Bumblefoot surgery - with pics and "how to"

[gottsegnet]

That's a good idea. I'm glad these geese are tame. He's starting to try to run when my daughter goes to catch him, but they normally come when I call. Last night he even came up peeping to me after I separated him for the night and let me stroke him and coo at him.

I guess he forgives quickly.

 

[9 Feathers Farm]

Okay... so I did it, my first bumble foot surgery. I was so nervous, I couldn't stop shaking. I got the scab out with some stuff attached to it. There was alot of pink (healty) flesh under the scab. I squeezed, rubbed did whatever to get more to come out. Nothing much came out after that and like I said there was a lot of healty looking tissue so I badaged her up. I did not come across a plug and I didn't what to dig too much because she acted like it hurt her. If there is still infection/plug in there will the tell tale black plug come back right away or will it heal correctly and then come back?

 

[ruth]

Quote:
Congrats on the surgery. There's not always a black plug. Many of the plugs I've pulled out look like a dry kernel of corn. There have been a couple of times where there was no plug, especially if it was a minor case, but in most cases where there was severe swelling, there was a plug in there but very deep - almost near the top of the foot but you have to go through the bottom pad to get to it.

 

[9 Feathers Farm]

Thank you for posting. Is there something I can do for the pain, I had her covered on her side and towards the end she was breathing hard and pulling away like it hurt (the reason I quit and called it a day). Also there was a lot of pink tissue under the scab, is that healty tissue or do I have to go into that to find the plug?

 

[ruth]

Quote:
It's really hard to say whether or not you should go deeper. I gauge by how much I got out and how bad the foot looked. I have learned to just make a deep & long slit first go or make a smaller X shape slit over the scab area so that I can dig into the foot. I find it's better to have a nice deep clean cut that can heal quicker than having a giant hole in the pad but even those begin to heal over rather quickly.

Did you operate on a hen or a goose? In my experience the hens act like they are sleeping if I have their head covered. It helps to work in a quiet environment also. No, I've never used anything for the pain because they've never acted like it really hurt.

 

[Kasia]

And here I've been shelling out $300 per chicken to have their bumblefoot surgically removed by my vet. SIGH So this helps. I have several more that I've been saving money for to have their bumblefoot taken care of. Normally I would be too squeamish to do this myself, but we have had emergency rescues brought in on weekends and holidays, bloody, open and bones sticking out, so now taking care of them is no big deal. I had to lance a ducks fluid filled foot twice a day for a month.

My only concern would be the pain. I have metacam, but is there something I could rub on their foot before cutting it open to minimize the pain? I have one hen, a recent rescue, that has it so bad, it looks like it's going to split her skin open between her toes. I know she's in pain because she keeps lifting that foot up.

 

[JohnConnor12]

what was the prime cause of the bumblefoot..have you found that out..was it some kind of allegeric reaction or was it due to some infection or wound..the pictures you uploaded was really explanatory and i appreciate that from bottom of my heart.

 

[Surehatch]

a job well done

 

[ruth]

Quote:
Some of the topical medicines for pain can be toxic/fatal - for example anything with the word "cain" at the end like Benzocain, etc. And, really, I know it's hard to believe but they don't seem to be in any real pain. Mine don't squawk or flinch. If I'm really digging and/or cutting, they will sometimes pull their foot forward but that's about it. I think the trick is to wrap them and fully cover the head so that they get no light. Lay them on their side and gently hold them for a minute until they get calm. After that, you should be able to operate without a problem.

The ones that have the marble size swelling between the toes are actually easier to work on. Make an incision on the TOP of the toe right down the middle of the swelling. You can usually just "pop out" the gunk since there shouldn't be anything in between the toes except skin. If they also have the scab on botton and the pad is swollen you might have to open the bad also but you should still open and clean out the swelling between the toes. I had one bird that had swelling between the toes and I found 3 kernels in her foot, one in each swelling between toes and one in the pad of her foot.

 

[Kasia]

I have nothing in my avian first aid kit that has the word "cain" at the end. Even some neosporin has it, the one that has the added pain relief. When I got a severely hurt hen, with a severely broken leg, I gave her Metacam and waited 30 minutes for it to kick in before I attempted to even splint the leg.

I guess I can do this.

I mean I've had to deal with ducks and chickens that were brought to me on holidays with their backs skinned and bones sticking out of their legs. Of course my first reaction was to panic but since my vet wasn't available, I had to take care of them. Took me a while to work up the courage to give injections, and this seems easy enough and it will save us some money. I think Sylvia will appreciate it not having to wait any longer.