So glad Bowie is healing.

 

[Teddscau]

That's horrible! Hopefully it's just a fungal thing. On a positive note, your budgies haven't been anywhere near him. It would be terrible if your other parrots have avian pox, though. That's horrible! Hopefully it's just a fungal thing. On a positive note, your budgies haven't been anywhere near him. It would be terrible if your other parrots have avian pox, though. But at least you don't have to dread medicating your budgies. Budgies are such a pain to medicate. Man, diseases are such a pain with birds. You don't have to worry about shielding your dogs from dozens of deadly diseases. Well, I guess birds ARE vector animals. But at least you don't have to dread medicating your budgies. Budgies are such a pain to medicate. Man, diseases are such a pain with birds. You don't have to worry about shielding your dogs from dozens of deadly diseases. Well, I guess birds ARE disease vectors. They (dinosaurs) were the dominant lifeforms for millions of years, so it makes sense that so many pathogens would've evolved to prey on(?) birds.

I know how terrible this must be for you. I've lost a number of rescues these past few years, and I can't help but blame myself. But it's important to remind yourself that these animals would likely be dead, or at least be suffering, if it weren't for our care. If it makes you feel any better, only five out of my...13? 14? Well, however many birds I had at the time, only five of them had AGY, and that illness is super contagious. Even if your other birds have come in contact with avian pox, they may not have even contracted it, and even if they did, their immune systems could very well be strong enough to prevent any symptoms from appearing for years.

My thoughts are with you and your flock, and I hope the vet comes back soon with good news

 

[EllenD]

Well my laptop got "Shar-Peied", so I had to order a new one that I built with Dell (Alienware �&#56445, so in the meantime I bought a cheap tablet from Walmart because I was having Parrot-Forum Withdrawal!!! And I'm actually shocked at how awesome a $100 tablet actually is these days! This thing is more powerful and advanced than most of my older PC's and my Sony Vaio laptop was, which I paid $2,000 for in 2006!!! I hate Apple products, forgive me but I'm an IBM/Windows gal and cannot stand the Apple OS, so I refuse to buy an iPad, and the only Apple product I've ever owned is my iPod ��...

Anyway, the good news is that Dylan does not have Avian Pox!!! The bad news is that we have no idea what he does have! No abnormal bacteria or fungi on the cultures and no parasites at all...My CAV took a scraping from his feet, legs, back, chest/belly, and his beak and toenails, and is running a plethora of lab tests, along with a bunch of individual blood-test, some looking for antibodies and some looking for inflammatory-reactions...He got a Corticosteroid injection to see if it helps, as I have already tried both an Anti-Fungal cream and Nystatin, and he gave him an injection of Cephz to see if it might be a bacterial thing that we can't see, and neither had any effect at all. He thought about giving him an injection of Ivermectin to see if it might be a parasite that he missed or that is in very small numbers, but I opted to pay for the extra blood-work and the skin-scraping testing to check for inflammatory conditions and a few other things...

This is frustrating... NOTHING helps at all! Not Hibiclens soaks, Betadine soaks, Hydrocortisone, multiple Anti-Fungals, or any other topical treatments...I mean nothing even makes a bit of difference at all! Not injections of an Anti-Fungal or very broad-spectrum Antibiotic that treats pretty much all bacterial skin infections...I am so thankful that my birds are going to be okay and not effected by this at all, but poor Dylan!!!

I'm going to post some photos of both Dylan's legs/feet and Bowie's beak today since I'm totally off and not working or going anywhere!!! I am terrible at remembering to do things like that, I totally forget until I come back on here and see people asking for photos...So I promise today I will!!!

 

[noodles123]

Maybe it is auto-immune or something like contact dermatologist after all! Crazy...sorry, that is frustrating, but congrats on being pox free!