Bumblefoot, hot foot, limping

[mama23]

Hi I’ve got about a 11 yo australorp with bumblefoot. She’s had a scab for a few months. I used decolorized iodine for a while but didn’t continue long enough apparently. Saw her sitting middle of yard last night an hour before dusk. The little scab was still there. Foot slightly swollen but not bad. It was warm also. I’ve dealt with bumblefoot many times but had issues this time. I soaked her foot in Epsom salts for 20 min. Got scab off. But no plug visible. Instead just liquid pus. It seemed the big issue was the scab was really little but the infection had grown underneath. So I felt like I would need to expand the scab hole to get to it. Anyway then the blood started flowing. It was pretty tender and after an hour working on trying to get to a plug I gave up. I cleaned her foot and put lavender on it, bandaged her and started her on my usual meds for the infection. She did well today. Temp in leg improved this morning. I took her out about 3pm and she was out for a few hours. By tonight she was limping more and leg warmer again. But was very active and eats good and acts good.

1) Is there a chance to get rid of this with just meds internal and external? Or does the plug have to come out right now to move on? In the past I have used the clear iodine (thanks to some advice on this forum) bc it usually dries it up within a few weeks and the plug falls off on its own and the foot heals nicely. Can this still work? I plan to start that tomorrow. I wanted a new scab to form bc that stuff burns bad on a wound. But the heat and active infection are not something I’ve dealt with in my bumblefoot cases and I don’t know if that is going to throw a kink in my plan to just switch over to the iodine like in the past. I can’t do this myself and would have to take her to the local vet, which is not a problem but last time I took one in with a bad infection he wasn’t able to provide much help.

2) what causes the heat? Is it just the bacteria? How long does it take to go away?

Thanks so much for any help. I appreciate it greatly!

 

[Debbie292d]

Have you tried PRID? It's a drawing salve and some people forgo the "surgery" and just do the soakings and PRID.

Here's a very thorough article/read about bumblefoot in ducks.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/bumblefoot-what-is-it.74647/

 

[mama23]

Have you tried PRID? It's a drawing salve and some people forgo the "surgery" and just do the soakings and PRID.

Here's a very thorough article/read about bumblefoot in ducks.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/bumblefoot-what-is-it.74647/

Thank you! I’ve never heard of that before but found it on Amazon and ordered some. I asked my vet about the heat and he said it’s sort of a localized fever/inflammation and it should resolve a few days after infection resolves.