Bumblefoot surgery - with pics and "how to"

[DiamondSwan]

This is what my duck's bumble foot looked like. There was a little bit of infection under the scab, but it needed cutting into to get the rest.

This is the all infection that came out after the surgery.

 

[Hishigata]

I think there is a lot of misunderstanding surrounding bumblefoot.

As I understand it from my vet, bumblefoot is rarely caused by a foreign body actually stuck in the foot pad. It is most often a small cut or puncture from wire, rough wood surfaces, etc (it is more common in heavier birds who hit the ground with more force when landing). The wound becomes infected and swells creating an abcess (this can also happen in other animals like horses). The "kernel" is not a foreign object, but rather the body's reaction to foreign biotics usually staph or E. coli (that is why you should always use gloves when treating the wound and keep it bandaged to prevent spreading the infection to yourself or the other chickens).

I think the scab removal is required because once bumblefoot has developed it means the chicken's immune system is unable to successfully fight the infection alone. Adding antibiotic ointment at the point of injury is sort of giving the chicken back-up to kill off the bacteria. If the bumblefoot has gotten really serious, you need to call in the big guns and use oral antibiotics.

 

[dmfmfl]

One of my girls has bumblefoot. This is the second time in the past 8 months. ...same exact spot, too. Anyway, we lanced it and removed the kernel. Irrigated well with Betadine , applied triple antibiotic and vetericyn and dressed it with vetwrap. Unfortunately, this time with bumblefoot it is not healing well like the first time she had BF.
I'm afraid she is developing cellulitis. It's swollen, red and painful. What type of oral antibiotic is effective with bumblefoot? And what strength and dosage would one give to a Wyandotte? Thanks.

 

[Eggcessive]

You can get stronger antibiotics from your vet, but procaine penicillin G is sold at many feed stores in the refrigerated medicines under several brand names. Get 4 syringes (3 cc) and 20 gauge needles. Inject 1/4 ml or cc 1/4 inch deep into the breast muscle once a day for 4 days.

 

[DiamondSwan]

One of my girls has bumblefoot. This is the second time in the past 8 months. ...same exact spot, too. Anyway, we lanced it and removed the kernel. Irrigated well with Betadine , applied triple antibiotic and vetericyn and dressed it with vetwrap. Unfortunately, this time with bumblefoot it is not healing well like the first time she had BF.
I'm afraid she is developing cellulitis. It's swollen, red and painful. What type of oral antibiotic is effective with bumblefoot? And what strength and dosage would one give to a Wyandotte? Thanks.

Our veterinarian gave us some Trimethoprim Sulfa broken into 1/4 tablets for our 10 week old drake. His weight was 3 and a half pounds. I had to give it to him by mouth every 12 hours for 2 weeks after the surgery.

 

[MrsBachbach]

How is it that just soaking and dressing it will fix it? I thought it required cutting out? I thought bumble foot was from a foreign object imbedded that a cyst or plug grows around? Isn't cutting it out the only way or can the body naturally expel it?

I guess I'm caught between not cutting into a minor wound, hoping it will repair itself....or interfering with the body's natural healing process....

Or waiting on the body to exspell it naturally and it just gets worse and then I got a bigger problem that could have been cut out real easy before it got big...

****** if I do and ****** if I don't

the poultice draws the infection down. If it isn't too severe, several soakings and poultice applications will draw the infection down enough and soften/loosen the scab enough that when you go to remove the scab/plug, all you have to do is lift the scab with sharp clean tool around the edges, very slowly. I was basically able to lift one out without slicing or cutting. A hole was left where I lifted it and the attached plug out. Minimal blood involved. Packed the hole with antibiotics, wrapped well and let it heal. I have pics of that surgery somewhere back in this thread.

 

[dmfmfl]

My Wyandotte definitely has cellulitis from the bumblefoot. Looks worse today. "Eggcessive" we took your advise especially since I think oral medicine would take too long. Thank you very much. I only gave her 1/10 of a cc. The instructions said 3000 units per pound of weight and my guess is she is around 4 #. There's 300,000 units of pen g per 1 cc. That works out to be (close enough) .10cc. I think. Lol If you think I still should give 1/4cc please let me know. I sure hope and pray she makes it. She's such a sweet girl and a great egg layer. Thanks again everybody.

 

[Woobsie]

Have you isolated her in a small cage to get her off her foot and resting with a light sheet over her cage so she isnt stressed?
I would definitely krep the area wrapped with a layer of gauze over the site with antibiotic cream to at least soften the site. Often with invasive surgery it can introduce staph bacteria into parts of the foot that were unaffected. From my experience when you see a scab the abcess has already partly drained...matured. but stays inflamed because the bird is walking around on it causing more irritation and introducing new bacteria. Ones that are very swollen may take months to come to a head if untreated but often wrapping it with betadine directly on it and using a nail to slough off the surface skin every few days is enough to get it to come to a head.

 

[lynx04]

Okay got my Wellie from the vet with RX orders. She had bumblefoot in both feet and one foot is fine, healing nicely and the other one was still infected. The vet did not find any plugs or cheesy matter, just blood. She said it was a hardening of the tissue and it would require surgery if she does have problems with it. It was an infection and needed to have antibotics to help it along.

Here is the treatment:

Soak foot with Betadine with 1 to 7 ratio. Sit in it for ten minutes.

Dry feet, pull any scabs if any but do NOT dig anymore with knife. Wrap it up with neosporin, a soft guaze for her pad and wrap it well with Vetrap.

If in pain, Baytril 22.7 mg dose, twice a day. And Liquid Metacam 0.6 mls by mouth once daily for one week for pain.
Clindamycin caps 75mg dose, twice a day for one week, throw eggs away for two weeks. DO NOT feed the eggs back to your chickens either.

Since Baytril was in pill form, I had to crush the pill into powder form with mortar and pestle and give it to the hen with a slurry of Baytril and water or paste if you want less water.

I did the same for Clindamycin since it was in gel tablets, no way I would not be able to get it down her thoat, I also put that in a slurry form too.

The hen tolerated the whole thing without a fuss. I doubt if we can get Clindamycin over the counter but at least its something!

After a week, we will find out if it works otherwise, surgery will be the option.

How long are you supposed to give the Clindamycin for? I have Oxytetracycline and was going to give my chicken that. She's responding to the Neosporin very well, but I tried to do the surgery last night and didn't have any success at anything. There was no white stuff, no sign of puss anywhere, so I don't think she has bumblefoot. I just treated them for worms and she looks like she has some scaly mite. Is it possible that symptoms of scaly mites mimic some of the symptoms of bumblefoot?

 

[casportpony]

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I doubt if we can get Clindamycin over the counter but at least its something!

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-Kathy