Oh it's exhausting, I know! I've not been so lucky with Ziggy - she's been in my house for over 3 months now. Her infection got into the tendons or something, I think. The wound healed months ago but her foot and ankle are still swollen.
I've spent hours upon hours reading what other folks have done, what works and what doesn't, and I truly believe the kernel has to come out before it will properly heal. Otherwise it's just going to sit in there and aggravate the healthy tissue, right? Not sure why the vet doesn't recommend that but mine only said to flush the wound and actually to not soak their feet, which I guess would make sense for an open wound but when you're trying to get the bumble out to begin with I think soaks really make a difference. I think I also read somewhere that ducks (or maybe poultry/birds in general) are the only ones who get the hard kernel with an infection so maybe most vets just aren't used to that being an issue.
I won't say the way I did it is why it worked or that it's the "right" way, but when I finally got brave enough to really go after it on Rose's foot, I sterilized a fresh razor blade and sliced the scab parallel to the skin surface, instead of cutting straight down into it. Kept doing that until i got all the scab tissue off, and started pressing and squeezing. A pair of tweezers is helpful to grab the kernel with once you get enough of it poking out. Once I felt like I got all the hard stuff out, I flushed the wound repeatedly with a chlorhexidine solution and smothered it in neosporin (or maybe betadine), wrapped it then put a neoprene bootie on her foot. Continued to flush the wound once or twice a day and reapply ointment until it had healed enough that I couldn't get into it anymore, and kept the bootie on her foot to keep it clean.
Other than one of my really hard presses, she didn't seem bothered by the process much at all, until I went to put the bootie on. The way they squirm and fight you'd think wearing a little shoe is absolute torture, lol.
