Bumblefoot surgery - with pics and "how to"

[nonseq]

I am confused. I thought in the first post you said you used Terramycin and Neosporin. Those are antibiotics. Terramycin is a tetracycline, and Neosporin contains bacitracin, neomycin, and polymixin.

 

[ruth]

Quote:
I said I put Neosporin in the hole (regular Neosporin) but that you could also mix some Terramycin with the Neosporin. I think I read that somewhere but I never do that - I just use regular Neosporin and that's not what I meant when I say I don't give anitibiotics - I mean I don't give injections or oral doses of antibiotics. I've also changed some of my steps along the way and where I might have initially mixed Neosporin with Terramycin to pack the wound, I've certainly never done it since.

 

[franklinstreetwest]

Greatly informative, I am so glad I popped in on this thread! I am on my first flock adventure since I flew my mother's coop and though I have not encountered this yet it is good to know to look out for it. I have vague memories of this affliction on some of the meat pens at the fair. But NEVER remember this being addressed in our club or flock. I will be diligently checking tootsies on my girls from here on out!

 

[3chimama]

Great information!!! Thank you so much.
Quote:

 

[PepsNick]

I know this thread has kind of died out, but I have a question. Excuse me if it's already been asked on here, I didn't read the whole thread. Can a vet do this for you? Because I really don't trust myself...

 

[ADozenGirlz]

Quote:
Some vets will do this, but many do not practice avian medicine. Maybe you could get help from a friend if you ever had to do the surgery?

 

[PepsNick]

Quote:
Some vets will do this, but many do not practice avian medicine. Maybe you could get help from a friend if you ever had to do the surgery?

Great! Thanks. Good idea. There's a great bird vet around me that I'll ask, and if not I'll ask one of my many chicken friends! Thanks.

 

[chickenlisa]

we just did this for one of our hens...my 12 year old daughter helped me. I almost threw up a few times, but gladly for both of us I didn't! We had to cut through the top of her 2 webbed areas because there were 2 black scabs there...but there wasn't anything like that on the bottom of the foot. It is bulging though, and feels hard and doesn't look like her other foot. But I didn't want to cut through healthy pink skin either. We've done what Ruth said, with plain Neosporin in the holes, and vet wrap over it all. We'll check in a few days to see what it looks like then. I'm glad I didn't become a vet though! What a bad smell! My daughter does want to be a vet someday though.
Thanks for the step by step instructions Ruth!
Lisa

 

[chickenlisa]

It looked just like Ruth's pics...black scab that we cut around, then a hard kernel like thing that came out, then curdle like stuff that was stinky. It looked a little like cottage cheese (boy am I going to have a tough time eating that for lunch on Monday!) Don't know what else it could be...she's got Neosporin packed in the holes now...walking/running around with her pals out in the pen. I'll wait and see.

 

[fish n cheeps]

HI everyone. Hubby and I just attempted our first bumblefoot surgery. We noticed one of our hens limping and holding up her left foot yesterday morning. I looked on here, and i'm pretty sure it is bumblefoot. No swelling though, just a small round scab. Very small, about the size of the zero key on my keyboard. We followed instructions, soaking her foot, removing the scab, squeezing, digging, repeat......Nothing. No plug, no cheesy goop. I kept reading the previous posts on here, and noticed a lot of people had said that they dug and dug and finally, a plug. So I kept digging and digging. But no plug. I felt like I was just digging at flesh. Finally we gave up. Put neosporin in her wound, wrapped her foot and put her back with her friends.

Any ideas/suggestions? Could it have just been a callous discolored by the soil in the coop? Could I have caught it too early for any goop? I didn't mind the surgery, she was a little trooper, and it wasn't difficult. I'm just afraid i jumped the gun, and it was something other than bumblefoot. Has this ever happened to anyone else on here?

Thanks for any help and suggestions. I love this site, and especially the how to stuff when it comes to medical issues, as there are no vets who operate on chickens in my area. Thanks again.