Bumblefoot and complications

[jesd]

Hi everyone,

We have a chicken that developed bumblefoot. It seemed to appear fairly rapidly - one day she was in good shape, and the next her foot was quite swollen. We brought her inside, cleaned up her foot (there was no obvious wound but a few blisters we had to lance and flush out), and soaked and bandaged her foot with neosporin for a few days. The blisters didn't come back, but her foot remained swollen, and she hasn't been eating or drinking well at all. So, we decided to take her to the vet (one of our favorite chickens, so I think we're inclined to go a little overboard). The vet recommended two full spectrum antibiotics (cipro and clindamycin) as well as something for pain. After a few days of this treatment she's much more alert and standing (although not on the bandaged foot) and the swelling has gone down, but she's still not eating well, and now (I believe) the antibiotics have resulted in some GI distress and she's having sort of green liquid stool (sorry if that's gross). I'm going to try to feed her some yogurt tomorrow, and have been told to try deworming meds too (just as an added precaution), but I'm otherwise at a loss. I've done a good bit of reading and found a lot of conflicting advice - some say sugar in the water, some say molasses in the food, some say force feed bread - but I thought I'd ask you experts. Any ideas? Thanks so much!

 

[hinkjc]

First thought - do not deworm her now. She is too weak to take any more chemicals. Do not give molasses..this is to flush the system of toxin/botulism. She needs as much in her system right now as possible.

Green stools indicate little to no food passing through. Certainly a common symptom of a hen not eating well..but my concern is she not eating enough to sustain life. You've got to get food through her to build up her strength. Try everything and any treats she likes. Now, I am basing my previous comments on the fact you said she's not eating. If her green stools are due to a crop issue, that's a whole other story. Monitor her crop..morning and before bed. Early morning should be nearly empty. Bed time it should be a nice round ball. Smell her breath to check for sour crop. Sour crop can come up during antiobiotic treatment and cause digestion issues.

Did you do any antibiotic regimen after lancing her feet? If not, she may have gotten a systemic infection. I always recommend antibiotic (PenG injectable) after a bumblefoot surgery. Are you certain it was bumblefoot you were dealing with and she didn't have fluid retention in her feet? This type of retention can be caused by organ failure and a notable symptom. Just something else to keep in mind. You may be attempting to treat something that is not truly her problem.