Is this a spur or something else?

[obiandfriends]

Hi everyone. My nearly 8 year old leghorn, Obi-wan Henobi, has a growth on her leg. I thought she was growing a spur given the location and pointy end, but now I'm not so sure as it looks too wide. Any ideas of what it could be, or is it just a spur?

She's walking/eating/drinking/acting fine but she does have a heart condition which can't be treated, and over the past six months has had waves of being quite unwell then looking better. I'll take her back to the vet for a check up in the near future but was curious if anyone knows what this is.

Thank you for your help

 

[Lillith37]

I agree it does look like a spur but somehow something’s gone wrong with it… I guess my first thought is to spray with something like vetericyn and wrap it up. Is it tender if you press around the edges?

I hope someone has some more answers for you. Your lady has such a sweet face I hope it all works out!

 

[Farmgirl283420]

Oh my! @fluffycrow do you know what this is?

 

[fluffycrow]

I have never encountered this. Looks like a spur gone bad. Very well could be some kind of growth. Let's see if anyone has any better ideas

 

[-Chanticleer-]

@NatJ

 

[NatJ]

@NatJ

It does look like a spur, although I think it doesn't look quite right somehow.
I have no idea what to do about it, or whether to do anything at all.

(Of course that is pretty much the same as what other people already said, so not very useful.)

 

[obiandfriends]

Thank you everyone. Your responses are very useful. I'm glad I'm not going crazy! I'll monitor it for the time being and bring it up at her next vet appointment.

If I figure out what's going on I will provide an update.

Your lady has such a sweet face I hope it all works out!

She is a very sweet chicken

 

[obiandfriends]

I thought I'd provide an update in case anyone goes through something similar.

I took little Obi to the vet who agreed it looked like it started out as a spur, then because of her other health issues the blood starting travelling through the spur, causing it to bulge out. The vet reckons it is painful for her but suggested no treatment given Obi's age and other various issues. The vet did say it was unusual there was only one spur growing, however.

The spur continues to grow and bulge, however it doesn't impact her ability to walk/live her best chicken life. She fell off the roost one night when she was unwell (which resulted in her losing an eye in the fall) but I suspect that was caused by her other health issues rather than this growth.

Here's some photos and a video (https://streamable.com/fmhizr) of her this evening, around two months since the last photos were taken.

Hopefully this helps someone else down the track, and I'll provide another update if there's future developments Thanks again for your advice, everyone!

 

[obiandfriends]

In a dramatic turn of events, the growth on her leg disappeared. It grew quite large (see photo for what it looked like last week) then it must have fallen off. I'm not sure what to make of this whole saga, but overall the growth never bothered her and she seems fine.

 

[NatJ]

In a dramatic turn of events, the growth on her leg disappeared. It grew quite large (see photo for what it looked like last week) then it must have fallen off. I'm not sure what to make of this whole saga, but overall the growth never bothered her and she seems fine.

That is definitely unexpected

Thank you for updating!