Bumblefoot or just a puncture wound?

[janinepeters]

This looks like either an uninfected cut, or early bumblefoot. Compare carefully to her other foot. If no swelling and if you cannot feel a hardened kernel in the affected foot, then surgery is not needed. I've followed many threads on bumblefoot. Surgery is painful for the bird, as you are not using an anesthetic, and I would do it only if necessary. Surgery is needed to remove a hardened kernel, but if there is only swelling and no kernel, then there is a good chance soaking alone will do the trick.

These scabs sometimes heal on their own, but I would not risk it, because if it is early bumblefoot and progresses to more advanced bumblefoot, it will be much harder to treat (would need surgery). So I would continue the soaks. It takes at least 5 days for the scab to fall off on its own. If all you do is soak, you do not need to wrap it, because it is scabbed over. If you create an open wound by picking or cutting, you need to wrap, to prevent bacteria from entering.

Some people have success with epsom salt soaks. Others use TricideNeo, which worked wonders for me on a hen with 2 black spots and a moderate swelling. Scabs fell off after about a week, and it was totally healed underneath. I continued the soaks for 10 days, and the hen has been free of bumblefoot for the past year. I never picked, cut, or wrapped anyrthing. I've read that other people soaked for a month to get it heal completely. Once a day is sufficient. I soaked in TricideNeo only 5-10 minutes a day.

 

[BeccaSmith]

Thank you everyone for the great advice! I've tried feeling her foot pad and I cannot feel a hardened kernel, but that doesn't mean anything, perhaps I am just not applying enough pressure for fear of hurting her. I've also tried comparing her other foot, but it has a teeny-tiny scab on it as well so it is difficult to compare. I've still been soaking her foot and keeping it wrapped. I have some latex free vet wrap being shipped so I can use that in place of the vet wrap with latex so it will hopefully not irritate her skin with long term use. Curious what is TricideNeo and where can I buy it? Today before soaking I notice that black scab came off. I took some pictures so I could post them here to get additional opinions on if things are going in the right direction, if I should maintain treatment as I have been with the soaks and wraps, or if I need to do anything additional. I will be gone on the weekends and will not be able to treat on Friday's and Saturday's for the rest of the month, so I am hoping to avoid any surgeries. Anyways...here is the picture I took today after soaking her foot:


Thanks again for all the help!

 

[Buddyfarm11]

It's Bumblefoot My Cockerel Has It Here's What You Do You Will Need The Following:

• Hydrogen Peroxide
• Royal Cotton balls
• First aid Tape
• and Some Gauzes
  

1. Rub Some Hydrogen Peroxide On Her Foot With The Cotton Balls To Get The Infection Out
2. Tie Her Foot With The First Aid Tape (Not To Tight Just a Little Bit) But Put The Gauze on Her Foot or You Can Use a Cotton Ball

I Vary Sometimes I Use Cotton Ball or Sometimes I Use a Gauze This Will Help Her Limping a Bit
But The infection Will Be Out I Gave This To My Cockerel and His Limping Has Stopped But I Got My Eyes On Him To Make Sure Nothing Goes Wrong

 

[janinepeters]

TricideNeo is an antibiotic preparation used for treating staphylococcus skin infections on pet koi fish, and is sold where koi/pond supplies are sold. Just google and you will find it. It is a powder which needs to be dissolved in distilled water (available at grocery store), because chemicals in tap water deactivate the antibiotic in TricideNeo. I would buy enough to make a gallon solution. You can mix half of it in a half gallon to start with.

Soaks: each day, pour a small amount of solution into a container big enough to fit her feet (I'd soak both feet since you said even the good one has a small scab -- do not let it progress to bumblefoot.) Soak 5-10 minutes once a day. Discard used solution each day and use fresh solution from your half gallon stock each day. The stock solution stays fresh for at least 5 days. I believe it needs to be kept in cool dark place....It will come with instructions telling you exactly how to mix it and store it. Just follow those.

Some people report success with epsom salt soaks. That is much cheaper, but I have never used it, so can't really recommend it. I wanted to go with something known to kill difficult to treat bacteria.

As for wrapping, I didn't wrap mine because I didn't touch the scab. It looks like yours is open now? If so, use a sterile wrap with some kind of antimicrobial. I think some people use neosporin. I've seen hydrogen peroxide mentioned, but have also read that others think it is too irritating. However, you've got someone else saying it worked for them, so maybe it's best to go with that...

As far as how it is going, it certainly does not look red or swollen. Keep going, and let's see if that thing heals.

 

[BeccaSmith]

@ janinepeters: I'll see if I can find some TricideNeo, and yes the scab came off on it's own before I soaked it last night. I'll maintain the soakings & wrapping with neosporin and keep a close eye on it.

@ Buddyfarm11: I'll try adding the gauze for padding, that is a great idea! If things don't work out with the soaking I'll try the peroxide, but I was trying to hold off on that because I have read that while it is effective for bumblefoot treatment that it can also kill off the good bacteria the helps promote healing.

Thanks for looking at the pictures and thanks again for all the help everyone! I sure worry about my girls a lot when I have problems like this!

 

[BeccaSmith]

Hi Everyone, I just have another quick question. I'm going to be out of town, leaving Friday right after I get off of work. I'll be gone Saturday and return on Sunday late afternoon most likely. I normally soak in the evenings since I don't have time to do it in the mornings before heading off to work. So this means that after tonight, I won't have a chance to soak my hens foot and wrap it. Do you think it would be ok to leave wrapped for three days straight or should I leave it unwrapped? I am just concerned about the latex vet wrap being on for so long, not that a 15 minute break from it each day is much. I am hoping the non latex vet wrap will arrive soon, but if it doesn't arrive today then I'm out of luck. What is recommended to do, just wrap it and leave it for the three days to keep it as clean as possible?

 

[TwoCrows]

Leave the wraps on. Until a scab is fairly healed, you don't want the dirt coming in contact with it and become reinfected or become far worse than it is.

To protect the pad and webbing from the latex wrap, I use a piece of gauze over the pad and peeled down forward over the webbing to prevent irritation. The latex in the vet wrap will irritate the webbing especially and can cause infection.