CANKER
Canker is a disease of the same nature as diphtheria in human beings. It appears occasionally in lofts where it never before has been found, and seems to be contracted from germs which float in the air. It often attacks the birds in one nest and not the one next to it, although if it is not taken in hand it will soon spread to all the birds in the loft.
It no doubt comes from a cold very often and for that reason birds which show symptoms of having caught cold should be carefully watched. The first appearance of this disease shows in little yellowish white blisters on the lining or mucous membrane of the mouth and throat. These rapidly increase in size and spread to other parts of the throat and form a cheesy growth until they show outside around the mouth, and the bird chokes to death.
When canker appears in a squab only and the parent bird shows no sign of it, the best thing to do is to kill the squab, disinfect the loft and stay the disease in this way. It may be cured by using a little patience, unless it has gone too far before it is discovered.
Remove the sick bird from the loft and keep it in some place not adjacent to the pigeon house. Take a small sharp splinter of wood, such as sharpened match, and scrape the cankers off, doing this as gently as possible. This will leave a raw red spot, which should be gently swabbed with a solution of peroxide of hydrogen and water, half and half. The solution will foam as if it were boiling, but it is entirely painless and does not hurt the bird in the least. Repeat the swabbing, putting on plenty of the solution, until it ceases to foam. It does not matter if a little of the solution goes down the throat of the bird, as it is perfectly harmless when swallowed by man, beast or bird, and it is the best germicide known, being non-poisonous and odorless.
Some good authorities recommend painting the cankers with lemon juice and putting a piece of alum in the drinking water, but we prefer the peroxide of hydrogen treatment. Do not return a bird to the loft until it is entirely well, and always disinfect the loft when a case of canker is found in it. Directions for disinfecting are given further on in this chapter.
If the disease does not respond quickly to treatment, it is sometimes best to turn the affected birds out of the fly and let them shift for themselves without restraint. The open air and scanty supply of food together with whatever they are able to find of nature's remedies will effect a cure in nearly every case. Sometimes a bird will leave and never return but just as well this loss as to kill the bird, or have others in the fly affected. By this method I have often cured young birds just beginning to shift for themselves and older breeders in the last stages of Canker and when the bird is entirely recovered from the disease it may easily be caught and returned to the loft without endangering the rest.