After treatment for bumblefoot surgery? Feet are still swollen!

[SweetJoy7]

Hello! We have a 2 year-old New Hampshire red, Mello. She has had bumblefoot for a few months now. We had tried some natural cures and they didn't seem to do much. About four weeks ago we tried surgery. We could not squeeze the infection out like we had seen that some could. For about a week after the surgery, we were spraying her feet with Veterycin and wrapping them in Vetwrap. She is molting now and is a bit underweight. Her feet are still pretty swollen. Should we do another surgery? Would a picture be helpful? Thank you so much!

 

[Feathyr]

Does her foot feel hot? The damage caused by the infection can cause the foot to remain swollen after healing, but I still recommend checking her anyways. From my experience, multiple plugs can form in bumblefoot infections and you may have to perform surgery more than once. I've rarely been able to remove the infected tissue; so I've always just done the following:
- Remove plug
- Apply peroxide
- Dry foot
- Cut a small piece of gauze to cover ball of foot
- Apply a small amount of ichthammol (drawing salve) to the gauze. Ichthammol can be purchased at most pharmacies or feed stores.
- Press gauze to foot; bandage and let the bird go on its merry way.

 

[SweetJoy7]

Hello! How do you know if you have gotten the plug out? For the first surgery, we used a biopsy pinch. It opened up her put, but what the biopsy punch took out, Was that the plug? When will we start to see signs of recovery? Thank you!

 

[Feathyr]

Bumblefoot plugs are dark, somewhat round and vary in size. The following thread contains pictures and a tutorial for bumblefoot surgery; I don't know why I didn't post it before. Evidently my brain had left for lunch or something...
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/236649/bumblefoot-surgery-with-pics-and-how-to
If you removed a piece of skin similar to the one shown in the pictures, then yes, that was the plug.
You should see signs of recovery within three days; if she hasn't shown any after a week, she may have another plug that needs to be removed. Severe infections may have more than one, and can take up to a month to heal.

I hope that was helpful in some way, and please keep us posted!

 

[SweetJoy7]

Thank you so much! That was very helpful! Are there usually more than one plug? We may have gotten it out before but I'm not sure. We will use the biopsy punch to cut her skin. We will remove the plug and apply peroxide and then put Christopher's black ointment on a gauze and wrap it up. I hope she recovers well. I think it is a very severe case. Thank you so much for all your help and I will keep you posted.

 

[Feathyr]

Not usually, but it can happen. There won't be any signs of healing if there is, but the procedure is the same. Keep removing plugs until the infection is gone; but for now I would only remove the first one and let her be for a couple of days. If it is a very severe case, she will likely have a fever and decreased interest in food and/or water.

And since we're on the subject of staph infections, bumblefoot isn't limited to the foot - it can occur where any wound is, but the foot is the most common area.

I hope everything goes well! Sounds like she is in good hands. =)

 

[Feathyr]

Seen any improvement?

 

[seminolewind]

I think your care is going fine. I really like Ickthamol. I think what I would do is soak the foot in almost hot water and Epsom salts water every day. Pat dry and rinse and dry flush with peroxide. When it stops bubbling, rinse and pat dry. Apply a dressing with antibiotic ointment.

Some of us have been using this stuff called MagnaPaste. It's generally made for horses and is Epsom salt paste so you can glob it on and wrap their foot at night and so they get a nice long "soak". If it doesn't say magnapaste, it will be something else that is a base with Epsom salt in it.

Just FYI, many people do not like using peroxide. My experiences have been neonatal doctors using that for years, 1/2 strength . One of my latest doctor's orders was to cleanse a sutured incision daily with peroxide. This was for an incision made for a knee replacement on an older adult.

 

[Silvey17]

I found this article very useful when I was treating my chicken with bumblefoot.

http://www.hobbyfarms.com/livestock-and-pets/how-to-treat-bumblefoot-in-chickens.aspx

Your treatment plan sounds fine. A picture would help. If there is and oozing of pus(wow that sounds gross) then there is an infection.
Hope this helps!

 

[SweetJoy7]

Thank you all for the advice! I'm sorry I did not let you know earlier. We went ahead and did the surgery. I think on one foot the plug came out very easily. On the other foot, we were not able to get the plug out. Her toes are less swollen but her ankles and legs are still very swollen. Do you think we should do surgery again? After the surgery, she got her bandages changed daily or every other day. She does not have a loss of appetite. She is so sweet. Here legs are a little red. Does that mean there is a secondary infection? Thank you!!!!!!!!!!