Bumble foot still swollen after surgery

[Bawk bawk bawk]

We noticed a large black scab and very swollen pad on a newly adopted chicken two weeks ago. At that time we performed surgery, digging out a lot of gunk, but no kernal. For aftercare we change the dressing every other day. First soaking the foot in a warm epson salt bath, then spraying with Vetricyn, adding triple antibiotic ointment to gauze and then wrapping. We even began adding duramycin to her water 3 days ago, changing it twice daily. The problem is that even two weeks after the surgery her foot pad is still just as swollen. The wound is getting a little better. No oozing and the wound itself appears to be getting a little smaller. Not sure what else to do. Doesn't seem like the swelling should still be so apparent. Does anyone have any experience with continual swelling and if this means there is still infection present? We really want to save this tough sweet girl. Any comments would be much appreciated!

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. I tend to go a little deeper in bumblefoot surgery, cutting a cone shape around the dark scab. Then I squeeze and squeeze from every angle while picking around some. Usually there is either pus, or a plug, or both. It takes awhile for the swelling to go down. If you feel like you didn't get the infection out, you could try re-opening it, but if you squeezed adequately and went deep enough, I probably would leave it. A lot of people just pick the scab out, and sometimes it has to go deeper.

 

[Bawk bawk bawk]

Thank you for your response. We definitely went pretty deep during the surgery ( approx half inch deep and 3/4 inch across), i think we may have even reached bone. :/ we weren't getting a kernal like everyone else so we kept digging. Ugh, it gives me chills just thinking about it. That poor girl. We did squeeze the holy tar out of her foot too. Ugh, more chills. So, how long is it before you see swelling go down on that invasive of a procedure? From everyone else's pictures it seems like swelling went down within the week. Does lack of oozing mean the infection is at bay? Thank you again!

 

[Eggcessive]

With the procedure that you did, I would just bandage it with neosporin ointment, gauze or Telfa, and wrap it in vet wrap every other day. Your girl's has probably already healed in 2 weeks, so I would just give it time. To be honest, once the wound has closed over, I don't even look at them unless one is limping. I have 60 chickens, and many have bumblefoot spots since I have a soil around my coop with tiny gravels that come to the surface constantly. I rarely do the surgery unless I see limping, or I find a swollen red foot pad or see something on top of the foot between the toes where the infection can show up.