Safety of oral antibiotic usage?

[CHlCKEN]

My hen has had bumblefoot for a while now and though I’ve been treating it as I normally would, the swelling has not gone down. I may have to reopen the scab but I am worried more about the swelling and what that indicates. I’m using neosporin right now over the scab and bandaging her foot. I understand that oral antibiotics are not ideal for use in poultry but it feels like a route I may want to go. I might take her to my poultry vet and get a professional opinion on this but I’d like to ask here what the real pros and cons of using oral antibiotics may be and what oral antibiotics are even safe for use in birds. Again, I will probably just take her to my poultry vet since I care too much about this bird to let myself make a mistake, but let me know what my other options could be.

 

[Debbie292d]

Had you gotten the "core" out of her foot? It sounds like maybe no or maybe it grew back? That has to come out. Maybe it's best you take her to the vet. Generally, they don't need antibiotics for bumblefoot if it's treated by getting the core out. If this has been going on for say weeks, I'd worry as it can spread upwards into her legs and eventually could kill her. It's basically a staff infection.

 

[CHlCKEN]

Had you gotten the "core" out of her foot? It sounds like maybe no or maybe it grew back?

I'm almost certain that I did.

That has to come out. Maybe it's best you take her to the vet. Generally, they don't need antibiotics for bumblefoot if it's treated by getting the core out.

I only considered antibiotics to treat the swelling

If this has been going on for say weeks, I'd worry as it can spread upwards into her legs and eventually could kill her. It's basically a staff infection.

Yep, I've never had it come back after treating it so I guess I forgot to consider that possibility. Sounds like we'll be driving to the vet today. I know bumblefoot is easily treatable, but this hen is older and I worry about the vulnerability of her age.

 

[ManueB]

I'm almost certain that I did.

I only considered antibiotics to treat the swelling

Yep, I've never had it come back after treating it so I guess I forgot to consider that possibility. Sounds like we'll be driving to the vet today. I know bumblefoot is easily treatable, but this hen is older and I worry about the vulnerability of her age.

I have not been convinced that oral antibiotics are really effective for bumblefoot from my own small experience. I have had two hens taking oral antibiotics for bumblefoot last year, and neither responded to them. In the first case the bumblefoot was getting suddenly really worse after two months of treatment, so she had surgery at the vet, and was given Azythromicin ; this is what my vet uses to replace Amoxicillin due to shortages. However the bumblefoot came back and it took another two months of the usual treatment for it to heal.
In the case of the second hen, the abscess was located on top of the foot and there was no core under. The vet prescribed sulfadimethoxine to try to avoid surgery, but it had no effect at all. So she had surgery and Azythromicin after that, but again to no effect. She is only now on the way to healing after another three months treating her.

Both my hens were very young, less than a year, and the antibiotics made them a bit lethargic and were obviously not great for their digestive system. So I would discuss the pros and cons with the vet before going that road for an older hen.

I treated six bumblefeet since last summer. Only two were gone in less than a month, all the other took a looooong time. It seemed like we were doing something wrong and they would never heal, and then suddenly they did.

 

[CHlCKEN]

I have not been convinced that oral antibiotics are really effective for bumblefoot from my own small experience. I have had two hens taking oral antibiotics for bumblefoot last year, and neither responded to them. In the first case the bumblefoot was getting suddenly really worse after two months of treatment, so she had surgery at the vet, and was given Azythromicin ; this is what my vet uses to replace Amoxicillin due to shortages. However the bumblefoot came back and it took another two months of the usual treatment for it to heal.
In the case of the second hen, the abscess was located on top of the foot and there was no core under. The vet prescribed sulfadimethoxine to try to avoid surgery, but it had no effect at all. So she had surgery and Azythromicin after that, but again to no effect. She is only now on the way to healing after another three months treating her.

Both my hens were very young, less than a year, and the antibiotics made them a bit lethargic and were obviously not great for their digestive system. So I would discuss the pros and cons with the vet before going that road for an older hen.

I treated six bumblefeet since last summer. Only two were gone in less than a month, all the other took a looooong time. It seemed like we were doing something wrong and they would never heal, and then suddenly they did.

Vet is closed until Monday so I just went ahead and removed the abccess again. It was mostly just scab and there wasn't much to pull out but I found a second lesion between two toes that I didn't even know was there. It was very small but I definitely pulled something out of that one. I treated the open wounds with Vetericyn, saline disinfectant solution, tea tree oil, iodine, and neosporin without pain relief. Wrapped her all up in some gauze and self adhesive bandages and secured it with medical tape. A lot more products than I usually use but I want to be sure it is clean and the infection is killed.

 

[ManueB]

Vet is closed until Monday so I just went ahead and removed the abccess again. It was mostly just scab and there wasn't much to pull out but I found a second lesion between two toes that I didn't even know was there. It was very small but I definitely pulled something out of that one. I treated the open wounds with Vetericyn, saline disinfectant solution, tea tree oil, iodine, and neosporin without pain relief. Wrapped her all up in some gauze and self adhesive bandages and secured it with medical tape. A lot more products than I usually use but I want to be sure it is clean and the infection is killed.

You pulled out the big guns !
The last hen I'm treating also has two infectious abscesses. One is located in the fold of the skin, as if something got stuck there.
If you end up taking her to the vet, I would be curious to know what they say. I hope your hen heals.

 

[dawg53]

Standard antibiotics wont work because bumblefoot is a staph infection. You'll most likely need a vet visit to get meds for a staph infection.

 

[Ryguy3684]

Standard antibiotics wont work because bumblefoot is a staph infection. You'll most likely need a vet visit to get meds for a staph infection.

It's not the standard way to treat bumblefoot, but there's no reason Tylosin wouldn't help with the residual infection, if the majority of the plug has been removed. Staphylococcus is a gram positive bacteria and Tylosin is very effective in treating gram positive bacteria, including staph, strep, and a list of others.

 

[dawg53]

It's not the standard way to treat bumblefoot, but there's no reason Tylosin wouldn't help with the residual infection, if the majority of the plug has been removed. Staphylococcus is a gram positive bacteria and Tylosin is very effective in treating gram positive bacteria, including staph, strep, and a list of others.

You are correct. Thanks, good info.

 

[CHlCKEN]

Vet prescribed pill form oral antibiotics and anti-inflammatories. I can't use a pill popper though because the pills won't fit. I'm figuring out some other way to do it, probably with scrambled egg or another popular snack.