Duck foot injury

[Red White & Belews]

hi! We noticed one of our ducks limping and lifting his leg when standing still. He never wants to put weight on his foot. We caught him and now have him quarantined from the rest to try to help him heal. I am having a hard time finding pictures from others that may have had a similar injury. To me it doesn't look like bumble foot from pictures I've seen of that, but am just not confident. There are no obvious abrasions or scabs or anything like that. I have included some pictures. Any and all advice on what this may be, and how to cure him are so welcome! Thanks in advance!

 

[gal5150]

Wow, is that ever swollen! Off the bat, epsom salt soaks would be great to try to bring down some of the inflammation. When they're swollen like that it's hard to find any small cuts, injuries. 1-2 tbs epsom salt in warm water...soak for 10-20 min as tolerated. Don't let the duck drink the solution, it has a laxative effect. Agreed that it doesn't look like bumble....from the pics it appears to be an internal injury or issue. Eesh, so sorry. Wish I could be more helpful

 

[Niche Flock]

Yikes, yes very swollen indeed!! I agree with @gal5150
An epsom salt soak may help relieve some of the swelling and pain...
I recently had one of my Welsh Harlequins experience a foot injury that I assumed was bumblefoot,I soaked her foot in a five gallon bucket with lid (I cut a triangular hole in the lid and used a brick as a weight).

A couple of days later she is alright and waddling pretty much normal. Ducks injure their legs very easily. I weedwack often to keep weeds and grass low where they forage and remove large sticks, pine cones, rocks etc. that they could trip or fall over.

I've attached a photo of my little soaking station for you! At first I did 1 cup of epsom salt to about a gallon of warm water, that is over kill and my duck was soaked in salty water that she tried drinking. I would recommend a smaller ratio so that your drakes foot and ankle are only submerged. Best of luck!

 

[Red White & Belews]

Yikes, yes very swollen indeed!! I agree with @gal5150
An epsom salt soak may help relieve some of the swelling and pain...
I recently had one of my Welsh Harlequins experience a foot injury that I assumed was bumblefoot,I soaked her foot in a five gallon bucket with lid (I cut a triangular hole in the lid and used a brick as a weight).

A couple of days later she is alright and waddling pretty much normal. Ducks injure their legs very easily. I weedwack often to keep weeds and grass low where they forage and remove large sticks, pine cones, rocks etc. that they could trip or fall over.

I've attached a photo of my little soaking station for you! At first I did 1 cup of epsom salt to about a gallon of warm water, that is over kill and my duck was soaked in salty water that she tried drinking. I would recommend a smaller ratio so that your drakes foot and ankle are only submerged. Best of luck!

Thank you!! Y'all have been very helpful!

 

[gal5150]

How's the foot today?

 

[Red White & Belews]

Thanks for asking! I actually found a vet local to me that cares for ducks. My worrying got the best of me so I took him to see her today. She believes it is bumble foot and prescribed antibiotic and pain meds. Also wants to do surgery but I think through YouTube videos me and hubby can figure it out this weekend!

 

[Red White & Belews]

Just wanted to write an update on his foot. We have been giving antibiotics and pain killers prescribed by the vet for a week. We did end up cutting his foot open and extracting a corn and some infection. To us, it is looking a lot better, but still has a long way to go. Included is a picture of the corn and infection we extracted from his foot, and a picture of his foot on 7/26, 5 days after the surgery and 7 days with antibiotics in his system. How long does a bumblefoot injury normally take to heal? Or does it depend on severity? We are starting to wonder if we got all the infection because the swelling is still so bad and there is a little bit of heat to it (not near as hot as before the surgery though). We are doing warm epsom salt soaks twice a day for 10 minutes each time and spraying wound care spray.

 

[KimsBackyardBeasties]

How's your duck doing? We are going thru same thing and are total novices with ducks. Hoping not to have to do surgery!

 

[Red White & Belews]

How's your duck doing? We are going thru same thing and are total novices with ducks. Hoping not to have to do surgery!

He is slowly getting better. This morning we noticed the skin on his foot was loose, so we are thinking that's from the bad swelling and that it's going down quicker now. I don't think we would have had these results without the surgery. The hard part for us was he didn't have a scab on his foot that caused this so we were nervous about where to cut. However we cut at the hardest, most swollen place and were able to pop out the stuff in the previous post's pictures. To do so, I had him wrapped in a towel to contain his wings, held him over his wings. Then we had another helper hold his head still so he wouldn't bite or wiggle. My husband cut it open with a knife that had been sterilized with rubbing alcohol. I swear I could feel a "sigh of releaf" when he popped out the infection. It has been a slow healing process, but we've documented with pictures daily to be able to compare and see progress..for about a week we were wondering if it was getting better, but now looking back we see a big difference.

 

[Red White & Belews]

I want to give another update to this thread as our duck's injury was unlike anything I could find, so I want the information out there as to how we are treating it and how it is healing.

I read in another post that if the scab is black, to pick it off and the infection will come off with it. Well, his injury did nkt start with a scab, but one formed after we did surgery. Last night I noticed the scab wasn't getting better and it was, in fact, a black scab. So out of curiosity to see if the other posts were right, I picked it. And oh my goodness, stuff connected to it just kept coming out! I am so glad I did that! Tonight there was another scab that almost looked black. I picked it and it was just a normal scab. Hopefully all the infection is now gone. I have included a picture of the scab pulled off last night and a side by side of before surgery and last night after pulling off the scab. If any readers have any suggestions I'd greatly appreciate it! We are kind of winging it at this point!!