A mature canary was bought in for a second opinion. It was thought to have canary pox but it would not get better. It had a fair sized lump just above it’s right eye.

This was an older bird housed with a small flock of canaries.

The bird was bright and happy and was still eating.

Lumps in canaries are commonly pox or feather cysts. In this case feather cysts were not involved due to the location of the lump. Pox lesions are often on the eyelids and limbs, just like on this bird.

Pox is carried by mosquitoes and is a virus (papilloma virus) that infects the bite site and sets up a reaction. Mostly the pox is aggressive for a short period and then the lesions go away as the immune system takes over and clears the infection.

The lump on this bird did not look like the typical pox lesion – in fact it looked very much like a type of cancer.

Given the time they had been there and the low monetary value of the bird it was decided to euthanase the bird. On examination the tissue within the lumps was typical of cancer cells (no lab work due to cost).

Cancer is not as common in canaries as in Budgies but when strange lumps occur it must always be considered.