Castor Oil for inflamed bumblefoot?

[Moments]

I totally understand - the vet can drain the bank account so fast, and we don't always get the results we hope for. You can keep trying what the vet has suggested for awhile, but if you don't see big improvements in a week I would try another route. Everyone has a first time for doing these medical things with our ducks - frustration with the vet, and knowing my girls depend on me, were motivators for me to try to learn to take care of some of these medical issues on my own. In this case, it's not that difficult and I'm sure you can do this. Soak her foot in luke warm epsom salt water for 5 minutes until the scab is soft, then I would just use my fingernail to gently pull the brown scab off. I would kneel on the floor and tuck the duck under my arm (wrap her wings in a little towel if she's going to be difficult) and put her over my knee, then pull her leg gently back to work on the bottom of the foot. Work the scab off and try to squeeze any puss out, then apply the salve thickly. Have a pre-cut little gauze pad to put on that. The wrapping of the foot can be tricky with a wiggly duck, but once you get the hang of it, it works well. I cut two strips of one inch vet wrap about 16 inches long. Use the first one to kind of criss-cross the wound area, wrap once around the ankle, making sure nothing is too tight. I try to hold the webbing in the normal walking position - spread open, because you want her to be able to walk normally when it's wrapped. Use the 2nd piece of vet wrap to wrap around and hold everything in place. Here's some pictures of how I've done it. Usually I go between both toes with the wrap - this bumble did not need that. View attachment 3703005View attachment 3703006View attachment 3703011View attachment 3703012View attachment 3703013

This is how I usually hold her when I'm wrapping her. And she weasels backwards out of a towel with ease, little squirt. She's a handful just with soaking and I worry that if I try to cut i could harm her badly if she tries to pull her antics. Unfortunately after 5-10 mins the scab is still very hard and I haven't been successful in getting her to let me soak her longer than that. This is similar to how I wrap my ducks only I take the 4 inch roll and cut two larger pieces for the webbing and a smaller one to go up around the talon and ankle then back to the foot to secure it. I wrap around both parts of the webbing because they're crafty and have pulled the gauze out and actually the entire wrap off at times, this is with it being snug lol. If I only wrapped one side of the foot there's no doubt it'd be almost an every day occurrence.... These ducks I tell ya
I had another vet I consulted with tell me if I try to do it myself there are important vessels and nerves that I could hit, if I lanced it and the one she saw said by trying to remove the core myself could damage tissue in the foot. She squirmed a lot just when I was trying to get some of the fluid out when the scab opened a little bit on its own and I was barely putting any pressure.

 

[CoriM]

Pulling the scab off and squeezing out what puss you can get is a lot different than taking a scalpel and cutting. I have used a scalpel just to lift the edge of the scab and start pulling. Good luck with whatever path you choose - I hope you can make her better!

 

[Miss Lydia]

This is how I usually hold her when I'm wrapping her. And she weasels backwards out of a towel with ease, little squirt. She's a handful just with soaking and I worry that if I try to cut i could harm her badly if she tries to pull her antics. Unfortunately after 5-10 mins the scab is still very hard and I haven't been successful in getting her to let me soak her longer than that. This is similar to how I wrap my ducks only I take the 4 inch roll and cut two larger pieces for the webbing and a smaller one to go up around the talon and ankle then back to the foot to secure it. I wrap around both parts of the webbing because they're crafty and have pulled the gauze out and actually the entire wrap off at times, this is with it being snug lol. If I only wrapped one side of the foot there's no doubt it'd be almost an every day occurrence.... These ducks I tell ya
I had another vet I consulted with tell me if I try to do it myself there are important vessels and nerves that I could hit, if I lanced it and the one she saw said by trying to remove the core myself could damage tissue in the foot. She squirmed a lot just when I was trying to get some of the fluid out when the scab opened a little bit on its own and I was barely putting any pressure.

Wrap her tight like a burrito. I lay them on their back with their butt facing away from me lift the leg and work on the foot.

 

[Moments]

Wrap her tight like a burrito. I lay them on their back with their butt facing away from me lift the leg and work on the foot.

I thought I had her tight like a burrito, she's a crazy escape artist lol!

 

[Moments]

Pulling the scab off and squeezing out what puss you can get is a lot different than taking a scalpel and cutting. I have used a scalpel just to lift the edge of the scab and start pulling. Good luck with whatever path you choose - I hope you can make her better!

Pulling the scab off and squeezing out what puss you can get is a lot different than taking a scalpel and cutting. I have used a scalpel just to lift the edge of the scab and start pulling. Good luck with whatever path you choose - I hope you can make her better!

Oh for sure! But I've had some say i can cut into the foot to release the core. this was in a separate thread. I think at the time there was no scab. Guess my question is, it's a tiny scab and the hard part of her foot is the way way bigger. Is the core just a portion of that hard area?

 

[CoriM]

Some people have had a core just kind of pop out or be attached to the scab. That has never happened for me in all the cases of bumble foot I've dealt with. Usually I just pull the scab and start cleaning it out, and it can take several weeks to clear up the infection. Once it's bandaged, if it's bled and the sore is open, let it heal over a couple days, then go in again and check it. I really recommend that green goopy epsom salt poultice I linked. It draws the infection out. You just reapply and rebandage twice a day after you've kind of opened up the scab area and squeezed out whatever you've been able to.

 

[Moments]

Some people have had a core just kind of pop out or be attached to the scab. That has never happened for me in all the cases of bumble foot I've dealt with. Usually I just pull the scab and start cleaning it out, and it can take several weeks to clear up the infection. Once it's bandaged, if it's bled and the sore is open, let it heal over a couple days, then go in again and check it. I really recommend that green goopy epsom salt poultice I linked. It draws the infection out. You just reapply and rebandage twice a day after you've kind of opened up the scab area and squeezed out whatever you've been able to.

Okay I think you helped me research if they were basically the same thing cause I wasn't sure back when I bought it but I could be wrong. Does the consistency difference help? This is what I've been using Anywho, i ended up getting it out. I didn't wanna put too much pressure by pressing further. The blood came out of the inflammation that you could tell there was liquid under and then I pulled this out. Flushed with antiseptic wash, sprayed thoroughly with MicrocynAH and applied makuna honey and bandaged. She's irritated with me but going about her business and moving around like nothing happened.

 

[CoriM]

Yes, that's the stuff. Congrats, looks like you got a lot of infection out! Hopefully it will heal up quick and she'll be good to go in a few days.

 

[Debbie292d]

It sounded like she wanted to try the antibiotic to see if it would work with removal as a last resort. She made it clear I shouldn't mess with it cause I could cause damage, etc. she said in her experience removing it often made it worse when in most cases it would resolve on its own with proper soaking, poultice and wrapping. It was flattening too for awhile, it's unfortunate it took a turn :-(

That's odd your vet wouldn't want it out as leaving it in is known to spread and can kill them. It's basically a staph infection so I understand the desire to treat it with antibiotics, but it's not that hard, especially for a vet, to just get it out and avoid the antibiotics. There are literally thousands I bet here on BYC if you searched that have taken it out. The only other way to avoid it is when it's in its early stages, sometimes a drawing salve like PRID will pull it out in a couple of days.

 

[Debbie292d]

Wrap her tight like a burrito. I lay them on their back with their butt facing away from me lift the leg and work on the foot.

This is what I have to do when I need to do anything to my two B&G macaw parrots. At least your duck can't take your finger off while you work on her.