ChickensRsmart
Songster
- Aug 25, 2021
- 123
- 93
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Hello fellow chicken lovers. I have been researching bumblefoot on this site and I am now ready to start asking my own questions. I apologize for the long message to follow - I will try to keep her history brief...
I have a hen with bumblefoot and she's had it now for about 6 weeks. I noticed the problem within probably a few days of her beginning to limp a bit. I researched how to remove the kernels from the bottoms of the feet (she had it in both feet - probably due to perches in her coop that were too high - so I removed the high perches).
In any case, her right foot is fine now - I removed the kernels in both feet and I am reasonably sure that I got rid of all the hard puss, but when I noticed her problem for the first time, she already had some swelling between her toes on her left foot. And her left foot remains a problem. So, I took her to the only vet that I could find that would treat her, and he gave me Doxycycline and she's been on that for about 2 weeks now - 100 mg every 12 hours.
I was under the impression that the antibiotics would resolve the issue, but after 2 weeks, it's not resolved and that was when the vet made it more clear that it was not going to resolve the issue. He said that the antibiotics were simply administered in order to try and make the infection "gather" so that he could then inject some kind of material (I forgot what he called it) that would liquefy the puss in order to then extract it with a needle. He said that she would need multiple visits over many months...an x ray to see if the infection has invaded the bones in her feet as well as a culture to identify the bug - Effectively around $2000 to treat a case of bumble foot (in one foot).
Needless to say, I have been trying to find another vet and I have had no luck. Since the pandemic, you can't even speak to a vet (only indirectly through their veterinary technicians). I've sent pictures to local avian vets trying to see if they would agree to just surgically remove the infected tissue in one go and each and everyone one of them said no. I guess there's more money in dogs and cats... One appeared to agree to perform the surgery and then told me that the anathesia alone would be $900... Back to square 1.
Since a couple of days ago, I have noticed that she is sitting down more often than normal - her foot is obviously starting to hurt. Yesterday, I was left with no choice but to attempt to remove the puss between her toes...I was asking myself what I would do if no puss came out? The video surgeries of chickens with the same problem made it look straightforward (and all the chickens appear to cooperate). Not so with my hen! I made a single incision between 2 of her toes - right over what feels like a hard mass of puss, and while there was plenty of blood, there was no puss. I can see that the cut is through the skin, and there is red tissue beneath that - but no puss. I am not about to make the cut any deeper...She was not a happy already! Plus, the webbing between her toes is only so thick, so I do not understand why the puss (or at least fluid) has not come out. I also removed more infected tissue on the bottom of her left foot - the white bits of infection that look like fragments of pin worms (but very close inspection shows that they are not parasites), were present at the bottom of the lesion in the center of the bottom of her foot - I removed it, but continuing on would eventually probably reach the top of her foot, so I cleaned it all up as best as I could - flushed it with povidone iodine and then packed the bottom of the foot and the incision with neosporin and then wrapped her foot with gauze wrap and then vet wrap. I suspect that the infection between her toes reinfected the same spot where the original infection began (on the bottom of her foot).
My question - Has anyone had a similar experience with bumble foot? Is it possible she has infected tissue in the center of her foot (deep) and that while standing up, it pushes on the webbing between her toes - while not actually being between her toes? I am not about to make a deeper cut - I would rather put my chicken down than torture her in an effort to save her...
Attached are some pictures of her problem foot. The swelling on the right most side (between her center toe and her outside toe) now has an incision (where no puss came out)... It's difficult to see in the pictures, but the swelling between her toes has had the classic red spots that is often seen with a staff infection. Most of these spots are gone now - after being on antibiotics for 2 weeks, but the swelling remains - and it feels hard to the touch when she's standing up...can't feel that hardness however, when she's laying down.
Thanks for any help you can provide. She is still eating and drinking (and pooping) like a champ - She's even still laying eggs (almost every day). Throwing the eggs out of course...
I have a hen with bumblefoot and she's had it now for about 6 weeks. I noticed the problem within probably a few days of her beginning to limp a bit. I researched how to remove the kernels from the bottoms of the feet (she had it in both feet - probably due to perches in her coop that were too high - so I removed the high perches).
In any case, her right foot is fine now - I removed the kernels in both feet and I am reasonably sure that I got rid of all the hard puss, but when I noticed her problem for the first time, she already had some swelling between her toes on her left foot. And her left foot remains a problem. So, I took her to the only vet that I could find that would treat her, and he gave me Doxycycline and she's been on that for about 2 weeks now - 100 mg every 12 hours.
I was under the impression that the antibiotics would resolve the issue, but after 2 weeks, it's not resolved and that was when the vet made it more clear that it was not going to resolve the issue. He said that the antibiotics were simply administered in order to try and make the infection "gather" so that he could then inject some kind of material (I forgot what he called it) that would liquefy the puss in order to then extract it with a needle. He said that she would need multiple visits over many months...an x ray to see if the infection has invaded the bones in her feet as well as a culture to identify the bug - Effectively around $2000 to treat a case of bumble foot (in one foot).
Needless to say, I have been trying to find another vet and I have had no luck. Since the pandemic, you can't even speak to a vet (only indirectly through their veterinary technicians). I've sent pictures to local avian vets trying to see if they would agree to just surgically remove the infected tissue in one go and each and everyone one of them said no. I guess there's more money in dogs and cats... One appeared to agree to perform the surgery and then told me that the anathesia alone would be $900... Back to square 1.
Since a couple of days ago, I have noticed that she is sitting down more often than normal - her foot is obviously starting to hurt. Yesterday, I was left with no choice but to attempt to remove the puss between her toes...I was asking myself what I would do if no puss came out? The video surgeries of chickens with the same problem made it look straightforward (and all the chickens appear to cooperate). Not so with my hen! I made a single incision between 2 of her toes - right over what feels like a hard mass of puss, and while there was plenty of blood, there was no puss. I can see that the cut is through the skin, and there is red tissue beneath that - but no puss. I am not about to make the cut any deeper...She was not a happy already! Plus, the webbing between her toes is only so thick, so I do not understand why the puss (or at least fluid) has not come out. I also removed more infected tissue on the bottom of her left foot - the white bits of infection that look like fragments of pin worms (but very close inspection shows that they are not parasites), were present at the bottom of the lesion in the center of the bottom of her foot - I removed it, but continuing on would eventually probably reach the top of her foot, so I cleaned it all up as best as I could - flushed it with povidone iodine and then packed the bottom of the foot and the incision with neosporin and then wrapped her foot with gauze wrap and then vet wrap. I suspect that the infection between her toes reinfected the same spot where the original infection began (on the bottom of her foot).
My question - Has anyone had a similar experience with bumble foot? Is it possible she has infected tissue in the center of her foot (deep) and that while standing up, it pushes on the webbing between her toes - while not actually being between her toes? I am not about to make a deeper cut - I would rather put my chicken down than torture her in an effort to save her...
Attached are some pictures of her problem foot. The swelling on the right most side (between her center toe and her outside toe) now has an incision (where no puss came out)... It's difficult to see in the pictures, but the swelling between her toes has had the classic red spots that is often seen with a staff infection. Most of these spots are gone now - after being on antibiotics for 2 weeks, but the swelling remains - and it feels hard to the touch when she's standing up...can't feel that hardness however, when she's laying down.
Thanks for any help you can provide. She is still eating and drinking (and pooping) like a champ - She's even still laying eggs (almost every day). Throwing the eggs out of course...
