deacons
Songster
I have a 2.5 year old Golden Laced Wyandotte who has a stubborn bumblefoot issue going on. I've successfully dealt with bumblefoot before, but all the things I thought I knew how to do aren't working. We're about 2-weeks in, here's what I've tried so far:
1. Soaked in epsom salts, removed black scab (and with it, a large "kernel"), cleaned with Betadine, packed with neosporin, vetwrapped. After the initial removal of the kernel, it left behind a decent sized hole, but I really thought I had taken out everything that needed to come out.
2. Changed bandaged every 1-2 days, soaked again in epsom salts, sprayed with a lot of Vetricyn gel, re vet-wrapped, and sent her on her way. She was with the flock doing normal chicken things and roosting at night.
About a week in, she had painful looking abrasions in between her toes and up her "ankle."
At that point, I got worried that infection was spreading. The day after I saw these abrasions, when I did the bandage change, the second I uncovered it, it was obvious the foot was full of infection. There was a milky white "scab" on the footpad, and when I poked it, liquid white pus shot out. I'd always heard chickens don't have liquid pus (?) so this seemed very bad indeed.
That morning, I got a vet involved- he's more of an old-school country vet type but is willing to see chickens, so off we went. He was not particularly concerned about the abrasions- he thought these were probably because the foot swelled, pulling the bandages too tight, and she probably was sitting oddly on the roost to relieve the pressure. I think I buy this explanation. Both areas are responding well to 2x daily application of alternating povidone iodine gel and Vetericyn gel.
He did give Baytril tabs which I am giving her 2x day.
But here's the one thing that seemed frustrating about the vet visit- he left all the white cottage cheesy pus in the hole in teh footpad, saying he didn't think it would be productive for him to dig around in there. It seems to me like all that stuff has to come out, right? I am able to poke around at it a little with tweezers and pull some out with qtips, but it is still very obviously filled with white cottage cheese stuff.
We're 5 days into a 10-day course of antiobiotics. I am soaking the foot in epsom salts 1x daily, changing bandages 1-2 daily (doing my best to clean out the gunk close to the surface, repacking with povidone iodine or vetericyn). She is staying in a sick crate packed deep with straw and not moving around much or roosting at night.
She's laying (!), eating, drinking, pooping. A little anxious about being isolated. I feel bad for her so have let her loose in teh garage (dry and relatively clean) a few times with a couple of other chickens so she gets some movement and company.
My biggest question is what to do about the cottage cheesy pus. Bring her back to the vet and ask him to clean it out? Let a new scab form and see if it creates a plug that I can pull out all at once and essentially start the healing over? I do not have the proper tools or knowledge of foot anatomy to do much aggressive digging in there- I am fine clearing out surface stuff with tweezers/qtips, but it keeps filling back in. Advice?
1. Soaked in epsom salts, removed black scab (and with it, a large "kernel"), cleaned with Betadine, packed with neosporin, vetwrapped. After the initial removal of the kernel, it left behind a decent sized hole, but I really thought I had taken out everything that needed to come out.
2. Changed bandaged every 1-2 days, soaked again in epsom salts, sprayed with a lot of Vetricyn gel, re vet-wrapped, and sent her on her way. She was with the flock doing normal chicken things and roosting at night.
About a week in, she had painful looking abrasions in between her toes and up her "ankle."
At that point, I got worried that infection was spreading. The day after I saw these abrasions, when I did the bandage change, the second I uncovered it, it was obvious the foot was full of infection. There was a milky white "scab" on the footpad, and when I poked it, liquid white pus shot out. I'd always heard chickens don't have liquid pus (?) so this seemed very bad indeed.
That morning, I got a vet involved- he's more of an old-school country vet type but is willing to see chickens, so off we went. He was not particularly concerned about the abrasions- he thought these were probably because the foot swelled, pulling the bandages too tight, and she probably was sitting oddly on the roost to relieve the pressure. I think I buy this explanation. Both areas are responding well to 2x daily application of alternating povidone iodine gel and Vetericyn gel.
He did give Baytril tabs which I am giving her 2x day.
But here's the one thing that seemed frustrating about the vet visit- he left all the white cottage cheesy pus in the hole in teh footpad, saying he didn't think it would be productive for him to dig around in there. It seems to me like all that stuff has to come out, right? I am able to poke around at it a little with tweezers and pull some out with qtips, but it is still very obviously filled with white cottage cheese stuff.
We're 5 days into a 10-day course of antiobiotics. I am soaking the foot in epsom salts 1x daily, changing bandages 1-2 daily (doing my best to clean out the gunk close to the surface, repacking with povidone iodine or vetericyn). She is staying in a sick crate packed deep with straw and not moving around much or roosting at night.
She's laying (!), eating, drinking, pooping. A little anxious about being isolated. I feel bad for her so have let her loose in teh garage (dry and relatively clean) a few times with a couple of other chickens so she gets some movement and company.
My biggest question is what to do about the cottage cheesy pus. Bring her back to the vet and ask him to clean it out? Let a new scab form and see if it creates a plug that I can pull out all at once and essentially start the healing over? I do not have the proper tools or knowledge of foot anatomy to do much aggressive digging in there- I am fine clearing out surface stuff with tweezers/qtips, but it keeps filling back in. Advice?
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