I have a bird who’s had a noticeable bumblefoot lesion on her foot for a while now. It definitely pained her and she limped and laid down more often than not. When I first examined it, I found that the scab was in the cavity between her toes and slightly covered by the foot pad.
If you can’t tell, the dark spot is the scab. It’s very hard to see and was difficult for me to even find, I only knew it was there due to the inflammation on the skin above,
However because of the depth and placement, and how the skin makes a canyon of it, the scab itself was too difficult to reach for removal even with the smallest tweezers.
I resorted to Epsom Salt soaking first in hopes that it could reduce the inflammation and prevent a need for surgery. That however did not prove successful and today I finally admitted defeat. She was in pain for too long.
I collected my supplies and got to work after having her soak for about 20 minutes to soften the scab. I flushed out the cavity with Tea Tree oil and tried again with the tweezers which delivered no luck. I could not see exactly where I was working which made me hesitant to use the small exacto-knife I had on hand, but it ended up being my only option. I began by scraping at the surface of the scab and removing pieces of it little by little. I was seriously surprised at how much scab there was to remove and how long it took. Because I was blind to where I was working, I had no idea where the core itself would be and what angle to dig it out from. It ended up being deeper in the gap than I thought, tucked under the skin of the foot pad. It was difficult to tell if I had removed the entire thing or not after it had already come out in two pieces so I continued to scrape out the area and remaining scab until I could feel my knife on live tissue. Getting the core out was SUCH a sense of relief after having seen her limping for so long.
She did not bleed much at all which was surprising since I couldn’t see where the knife even was. When I finished, the swelling and inflamed lesion had “deflated”. I filled the cavity with Neosporin after flushing it out with Teatree oil, Saline and Vetericyn. I put a boot on over the bandages and will keep that on until the ground is dry.
I had to cut the toes on the boot so it fit but I think it should do well as cushion and weather protection for as long as she needs.
I just wanted to share the story after having spent so much time on all of this. It took over an hour of tedious work and patience. I sure hope this is the LAST time I’ll ever see this. I was not a fan.
If you can’t tell, the dark spot is the scab. It’s very hard to see and was difficult for me to even find, I only knew it was there due to the inflammation on the skin above,
However because of the depth and placement, and how the skin makes a canyon of it, the scab itself was too difficult to reach for removal even with the smallest tweezers.
I resorted to Epsom Salt soaking first in hopes that it could reduce the inflammation and prevent a need for surgery. That however did not prove successful and today I finally admitted defeat. She was in pain for too long.
I collected my supplies and got to work after having her soak for about 20 minutes to soften the scab. I flushed out the cavity with Tea Tree oil and tried again with the tweezers which delivered no luck. I could not see exactly where I was working which made me hesitant to use the small exacto-knife I had on hand, but it ended up being my only option. I began by scraping at the surface of the scab and removing pieces of it little by little. I was seriously surprised at how much scab there was to remove and how long it took. Because I was blind to where I was working, I had no idea where the core itself would be and what angle to dig it out from. It ended up being deeper in the gap than I thought, tucked under the skin of the foot pad. It was difficult to tell if I had removed the entire thing or not after it had already come out in two pieces so I continued to scrape out the area and remaining scab until I could feel my knife on live tissue. Getting the core out was SUCH a sense of relief after having seen her limping for so long.
I had to cut the toes on the boot so it fit but I think it should do well as cushion and weather protection for as long as she needs.
I just wanted to share the story after having spent so much time on all of this. It took over an hour of tedious work and patience. I sure hope this is the LAST time I’ll ever see this. I was not a fan.
