Dosing Aspirin for a swollen middle toe

[Galaxyfalcon]

One of my little ladies has been limping a bit the last couple of days. No signs of bumble. Today after work I was sitting with the ducks feeding them some peas and noticed how swollen her middle toe is. I'll take a picture when it's light out, but it's a bit too dark to get a good one now.

I'm going to try to give her a little aspirin and keep her in the coop for a couple days and see how her foot develops. I see the aspirin dose is 2.7mg per pound for a bird. She's a little thing, maybe only 5 or 6 pounds tops. I have some low dose 81mg pills. Since I only need to give her about 13mg or so, what's the best way to try to cut that pill up? I have a mortar and pestle as well as a pill cuter, but she needs such a small dose. Any thoughts or suggestions? Thanks everyone.

 

[Perris]

you don't need to be too precise with this. An adult large fowl dose is about 1/4 of what a human dose would be. If she weighs 5lbs+ I wouldn't hesitate to give her half the tablet you cited if she needs pain relief.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I have a Muscovy drake who is 11yrs old and most likely has arthritis in his leg I
give him 81mg. he is 15lb.
Just make sure to give it to her when she eats so she has food on her tummy. I wrap it in a tiny piece of bread and my boy gobbles it right down.

 

[Galaxyfalcon]

Okay thanks for the info! I cut the pill up and hid in inside a pea and then gave her a lot of peas and water and that seemed to do the trick. She's pretty broody so I'm just going to let her stay inside for most of the day we'll see how she's looking.

Not sure if she got stung by a bee or if it's a little broken toe or what it could be.

 

[Galaxyfalcon]

Okay, she's been on her little nest most of the day but I got her a little more aspirin and peas and she got off the nest to take a bath and visit with her friends. Here's the toe, it still looks pretty bad.

It's her left middle toe, as you can see here. I took a look under and no obvious signs of bumble, and couldn't make out anything like a splinter. Feels warm to the touch (I feel like duck feet are always warm, though). Soft but not super squishy.

 

[Galaxyfalcon]

Just chiming in again: how often can I give her a dose of aspirin? It looks pretty painful. We're keeping her in the coop but she is still hobbling. Not bad but definitely noticeable. We've started epsom salt soaks to see if that will help at all.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Here is a med chart that gives dose and how often
https://sites.google.com/a/poultrypedia.com/poultrypedia/medicine-chart
good idea to soak in Epsom salt water it can help with swelling.

 

[Galaxyfalcon]

Hello again,

Here's the bottom of her foot; it's quite swollen. I've contacted our vet but I don't expect to hear anything until at least next Tuesday.

Any thoughts? Unfortunately I'm going to be out of town this weekend. It doesn't look like bumble to me but it looks so swollen in pink that I feel like it's infected. I don't have any antibiotics on hand. Any advice? I can tell it's painful for her since she's been keeping her foot up a lot more today.

These are from yesterday. Today it's a bit more bulbous and pink. As a tradeoff, the swelling on the top of her foot has diminished a small amount.

 

[Miss Lydia]

How long has it been like this? Could she have stepped on a bee? did you feel for a stinger or splinter?
Nice warm soaks in Epsom salt water may help[ with swelling.
Just don't let her drink the water.

 

[Galaxyfalcon]

I've noticed the swelling since at least Tuesday. We've checked for stingers/splinter but we can't find anything down there causing irritation. Have done some Epsom salt soaks which I think have helped with the discomfort so we'll continue with that.