Duck bumblefoot update...how to proceed?

[HennyPenny44]

Ok, I posted a few days ago about my girl's bumblefoot. Her foot was badly swollen. I was doing epsom salt soaks for a few days and got the kernel out on day 3. It was tiny. I tried last night removing the scab in hopes of getting at the infection but I just got blood so I stopped because I didn't want to cut into delicate tissue. I couldn't find any of the hard pus like others do even though her bump does feel hard. I called around for vets but nobody's been able to give me any answers on seeing me with my duck except someone over an hour away from me. So I decided that today, I was going to perform bumblefoot surgery.

So I got my scalpel ready and made an incision into the side of the bump where I thought pus would be. I got a lot of thick bloody pus but barely any cheesy pus. It was more like little bits and pieces of the yellow stuff. I was unable to squeeze or dig out any more pus so I soaked her foot in epsom salt and wrapped it up with iodine, Neosporin and oregano oil/lavender essential oil infused water on a gauze pad to help the healing. I checked again on her foot a few hours later and there was no discharge and the foot is still swollen and kinda hard where the swelling is. I'm not sure how to proceed. Any ideas? She seems a bit happier and isn't standing on the one foot like before, and seems to like the attention. But I don't want to torture her with the constant digging and picking.

 

[Eggcessive]

@Miss Lydia is familiar with ducks, so I am tagging her for advice. I would consider doing the warm soaks every day for awhile. You can also do what is called a sugardine dressing, which is applying a paste of Betadine povidone iodine and sugar mixed in a jar. It is applied with a 2x2 dressing and vet wrap. Change it every 2 days. It can draw out infection. Bumblefoot can be treated a number of ways. TriCide Neo soaks is another treatment done by some people.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I would follow @Eggcessive info in treating give it a few days and see how it looks. Use the Betadine and sugar might just bring it up to the top and you can get out the rest then if there is more. There is also Epsom salts in a jar that would probably work similarly to the Betadine. There will be swelling that will take time to go down also. The bumble plus the surgery is trauma to the foot so expect swelling.

 

[HennyPenny44]

@Miss Lydia is familiar with ducks, so I am tagging her for advice. I would consider doing the warm soaks every day for awhile. You can also do what is called a sugardine dressing, which is applying a paste of Betadine povidone iodine and sugar mixed in a jar. It is applied with a 2x2 dressing and vet wrap. Change it every 2 days. It can draw out infection. Bumblefoot can be treated a number of ways. TriCide Neo soaks is another treatment done by some people.

Thank you for the advice. I can do the sugardine. My husband got me iodine wound spray today. Would that be ok or is the povidone preferable? I haven’t used it yet so I can return it to Tractor Supply. I looked it up and my bottle is 1% iodine whereas the povidone appears to be 10%. I don’t think I can get the Tricide Neo as easily.

 

[HennyPenny44]

I would follow @Eggcessive info in treating give it a few days and see how it looks. Use the Betadine and sugar might just bring it up to the top and you can get out the rest then if there is more. There is also Epsom salts in a jar that would probably work similarly to the Betadine. There will be swelling that will take time to go down also. The bumble plus the surgery is trauma to the foot so expect swelling.

Thank you. That’s reassuring. I was worried I would have to cut more which I don’t want. I can get the Epsom poultice at my Tractor Supply too. Should I keep her in isolation until swelling goes down? My drake has overmated her and pulled out the feathers on the back of her head which I think doesn’t help matters as he basically squishes her feet under her.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I'd keep her from the drake for now but let her have a space where she can still see everyone so she doesn't feel isolated.

 

[Eggcessive]

You can get the 10% povidone iodine at Walmart for around $10. It is called Equate First Aid Solution in the first aid bandaid aisle. I would use that for sugardine paste.

 

[HennyPenny44]

I'd keep her from the drake for now but let her have a space where she can still see everyone so she doesn't feel isolated.

Yes, she’s feeling a bit lonely in her dog crate in the duck house. It’s hard to keep him away from her though. Will need to work something out…

 

[HennyPenny44]

You can get the 10% povidone iodine at Walmart for around $10. It is called Equate First Aid Solution in the first aid bandaid aisle. I would use that for sugardine paste.

I actually already got the Tractor Supply one. Will be making the sugardine shortly.

 

[HennyPenny44]

Hi again everyone! So I was using the sugardine with antibiotic and this past Tuesday, I removed the vet wrap to find something whitish peeking out from under the scab. I removed the scab quite easily and found the solid whitish infection I previously couldn’t find. There were 3-4 good sized chunks.

I put the sugardine and antibiotic on again and wrapped her foot. When I took off the bandage yesterday (3 days later), the foot looked just as swollen. Is this normal or should I be doing an oral antibiotic at this point? Or should I continue to take off the scab and look for more pus? She’s still limping due to the swelling and I’m worried it will go systemic if the swelling doesn’t go down soon.

Every night, I put her in her cage inside the duck house and every morning, I put her in her cage in the duck run. It’s a lot of work and I hope I won’t need to keep her isolated for weeks to come.