Battling Bumblefoot. Vet has cleaned it once so far

[Sally PB]

Here's hoping they can figure out what to do for her.
And hugs for you.

 

[InterestingChickens]

It looks like the tumor has spread to her main joint on her foot. I'm pretty sure a chicken can't live without a foot so I've begun to accept that our dear, sweet Patpat is on borrowed time. Her limp has gotten worse, but she's still eating and drinking. I just don't know what to do. . . . . .

You'd be surprised what a chicken can live with. Many chickens are living without a leg, however this is dependent on a number of factors such as age, the individual flock and level of care received. Chickens have to be mentality tough, this is becuase predators look for weak birds first, birds that look like they are struggling will be nearly always taken before others. Best of luck.

 

[Enten4life]

It's been stressful. It's also been expensive, but I don't care. She's a member of my family and we love her very much. I just want to make sure I'm doing the best I can to help her without letting her suffer. But the swelling is really bad, and I don't know how long the culture is going to take. And I absolutely hate having to force-feed her the meds.

 

[Enten4life]

So just an update. After the amputation, the swelling came back and moved to back of her foot. We spent 2 weeks draining grey goo out and she was already on the 3rd around of antibiotics. We've sent TWO cultures to the lab, but NOTHING grew.

She's now on a new antibiotic, but the swelling STILL has not gone down and it's still warm to the touch. Vet has been talking to a specialist, but the cause is still unknown. Fungal maybe? Vet still unsure.

The craziest part is that whatever it is, disintegrated her toe bone, but thus far has NOT affected any other bones in her foot (multiple x-rays over weeks to be sure).

This is very frustrating but at least our girl is feeling better as she's mostly back to her old self (minus the little limp she still has).

 

[Enten4life]

I don't know who to ask for help regarding our poor baby. A new round of antibiotics (stronger one) did NOTHING for the swelling seen above. The Vet is confused as to what this could be, and he's even been talking to a poultry specialist in our area.

This is not bumblefoot for sure. No culture for bacteria so he thinks the next possibility is a fungal infection. My poor girl isn't getting better and I'm so stressed out for her.

 

[CoriM]

@Enten4life I'm just now reading your thread and am so sorry for your struggle with your poor girl. What has the outcome been? It's maddening when we're dropping a bunch of money at the vet and they can't help. That seems to be my experience most of the time with my ducks. Anyway, I have a duck with a swelling on her middle toe joint and we did the x-ray and blood test and they don't know what the problem is. It's just showing high range of normal for infection. We're about to start our second round of antibiotics....

 

[Enten4life]

After months of trouble, knowing we couldn't do anything, we were left with two options: Amputate the leg, or let it be and see what it does.

By some miracle, the nodule of infection just stopped growing and receded about 90% over a few months. She's totally fine now for the most part. No limping, and she's been re-accepted by the flock (but at the bottom of the pecking order).

Dr has no idea what it could have been since there was no culture for bacteria OR fungus. No foreign body, nothing.

It's so very frustrating not to know what it is or how to fix it. I hope that you find out what it is and your baby girl is okay.

@Enten4life I'm just now reading your thread and am so sorry for your struggle with your poor girl. What has the outcome been? It's maddening when we're dropping a bunch of money at the vet and they can't help. That seems to be my experience most of the time with my ducks. Anyway, I have a duck with a swelling on her middle toe joint and we did the x-ray and blood test and they don't know what the problem is. It's just showing high range of normal for infection. We're about to start our second round of antibiotics....

 

[CoriM]

Oh wow, well that gives me hope!! I think I'm in a similar situation, though doc hasn't suggested draining it so it's still unopened. I'm so glad you had a happy ending! I will keep praying for my girl!