Baby chick with swollen foot - what in the world? PLEASE HELP........

[debster1556]

Gosh, the left is so swollen that it's misshapen. Poor baby. What is she walking on, resting on? I think Eggcessive is right, you need some kind of antibiotic. Bumblefoot doesn't make sense as she's so young. Can she walk ok? Maybe a vet visit is in order if you're able to. My little chicks feet were never swollen like that but they had all the red bumps, open sores. We eventually had to put her down. I hope you find something soon!!

 

[RobinFarmGirl]

Thank you for responding. She is walking fine, shows no signs of it hurting. She eats/drinks normal too. Her cone is swollen and a bit scabbed too. I'm using fine wood shavings as bedding. No other chicks show these symptoms. I don't have a vet near but we are going to try some antibiotics. We've used Benedryl, and Epsom salt soaks with no luck. I don't even want to imagine how you put a chick to sleep...... Never had to and I just can't think about it.

 

[debster1556]

If you have to put her sleep, you could have a vet do it. That would be the way I would if I had no help.
So if it is fungal, use an athletes foot medicine like Lamisil
If it is bacterial use betadine.
I tried those 2 plus neosporin, (the one Without pain killers in it)
I tried straight Iodine but that hurt her and I think the epsom salt hurt her too by the way she reacted.
I even put vet wrap on her feet to protect them.
I gave her vitamin b drops. I would crush up a pill, then put a small pinch in her water or liquid chick starter and she would drink it up.
There is also a condition called "scald" where they get burns on their feet but that is from standing in their own feces. I'm sure that's not your problem.
I wish I could give you a definitive answer. Not knowing drove me nuts.

 

[RobinFarmGirl]

I found a vet in another state.

He said the skin on the chick's cone was dead so he cut it off. It will be deformed when it heals but it will be better. He said he'd never seen this problem before & wasn't sure what the issue was & could only say it was probably some sort of internal bacteria infection. He gave us some pain/inflammation medicine (forgot name, not at home now & will post name later) and some antibiotic (Amoxicillin). If anyone else ever has this problem & looks at my thread, I'm hoping this will help some.

Hoping this works for the little chick.

 

[debster1556]

I'm glad to hear that you have some treatment plan! I really hope this works!
Keep me posted

 

[RobinFarmGirl]

Well, sad news. This morning I found the chick passed away... We would like to send it off to the place where they do an autopsy for free to find out what this was.

Apparently the medicine didn't work. It was Metacam & Amoxicillin.

Thank you debster1556 for your well wishes...

 

[Eggcessive]

I'm sorry for your loss. If you did get the autopsy, it would be good to know the results so that we can help more people in the future.

 

[RobinFarmGirl]

I did find an animal laboratory in a city nearby and they did an autopsy for free. I chose not to have any diagnostics done due to cost and it apparently was not contagious as the other chicks show no signs of what he had.

Everything about the chick was healthy!! Except the spleen. He said it was enlarged. After looking at the chick (inside and even inside swollen feet which had no pus) he said it looked like a staff infection or strep. However, if it had been strep, the Amox. med should have helped. He said the chick probably got it before we brought him home with us. He also said the chick was a rooster....