Chicken with a fat foot

[Moomin2]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to the chicken forum and would be very grateful for any advice that you could offer to help out our chicken - Catherine Zeta Jones.

We live in rural France and have three chickens that we keep for their eggs/ as pets. It's difficult to get advice here as people in this area do not value their chickens very highly! When something goes wrong the general advice is to eat the chicken.

So, for about a month now, Catherine has a fat swollen foot. It is slightly red, but I think just from the swelling. It's quite hard and has no visible injury or broken skin, so doesn't seem like a cyst or infection. It's not scabby or bleeding. She's a 1y/o Plymouth rock hen and is otherwise in good health. The other chickens have no sign of any problems.

We took her to the vet when we first noticed this and she got a cortisone + antibiotic injection but the vet said that she isn't a chicken specialist so didn't really know what to do... Her foot seemed slightly less swollen after but seems basically the same four weeks later. She isn't limping and doesn't seem to fuss if we feel around it but I'm worried that it could get worse and is possibly causing her pain that she isn't showing. We are wondering if she could have maybe broken a toe. What should we do in this situation? I could try to get a photo of it if anyone has any ideas.

Many thanks

 

[dawg53]

Have you looked at the bottom of her foot, the footpad, for a round dark in color scab?
If you see a scab, it's called bumblefoot and will require minor surgery to remove infection.

 

[Moomin2]

Thanks so much for your very quick reply! We did thoroughly check her foot when we first saw the inflammation and so did the vet and there was no sign of scab, cut or abrasion. Though looking at the pictures of 'bumblefoot' it does look very much like that... Very swollen and round and mostly on the underside of her foot. If it is that then I'm guessing it must be pretty advanced as her foot is rather big. When my partner gets back we'll have another look together. There is another vet in our town who is perhaps more experienced with chickens who might be able to operate if needed. If not then Catherine might be taking a trip to the city! I'm quite worried now. It says that bumblefoot can be fatal if not treated.

 

[Moomin2]

Have you looked at the bottom of her foot, the footpad, for a round dark in color scab?
If you see a scab, it's called bumblefoot and will require minor surgery to remove infection.

We checked her foot and there is now a very visible scab plus her other foot has the beginnings of it too! We are taking to her to the vet this afternoon and he will hopefully be able to drain the infection and give her antibiotics thanks to you and your quick response and diagnosis with so little info!

 

[Eggcessive]

Can you post any pictures? The presence of the scabs on the bottom do sound like bumblefoot. Here is a good link on bumblefoot treatment with videos of the surgery and bandaging:
https://www.hobbyfarms.com/how-to-treat-bumblefoot-in-chickens-3/

And more from the same person:
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/bumblefoot-causes-treatment-warning/

 

[bruceha2000]

We checked her foot and there is now a very visible scab plus her other foot has the beginnings of it too! We are taking to her to the vet this afternoon and he will hopefully be able to drain the infection and give her antibiotics thanks to you and your quick response and diagnosis with so little info!

Bumblefoot isn't so much fluid that can be drained but a hard mass. Sometimes soaking the foot in Epsom Salts a few times for a few days will soften the scab and it can be taken off along with some of the "plug". But given your description, I think the vet is the best option since you are willing to take her, there is likely a good size mass in there that will require more than just a little "surface work".

 

[Moomin2]

Bumblefoot isn't so much fluid that can be drained but a hard mass. Sometimes soaking the foot in Epsom Salts a few times for a few days will soften the scab and it can be taken off along with some of the "plug". But given your description, I think the vet is the best option since you are willing to take her, there is likely a good size mass in there that will require more than just a little "surface work".

Yes definitely. I've done a bit of research and did soak her feet in epsom salts earlier to get a good look at the scabs but there's no way I'd attempt anything myself as one of her feet is very big and hard. The vet explained that chickens' pus is solid and seemed to have experience with this condition and treating it. He said that he would see her in three hours. I'm just hoping she gets through it. She's the big boss chicken and has so much character. It'd be so sad to loose her to something so treatable.

We are realising that many people (us included) get chickens without knowing the basics in treating and preventing illness and injury. We want them to have long happy lives but our ignorance is preventing that from happening :-(

 

[Eggcessive]

• I would not let them sedate her to treat her, since anesthesia is hard on chickens. Most of us do the surgery with no pain killer or local anesthetic, since they can be very sensitive to lidocaine and other “caines.”

 

[Moomin2]

• I would not let them sedate her to treat her, since anesthesia is hard on chickens. Most of us do the surgery with no pain killer or local anesthetic, since they can be very sensitive to lidocaine and other “caines.”

Ok, I'll ask before he does anything. My parents have rabbits and have lost several due to anaesthetic so I am already wary of it's use on small animals. I just saw one of my other chickens lift up her foot and it looks like she may have the beginnings of a scab too! They have no swelling but we will have to check them anyway.

We will definitely be getting Catherine treated at the vet due to the severity of her case but if they all have bumblefoot I don't think we have the means to pay for all three! In that case we will need to try to treat the others ourselves using the epsom bath method to remove the scab or something along those lines. Do they always need antibiotics to heal after the removal of the scab even if the problem is caught early?

 

[Moomin2]

So... The vet has cut all of the infected tissue out of her big foot. He didn't touch the other foot which does have a brown scab on it. He didn't give her antibiotics or allude to any other treatment but told us to bring her back in two days. He didn't want to put any kind of bandage on her and told us to try to keep her in as clean a place as possible...!!! So she is currently bleeding all over our bathroom.