Need Advice On Amputation ASAP - Rooster Has Frostbitten Leg - UPDATE: Leg Has Been Amputated Succes

[LPETREE]

FIND SOMEONE WITH A BANDER FOR goats or such its a thing that places a band on testicles...use a band and place just above the dead area ..this will stop blood flow ..leave for a week and then cut off with garden shears..now sure how he will do with out foot ????this way he wont get blood posioning if it get infected as will stop blood flow ..if it dosent work then he needs to be put down..if you cant find bander used a good thick rubber band and make sure its as tight as you can get it.i milked cows and we banded tails as to keep the mess out of milking getting hit by a tail full is no fun and they never made a fuss ...please dont repley saying this is cruel o.k its used all over the world.people band goats calves sheep or you will have a ton of males .

 

[GravelBeak]

Thanks for all the input everyone. Just trying to gather as much info as possible, and mentally prepare myself.

I know that it would be better to bring him to a vet, but there is only one vet around here who will even look at chickens, and they hardly do that, and I don't want to spend a fortune if it is possible to do this in a way that isn't horribly cruel. From what I've read, it is more than possible, but certainly not an easy thing to do, at least not emotionally.

Right now, I'm thinking it may be better to cut under the joint, and peel the skin back a bit, so that I can put it back over the bone, so it's not bare. This is how it's done with humans from what I've seen.

FIND SOMEONE WITH A BANDER FOR goats or such its a thing that places a band on testicles...use a band and place just above the dead area ..this will stop blood flow ..leave for a week and then cut off with garden shears.

Thank you so much for reminding me! I actually have a bander that I've only used once to castrate a couple goats (it hardly bothered them at all - MUCH less cruel than using a 'crusher'), but that would work great to stop the bloodflow and numb the limb. I don't know about leaving it to rot though...I'd rather cut it off so that the wound can be covered.

The biggest things I'm worried about is causing too much pain, which hopefully won't be a huge problem if I can numb the limb. The other thing is not having a sharp enough implement to cut through the bone. I hate the idea of using a saw - I want to be able to cut through it as quickly and cleanly as possible (sorry, this is pretty graphic!

).

If you haven't done it yet, try pm'ing Aoxa - she had a hen lose a foot last year to frostbite, and she did not have to amputate.
best of luck to you and your rooster.

How could she not have amputated? Did the leg fall off on its own? I suppose that's something that may happen if I just leave it, but then again, he could very well die from infection.

 

[ten chicks]

Have any blisters formed on leg,if so leave leg as the skin/blisters will split open revealing new skin. If he has suffered 3rd degree frostbite(muscles/tendons/bone and blood vessels have frozen)the limb should fall off. I would suggest you wait and see which way the limb is going,will either show signs of healing or start to fall off(no blood flow,limb is dead).

If the limb is dead,there will be no feeling in his leg,meaning he cannot feel anything.

 

[jenifry]

FIND SOMEONE WITH A BANDER FOR goats or such its a thing that places a band on testicles...use a band and place just above the dead area ..this will stop blood flow ..leave for a week and then cut off with garden shears..now sure how he will do with out foot ????this way he wont get blood posioning if it get infected as will stop blood flow ..if it dosent work then he needs to be put down..if you cant find bander used a good thick rubber band and make sure its as tight as you can get it.i milked cows and we banded tails as to keep the mess out of milking getting hit by a tail full is no fun and they never made a fuss ...please dont repley saying this is cruel o.k its used all over the world.people band goats calves sheep or you will have a ton of males .

I know this works well on soft tissue, do you know anyone who has had success amputating with that method? Tails are easily removed by banding between joints, but a tail is not solid bone like a leg. (BTW, I don't believe banding is cruel, I see people do it to puppies tails and the family jewels of calves all the time.)

 

[GravelBeak]

Have any blisters formed on leg,if so leave leg as the skin/blisters will split open revealing new skin. If he has suffered 3rd degree frostbite(muscles/tendons/bone and blood vessels have frozen)the limb should fall off. I would suggest you wait and see which way the limb is going,will either show signs of healing or start to fall off(no blood flow,limb is dead).

If the limb is dead,there will be no feeling in his leg,meaning he cannot feel anything.

They have actually, yes. Some of them have popped and drained. The thing I'm really worried about is the fact that his leg smells rotten. I'll go wash it off again, and then see if the smell goes down at all.

If I just leave it to fall off, aren't the chances of the infection spreading very high? I don't want to wait if it's just going to get worse, but maybe I should wait a couple more days and see what happens. Can't say I'm in a rush to get it done, but I don't want to wait too long and let him die either.

 

[GravelBeak]

UPDATE: I washed his foot off really good, and it still has the rotting smell. Some of the skin above a blister is peeling off, and the skin underneath is white. He definitely has no feeling in his foot, it's dead. I don't think there's any way around cutting it off...because even if I let it fall off on it's own and hope that it won't get infected, the bone would still be there.

Funny how these things happen to the sweetest chickens, and just when you're incredibly busy. The holidays are always an extremely busy time of year for me, but to top it off, I have a hen who developed thrush, and I have to treat her as well! At any rate, I hope he'll be OK for a few days longer. I'll see how it develops, but if it doesn't get any better, which I'm almost certain it won't, I'm going to get rid of the leg.

 

[ten chicks]

They have actually, yes. Some of them have popped and drained. The thing I'm really worried about is the fact that his leg smells rotten. I'll go wash it off again, and then see if the smell goes down at all.

If I just leave it to fall off, aren't the chances of the infection spreading very high? I don't want to wait if it's just going to get worse, but maybe I should wait a couple more days and see what happens. Can't say I'm in a rush to get it done, but I don't want to wait too long and let him die either.

I would wait a couple of days. With second degree frostbite the skin freezes,but deep tissue is not affected,blisters may appear a couple of days after frostbite has occurred,may take over a month to heal and may result in permanent insensitivity to heat and recurrent frostbite.

With 3rd degree,the bone/muscles/tendons and blood vessels have been frozen and permanently damaged,if left untreated limbs usually fall off,BUT if you suspect gangrene then you would probably have no choice but to remove limb. When blisters popped,where they blood filled?

 

[GravelBeak]

I would wait a couple of days. With second degree frostbite the skin freezes,but deep tissue is not affected,blisters may appear a couple of days after frostbite has occurred,may take over a month to heal and may result in permanent insensitivity to heat and recurrent frostbite.

With 3rd degree,the bone/muscles/tendons and blood vessels have been frozen and permanently damaged,if left untreated limbs usually fall off,BUT if you suspect gangrene then you would probably have no choice but to remove limb. When blisters popped,where they blood filled?

His toes are blackening more and more, so I think it's almost certainly gangrene. The blister that just drained out today had a bit of bloody fluid in it, but was pretty much empty, and when the skin peeled off, it was white underneath, no blood.

 

[ten chicks]

If it is gangrene,then you may have no choice but to remove limb as you cannot leave necrotic tissue. The skin underneath appears dead also? I do know that frostbite is one of the most common causes of necrotic tissue. I agree the rotting smell is not good.

 

[gibsterl]

Can't give you advise about amputation or not-but curious to know where you are from and what the conditions were to cause this to begin with. Hope your Rooster turns out fine-