Duck with bumble foot, please advise!

[azygous]

Appetite doesn't usually come roaring back after near starvation. The body chemistry is slow to return to normal, and after it does, then so does the appetite. We need to be patience and be content with the steady improvement.

 

[BelovedBirds]

Happy to update that she ate two strawberries and a handful of mealworms this morning

Hopefully a good sign as I've officially run out of eggs to feed her. I still have some critical care and I've I've blending oats with water and nutritional yeast/rooster booster when I'm waiting on eggs- that works well. Photo of the patient standing on both feet today, very proud of her.

Photo of the bumble 1 week ago

And today:

The difference may not be hugely obvious, but the tissue around the scab used to be very hard and hot, and now it is not as hot and is softer/flatter. The scab itself is actually a bit paler and smaller in more honest lighting. The skin around the scab is peeling off very heavily as you can see, I suppose this is due to the skin expanding so much and then beginning to deflate? It is very dry so I did put a little vaseline on her foot/ankle incase it's a little sore- it was a touch red where some skin had scraped off.

I think she is definitely less swollen and feeling better, she is able to walk now with a limp- and she isn't repeatedly covering herself in faeces and needing constant baths, as she is standing more and holding her tail back up when she sits.

 

[BelovedBirds]

Good news!
She has started to eat her normal food, just a bit, but it's a start!
Her poops have gone from green to the usual brown colour, and she is able to walk again very well, with a very mild limp.
I'm still doing 1-2 tube feeds a day at present as she's still not eating anywhere close to enough, and with how thin she's gotten during this whole thing, I want her eating sufficiently before I stop.
She's still on her antibiotics until the swelling in the ankle and her foot are completely gone, but I have reduced her pain and anti inflammatories back to the initial dosage as she is doing so much better.
This evening her foot was continuing to peel, and the scab fell off! Her foot is looking so much better, and the pad on her foot is soft now, getting smaller by the day. The heat is down further and almost gone.

I know it sounds dramatic, but for a short while when she was at her worst, I really feared losing her. It came on so fast and her symptoms were so severe despite the bumble not being that big. It's a huge relief that she's on the mend.

Thank you for all your advice and support @TwoCrows @azygous
I hugely appreciate you both

 

[TwoCrows]

Good news!
She has started to eat her normal food, just a bit, but it's a start!
Her poops have gone from green to the usual brown colour, and she is able to walk again very well, with a very mild limp.
I'm still doing 1-2 tube feeds a day at present as she's still not eating anywhere close to enough, and with how thin she's gotten during this whole thing, I want her eating sufficiently before I stop.
She's still on her antibiotics until the swelling in the ankle and her foot are completely gone, but I have reduced her pain and anti inflammatories back to the initial dosage as she is doing so much better.
This evening her foot was continuing to peel, and the scab fell off! Her foot is looking so much better, and the pad on her foot is soft now, getting smaller by the day. The heat is down further and almost gone.
View attachment 4196638
I know it sounds dramatic, but for a short while when she was at her worst, I really feared losing her. It came on so fast and her symptoms were so severe despite the bumble not being that big. It's a huge relief that she's on the mend.

Thank you for all your advice and support @TwoCrows @azygous
I hugely appreciate you both

Wow, her foot looks fabulous!! I too am a worry wart and always fear the worst. I am so happy she is in the mend now! Keep up all the lovin' on her!

 

[BelovedBirds]

Another happy update, she has gotten her appetite back pretty much completely, she is eating about the same amount as her sister, perhaps slightly less. There is a little bit of lingering heat in her ankle, but the swelling is down almost completely, and her foot pad is shrinking down and becoming softer. It is almost the same as her other foot, just a bit of stretched out skin still going back to normal. She still has a little limp, that hasn't gone away yet, and because of the lingering warmth in her ankle I'm continuing her current course of antibiotics until it's back 100%.
Do you think she is ready to go back outside? I'm thinking yes as she has put on over 50g (now 2kg, just a bit more to go. She weighed about 2.08kg at the vets her first appointment) and she is able to walk despite the limp.

I'm just scared of her getting worse again, the ground in their pen is quite hard. (They have rubber mats around their pool area, and then their coop with pine shavings and a grass area, the mats are quite hard so I'm going to reduce them a bit and add more grass). Should she be okay going out? It's not as if she has drakes or competitive ducks to worry about, it's just her and her sister Dougie.

 

[azygous]

I'm overjoyed by her progress! What an excellent job you've done.

I'm sure she would be as overjoyed to return to her normal life again. As long as there are no sharp gravel bits, she shouldn't have any further injuries.

 

[Slw]

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

I would isolate her in a large clean dog pet taxi, put foam bandages on both feet. Maybe put a chicken diaper on to keep feces off. I used the foam bandages on rabbits to help heal sore hocks. Found them on Amazon.

 

[Slw]

Another idea here. I just saw this on Amazon. It might prevent future injury

 

[BelovedBirds]

I'm overjoyed by her progress! What an excellent job you've done.

I'm sure she would be as overjoyed to return to her normal life again. As long as there are no sharp gravel bits, she shouldn't have any further injuries.

Amazing! Thank you, I've done my best for her and definitely learned some new skills, should I ever need them in the future
There shouldn't be any sharp gravel or hazards in the pen but I will be going over everything and making it clean and more comfortable for her, to be safe.on that topic, I believe I know the cause of the original injury, I had foolishly added concrete bricks for steps for their pool, and while I had covered them with towels since I was waiting on a liner for them, I believe she slid down one of the bricks and caught the rough corner. That's the only thing that would make sense. I feel terrible that I left part of the concrete exposed, I just thought it would be fine temporarily as they were mostly covered. Lesson learned, and they're properly covered now, no sharp or rough edges exposed. If that was the cause, it shouldn't happen again!

I also felt bad because I suspect the hard rubber mat around the pool may have worsened the injury/contributed to the fast decline. Just to be safe I'm removing some of the mat and putting in a second grass area before they go out.

 

[BelovedBirds]

Another idea here. I just saw this on Amazon. It might prevent future injury

Thank you, but all is well now. She has gotten better with antibiotics and indoor housing