Bumblefoot question

[gottsegnet]

I have a pilgrim goose with bumblefoot. His little pad is swollen, almost 3X the size of the other foot, it was hot to the touch and he's limping.

Yesterday, we pulled off the little scab that had formed and a ball of hard pus came out with it but we couldn't get any drainage no matter how much we pushed at it. I washed it all out with soap and water, rinsed and filled it with Neosporin. Every couple hours, I dipped it in a mild bleach solution for about a minute. I also put Duramyacin in the water. Not sure it will do anything for the bumblefoot, but I'm hoping it will help him not get any further infections, and keep this from spreading since we opened it and got a little bleeding.

This morning he's still limping and it's still swollen, but the pad isn't as hard. It's soft and no longer hot to the touch.

Question: should I leave it and see how it goes or should I open it again?

 

[Judy]

There is a hard core in there that you need to get out. Long tweezers, maybe? It won't heal til you do. You will know it when you see it. You may even have to cut to get it. Plenty of info on here.

 

[gottsegnet]

Ok, that is what I was afraid of. I think I'll go get some medical tape first, though. Hopefully it heals. I've been reading about all the complications and arthritis and the poor guy is only 4 months and so super sweet.

We tried tweezers, but couldn't get hold of anything. I think I need a larger incision than the small hole I was working through where the scab had been.

He does seem happier, but that may just be because I let him back out on the lawn with his flock after keeping him in the garage for 24 hours! He's going to spend the night in the garage again, but the lawn is honestly as clean as the garage floor. We'll see how my bandaging goes, but I'm hoping he can be with them at least during the day. He honked and honked for them all day yesterday.

 

[Judy]

Sometimes I think isolating them is a mistake, even though they may need the rest or whatever. A grieving bird is not going to heal as well, and who wants to make them grieve? I've never had to do it over a few hours, fortunately.

You could try him with his buddies and watch. I've never had a goose so I wouldn't hazard a guess. If they leave his foot alone....

 

[gottsegnet]

I think he's Ok with them during the day. But where they sleep isn't the cleanest for an injured foot. Geese are messy. We decided to leave him with his flock during the day and just have him sleep alone at night. But they aren't like chickens in that they don't mess with an injury. If they wander too much, I may put him in a pen where he can at least see the other birds. We'll see. I just got what I need to finish removing the abscess and we'll see how quickly it heals. The hole we made yesterday closed in a couple hours. This one will be larger, but hopefully will be a straight cut rather than a hole.

 

[gottsegnet]

We didn't get anything but living tissue and a bit of blood.

Maybe we got it yesterday, but I don't think so. It didn't really look like the other pictures I've seen. We'll see how it goes with the regular soaking. I've read so many different things from people who say you have to cut it to people who say they've had success with just wrappings and regular epsom salt baths.

He's got stuff in there now that is meant for bumblefoot, though, so maybe that will help. Otherwise, he may join the broilers in a month at slaughter time, but I hope not. I love my gooseys and wasn't intending on slaughtering any of these three. Though he is sort of an extra. We have two males and a female.

Of course, we did name them Green Bean, Pumpkin and Turkey.