SophiaLinn
Chirping
Sorry in advance for the long post.
So i’ve had one of my hens being treated for bumble foot, she had her 3rd appointment yesterday. They’ve been putting her in pressure relieving bandages (the pool noodle ones), and did laxer therapy. Unfortunately we caught it pretty late when it was already pretty swollen.
Yesterday vet said the infection and the “plug” is completely gone but the foot is still significantly swollen and the pressure relieving bandages won’t do any more help so they didn’t replace the boots. It’s very swollen, like a big bulb (see photos) and she’s limping.
Basically she said to soak the foot once daily with epsom salt for a week and see if the swelling goes down, but she didn’t seem very hopeful about that. Then she said that if the swelling doesn’t go down then we have to think about her quality of life. There’s an option to take x rays and possibly do surgery which sounds very expensive. But if the infection went into bone, that’s a much worse prognosis.
After a week of soaking I’m going to call the vet with an update and plan to ask if she recommends the surgery, regardless of the cost, if she thinks it is worth it for the chickens quality of life.
I soaked it today and also put a compression bandage on to try to relieve some pain.
I feel horrible that we caught it so late. And now we have another one with double bumble foot that we’re trying to treat ourselves because it’s not so swollen. And one of my new ones i’ve successfully healed a pecking wound on but now can’t reintegrate. I’m just feeling pretty dejected and overwhelmed.
They have a very large coop and run, cleaned regularly, good food etc. but I feel like I’ve done something wrong and I feel guilty. She’s less than 2 years old and still eating and drinking and it’s hard to imagine that I may have to put her down. I really don’t want to have to do that but obviously I will if it’s in her best interest.
Has anyone been through this specific problem of dealing with residual effects of bumble foot? Or does anyone have any other advice?
ps. We took down the top perch in the coop so they can’t go up as high and started using a lot more shavings to add padding on the floor.
So i’ve had one of my hens being treated for bumble foot, she had her 3rd appointment yesterday. They’ve been putting her in pressure relieving bandages (the pool noodle ones), and did laxer therapy. Unfortunately we caught it pretty late when it was already pretty swollen.
Yesterday vet said the infection and the “plug” is completely gone but the foot is still significantly swollen and the pressure relieving bandages won’t do any more help so they didn’t replace the boots. It’s very swollen, like a big bulb (see photos) and she’s limping.
Basically she said to soak the foot once daily with epsom salt for a week and see if the swelling goes down, but she didn’t seem very hopeful about that. Then she said that if the swelling doesn’t go down then we have to think about her quality of life. There’s an option to take x rays and possibly do surgery which sounds very expensive. But if the infection went into bone, that’s a much worse prognosis.
After a week of soaking I’m going to call the vet with an update and plan to ask if she recommends the surgery, regardless of the cost, if she thinks it is worth it for the chickens quality of life.
I soaked it today and also put a compression bandage on to try to relieve some pain.
I feel horrible that we caught it so late. And now we have another one with double bumble foot that we’re trying to treat ourselves because it’s not so swollen. And one of my new ones i’ve successfully healed a pecking wound on but now can’t reintegrate. I’m just feeling pretty dejected and overwhelmed.
They have a very large coop and run, cleaned regularly, good food etc. but I feel like I’ve done something wrong and I feel guilty. She’s less than 2 years old and still eating and drinking and it’s hard to imagine that I may have to put her down. I really don’t want to have to do that but obviously I will if it’s in her best interest.
Has anyone been through this specific problem of dealing with residual effects of bumble foot? Or does anyone have any other advice?
ps. We took down the top perch in the coop so they can’t go up as high and started using a lot more shavings to add padding on the floor.
