Bumblefoot, no plug.

[porokelle]

Just checking we're doing this right - we've got an 18month old blue Orpington. She's started limping a tiny bit this week. The skin between her toes yesterday looked a bit pink and like the scales were splitting. She has a small dark callous on the bottom of both feet (all our Orpington's seem to), so I'm reluctant to think it's a plug. This infection appears to only be on top/between the toes.

Yesterday we brought her in, put some betadine with lots of petroleum jelly to reduce strength of the betadine and put her back out.
She free ranges with her sisters on grass and hard bark. We've had rain on and off all week. She sleeps on the coop floor with the others.

Today it's about the same, maybe a bit worse (hard to tell since photos from yesterday were when she was picked up, and today is when she's standing with pressure on the foot).

Bad foot:

Other/good foot:

We're about to do an epsom salt bath. She's got some nutrient boost and garlic. And we're going to use some triple antibiotic equate ointment (without pain relief) and wrap the foot with it.

Anything else to try? We don't have any antibiotics, but plan to call the vet if this isn't looking better tomorrow/next day to see if they can lance and give antibiotics (we're rural without a vet that's poultry specific so fingers crossed they can manage )

Thank you!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Please post photos of the bottom of her feet and spread out the toes for a couple of shots of the top of the feet.
Thanks!!

Soaking in epsom salts may be helpful.
I'm not sure at this point if lancing anything is the best course of action.

 

[porokelle]

Please post photos of the bottom of her feet and spread out the toes for a couple of shots of the top of the feet.
Thanks!!

Soaking in epsom salts may be helpful.
I'm not sure at this point if lancing anything is the best course of action.

Attaching a lot more photos from today.
After unwrapping, the swelling was worse today by a tiny bit, but it went down after another epsom salt bath. I've also tried adding an antifungal cream to the vasoline/triple antibiotic mix.

The vet wrap seems to be reducing her limp.

I can't pick at the callus/possible plug on the bottom of her feet to come off but we're only soaking for ten minutes at a time. And not with hot water - as it's high summer here and her and her sisters are already overheating a bit. We're expecting lots of rain tomorrow so she might come in the house to avoid further infection and could try a bath for a longer period.







Crease on this side could be possible entry point.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'd try working the plug out.

I agree, in hot weather, soaking in warm water would be miserable!

Do you have Clear (Decolorized) Iodine? If you do, then after the soak/clean up of the scab, pat dry, apply the Clear Iodine to just the scab. Wrap the foot, not too tight.
Check again in the morning to see if the scab has worked loose. Clear Iodine can act as a drawing agent. Some folks use something like Prid which has Ichthammol in it, but you may have something different where you live.

I wouldn't lance, I'd work on getting the scab and core to come out with soakings, drawing and squeezing (hard like a pimple!)

She may like the stabilization of the wrap or it may provide her with some cushioning.

Now, as for in between the toes. After soaking/cleaning, I'd be inclined to let that remain dry, no ointment at all. See what it looks like if those areas remain dry under wrap.

Sometimes I think being wet, getting in mud, etc., can cause some softness and irritation. If it's worse with it being dry, then apply a thin layer of ointment.
I've found there's no "set way" of dealing with foot issues. Sometimes you can treat just like you read on blogs, other times you have to sort of experiment with whether to keep the foot on the drier side or use more ointment.

 

[porokelle]

I'd try working the plug out.

I agree, in hot weather, soaking in warm water would be miserable!

Do you have Clear (Decolorized) Iodine? If you do, then after the soak/clean up of the scab, pat dry, apply the Clear Iodine to just the scab. Wrap the foot, not too tight.
Check again in the morning to see if the scab has worked loose. Clear Iodine can act as a drawing agent. Some folks use something like Prid which has Ichthammol in it, but you may have something different where you live.

I wouldn't lance, I'd work on getting the scab and core to come out with soakings, drawing and squeezing (hard like a pimple!)

She may like the stabilization of the wrap or it may provide her with some cushioning.

Now, as for in between the toes. After soaking/cleaning, I'd be inclined to let that remain dry, no ointment at all. See what it looks like if those areas remain dry under wrap.

Sometimes I think being wet, getting in mud, etc., can cause some softness and irritation. If it's worse with it being dry, then apply a thin layer of ointment.
I've found there's no "set way" of dealing with foot issues. Sometimes you can treat just like you read on blogs, other times you have to sort of experiment with whether to keep the foot on the drier side or use more ointment.

Thank you very much.

We'll try working that plug out in the morning once the rain has stopped and keep her in for the day while the lawn dries. We also had a chat with a local vet tech; vet is going to look at photos tomorrow and probably going to give us a better antiseptic and a run of antibiotics.

I'm in New Zealand and only have access to antibacterial ointment I brought from the US; they don't sell it here anymore. No clear iodine either - closest I can find is betadine which is a povidone-iodine ointment. It should be similar but needs dilution.

There's a few Ichthammol salves I can find, but not sure if other ingredients would be safe. It's sounding more like I need to make a list of treatments to have family send over since we're so limited.

I'll try keeping the top of the foot dry tomorrow, and just keeping the plug area with ointments and petroleum jelly if I can't get it out. I did a heap of ointment the first two days on the top, if only because the scales were stretched and terribly dry looking, almost like scaling leg mite.

Thankfully it seems like a slow progression, so we'll keep trying things.

 

[porokelle]

Vet appears to be no help at this point, so we may make a telehealth avian vet help in the next few days.

We soaked her foot for 30 minutes today and took the scab off - photo attached - I think that's a waxy plug underneath? I read a few more blogs that said they had to do this repeatedly for a few days, so we'll try soaking again in 2 days and get the next bit out - today's plug/scab was incredibly tough to move. The swelling over her left toe is worse today but better on the right.



How long does it take for a swelling to resolve without draining the swollen bit?
I also don't understand why her other foot has an even bigger scab but shows no signs of infection whatsoever. Sort of why I did not think these are plugs to begin with - they've all had them since they were quite young as a large breed that digs in dirt and bark every day. We keep an eye on them but there's been no other foot swelling so far.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'd try pressing that plug out after the next soaking.

Sometimes a scab doesn't bother them or there's no infection, I don't know why and often those seem to fall off and close on their own.