bumblefoot/abscess treatment plan

[UncleDougsChickens]

I have a 3-4 year old hen who got bumblefoot from free ranging. I believe she stepped on a thorn which caused the whole thing. I went to the vet and she got it treated/debrided and was given clavacillin 250mg 2x a day for 7 days.

It was my first time dealing with bumblefoot so I didn't really know what to expect in terms of heal time. After about 4 weeks all of the plugs/holes from the bumblefoot closed but some swelling remained. I thought it was initially going to go away from the clavacillin 250mg and when that didn't happen I thought it would finally go down now that everything is closed up. Even if the swelling didn't fully go away, I read some articles about scar tissue forming depending on how long bumblefoot was present and the foot would be 'ok', but slightly deformed, because the swelling is just scar tissue.

The swelling has remained and its clearly causing her discomfort because shes developing the classic bumblefoot scab on the bottom again and I'm thinking it wasn't just scar tissue if that's even a thing. I'll attach a picture but you can see the swelling on the left foot, on/between the top middle toe and its neighbor(s).

I'm thinking the top swollen part needs to be lanced but I've never lanced a abscess in a chicken foot and would would rather form a plan first. After previously treating the bottom part and debriding it I realize that the infection/puss isn't liquid so maybe lancing wouldn't even work and it needs a incision.

In terms of medicine I can give, it doesn't seem like your every day tractor supply OTC stuff works. I found one website that seems to sell antibiotics but I have never bought antibiotics online and I don't even see clavacillin on there. I heard Amoxicillin could be effective as a broad spectrum antibiotic.

FWIW this site came up on a different BYC post a while back: https://jedds.com/collections/cage-aviary-treatments-antibiotics
but I'm open to other sites too. ty

 

[Eggcessive]

Do you have a picture of the bottom of the foot?

 

[UncleDougsChickens]

Do you have a picture of the bottom of the foot?

tl;dr, no but I will get an updated picture from the bottom when I change her bandages. I got a closer top down though.

I just removed the plugs from her feet because I noticed her 'good' foot was starting to form a bumble/scab from standing on it so much. Luckily it didn't go deep enough to penetrate the skin and theres no swelling but I couldn't even tell it was forming looking down from the top.

The main bad foot was forming one too but this one did penetrate the skin. The bottom of her main bad foot is definitely more pronounced and firm. More firm than her 'good' one or any of the other chickens I checked. The bumble/scab came out without much issue. As far as I could tell and after seeing what came out of her foot from the vet visit, there's nothing really in there to squeeze or clean out. I got a little of the firm white puss that the vet removed and the same as what I've seen in videos, but barely any. The bottom of her foot felt firm like a giant pimple would even after you squeeze it..the puss is out but it still retains its shape/firmness. Only difference is with a pimple I would expect the swelling to go away within a few days which makes me wonder if there's something still in her foot.

I didn't touch the swollen part on the top of the foot yet so it remains as seen in the photo.


edit: seems like I cant insert text between the photos so;
Side by side
'Good foot'
Main bad foot

 

[UncleDougsChickens]

We changed her bandages today. I also inspected the other girls and noticed 1 forming the bumblefoot scab so I also treated her. Her foot wasn't infected yet so hopefully it just heals up.

These are photos we took after we removed the bandages from the treatment we did on Friday.

Here's 2 pictures of her 'good' foot that had the scab forming but it didn't break the skin.



And here's the bad one. The swelling you can see on the top between her toes in the previous picture is still there. You can also see the other 2 holes that healed up. She had a trio.