Duck with bumble foot, please advise!

[BelovedBirds]

Sprightly, my 3.5yr old duck hen has developed bumble foot very very fast and is barely coping with it. She was fine just days ago, I check my duck's feet at least every 2 weeks because I'm always paranoid, so I know this is new. She started limping a bit on Monday afternoon, she had minor swelling on her leg so I figured it was a sprain. Tuesday morning, limp was worse. Tuesday evening, she was struggling to walk, Wednesday morning she could no longer walk, more swelling on her leg, under her foot and a lot of heat in her ankle. I noticed a scab under her foot and thought it could be bumble, got her to the vets Wednesday afternoon where the vet diagnosed her with bumble and prescribed meloxicam and antibiotics.

Today, Thursday morning, she still cant walk, she tries to stand and falls over, the swelling is worse than yesterday, with her toes growing inflamed. She's only had one dose yesterday and one so far today, but how can bumble be so severe and so fast? I thought that even with bumble and swelling they usually only limp, until its very progressed? But its been 3 days and she's so unhappy. She's started trembling too.

Is there anything I can do to relieve her pain? Do you think the vet diagnosed correctly? Any help appreciated, I love her so much and can't stand seeing her in pain.

I was trying to find some vitamins that I could give to her since she's eating less, and I can't source nutri drench right now. I could get rooster booster but I'm not familiar with it- is it safe for ducks and would you recommend it? Is there anything I should/shouldn't be doing? I will take updated photos of the swelling today, this afternoon, for now this is yesterday.

 

[BelovedBirds]

Anyone?

 

[User690263]

I'll tag some knowledgeable people who can likely help you.
@Wyorp Rock @azygous @Eggcessive @Miss Lydia

 

[BelovedBirds]

More pics from today

 

[TwoCrows]

I don't keep ducks but my chickens have had their fair share of bumblefoot. My crew had MS, Mycoplasma Synovea which is a bacterial infection that causes the synovial fluid to leak out of the foot joint and into the pad causing bumblefoot. This can cause great swelling and lameness and your bird is looking awfully similar to having MS. The size of the scab on the bottom of the foot is not that big to me to cause all the lameness and pain I would think.

What kind of antibiotics did the vet prescribe? I have never had much luck with Meloxicam in birds, it's an anti inflammatory. Can your vet test for Mycoplasma Synoviea? It will require a blood test.

For now I would soak her foot in epsome salts for 5 to 10 mins a day. If that scab gets bigger on the bottom of the pad, you will probably need to do surgery on it. I would definitely keep her caged until she isn't so lame, you don't want her hurting herself.

 

[azygous]

The lesions on that foot appear to be very early stage bumble. Soak in Dawn detergent for ten or fifteen minutes, then scrape the scabs off with your finger nail. No cutting needed. Apply antibiotic ointment, and check again in a few days. If the foot hasn't formed thin, new, light colored scabs, soak again and remove any dark scabs.

 

[BelovedBirds]

The lesions on that foot appear to be very early stage bumble. Soak in Dawn detergent for ten or fifteen minutes, then scrape the scabs off with your finger nail. No cutting needed. Apply antibiotic ointment, and check again in a few days. If the foot hasn't formed thin, new, light colored scabs, soak again and remove any dark scabs.

I may do this but we'd probably prefer to take her back to the vet, he said he's happy to do this (though surgically most likely) if the antibiotics don't help, but has recommended us to wait 3 or so days for the antibiotics to kick in.
We don't have dawn here, but I do have epsom salts and am doing soaks daily as well as cool water soaks to soothe her other leg (it's very tired from taking all her weight).
I want to buy some antibiotic ointment incase I need to do this, but I can only find neosporin original, not triple antibiotic, is that okay?
Any thoughts on whether some vitamins like rooster booster would be good? It's hard to find good poultry products in the UK as all the brands I'm familiar with are US brands and long delivery times

 

[BelovedBirds]

I don't keep ducks but my chickens have had their fair share of bumblefoot. My crew had MS, Mycoplasma Synovea which is a bacterial infection that causes the synovial fluid to leak out of the foot joint and into the pad causing bumblefoot. This can cause great swelling and lameness and your bird is looking awfully similar to having MS. The size of the scab on the bottom of the foot is not that big to me to cause all the lameness and pain I would think.

What kind of antibiotics did the vet prescribe? I have never had much luck with Meloxicam in birds, it's an anti inflammatory. Can your vet test for Mycoplasma Synoviea? It will require a blood test.

For now I would soak her foot in epsome salts for 5 to 10 mins a day. If that scab gets bigger on the bottom of the pad, you will probably need to do surgery on it. I would definitely keep her caged until she isn't so lame, you don't want her hurting herself.

The antibiotic prescribed is enrofloxacin

We might be able to test her for that, our vet said we can bring her back in tomorrow if we feel the swelling is worsening or if she takes a turn for the worse, if we do that I will ask about this

That could make sense, as you said its very odd that she became so badly lame so fast, and with such a small scab. I've never heard of ordinary bumble getting that bad within that time frame- Does MS add additional risk to bumble, is it something to worry about? What did you have to do to treat your birds?

 

[TwoCrows]

The antibiotic prescribed is enrofloxacin

We might be able to test her for that, our vet said we can bring her back in tomorrow if we feel the swelling is worsening or if she takes a turn for the worse, if we do that I will ask about this

That could make sense, as you said its very odd that she became so badly lame so fast, and with such a small scab. I've never heard of ordinary bumble getting that bad within that time frame- Does MS add additional risk to bumble, is it something to worry about? What did you have to do to treat your birds?

Enrofloxcin is one of the more powerful antibiotics there is, however it didn't work as well for my flock by itself with MS and Bumblefoot. My vet eventually added Doxycycline as well which seemed to knock down the infection. Mycoplasmas are contagious to other birds and they have a way of hiding in the healthy cells going undetected by the immune system. So it's very difficult to treat.

My entire flock contracted it however only a few birds became sick enough to need medications. It took about 14 weeks of continued use of the Enrofloxcin and Doxycycline daily, along with daily bumblefoot surgery to drain the fluid out through the pads. If I skipped a day of not doing the surgery, they became too lame to walk. Miles and miles of vet wrap and mountains of pills. My birds did survive and eventually got back to their regular lives.

But this said, if your vet can do the test, I definitely recommend it, if nothing else to rule it out. And I would mention adding Doxycycline if the vet is willing to add it on.

 

[BelovedBirds]

She's still feeling really rubbish today but I think her bumble may be very very very slightly smaller. Still a lot of heat in her ankle though, and she's still unable to use the leg. Our vet said we should start to see improvement within 3 days or so of starting her medications, but if she deteriorates or doesn't improve by 3 days we will be taking her back for further testing as well and perhaps surgery.
Unfortunately she seems to be developing a second bumble in her other foot, understandably as she put so much weight on it during this whole thing and I suppose if it's MS as well it may have spread?
Anyway, it's very minor, her foot pad is soft still and I don't feel any heat/swelling, so I'm keeping an eye on it and hopefully the antibiotics prevent it from continuing to develop as it's so very early.