Duck with bumble foot

[Amiga]

If you have hydrogen peroxide, I would drop a few drops on the problem area - if it bubbles, that's a sign of bacterial infection. If not, it could be fungal. Just trying to cover our bases. I think Miss Lydia has things very well covered here - I just wanted to share a thought.

 

[duckymama2]

One of my ducks had bumble foot, and after I put her back in with her companions, and still had to give her Oxytetracycline, I had the same concerns as you did. My husband came up with a brilliant idea. In a small bowl, mix 1/8 teaspoon of the Oxy with 1/4 cup of water, add dried mealworms to it. Feed the bowl to the injured duck, while tossing mealworms to the others. It worked great for us!!

This is a great idea! Separating is not working. They all need each other so when Elsa goes for her spa treatment as we call it, she get treats treats with the oxy while soaking in Epsom salt. Our pharmacy doesn't have colorless iodine but colored. Could I use that? We have been just soaking and using vetericyn. Hoping we see improvement soon.

 

[deacons]

I know ducks are a bit different but I have been treating bumblefoot in a chicken. Looking at that picture, I'm not totally sure what to think as the shape of the black scab is so strange! But assuming you are looking at bumblefoot, I have had pretty good luck with Povidone Iodine gel smeared liberally directly on the scab, and also on a small piece of non-stick pad held in place with vet wrap. Even though this website says CVS carries the Povidone Iodine gel, my local store did not- they only had it as a liquid- so I ended up ordering two tubes off of Amazon, and it took about a week to get here. I wanted something that I could really lather directly on the bumble. The Povidone helps bring the pus out (and it was filled with pus, here's my thread about my chickens' healing) and eventually the scab came off- once that happened, I filled the large hole left behind with Vetericyn gel, which I too have had a lot of good luck with using.

I changed the bandages everyday. Between changes, I soaked in epsom salts or a weak Betadine solution (I eventually switched to the betadine soak as I was giving Baytril antibiotics and read somewhere that epsom salts could cancel out the effects of the Baytril- I could not find any scientific article to that effect but figured why chance it).

Good luck- it's a lot of work staying on top of this and keeping it clean and treated.

 

[duckymama2]

If I were to try the providone would the ointment be the same as the gel? I am looking to order on Amazon. Also the vetericyn wound and skin care hydrogel be ok? I have a felling this is going to take a long time to heal. We don't have a vet near by that cares for ducks or chickens. We have been treating since Sunday and to me I haven't noticed a change. Thanks for sharing your story and hoping your girl healed great!

 

[deacons]

If I were to try the providone would the ointment be the same as the gel? I am looking to order on Amazon. Also the vetericyn wound and skin care hydrogel be ok? I have a felling this is going to take a long time to heal. We don't have a vet near by that cares for ducks or chickens. We have been treating since Sunday and to me I haven't noticed a change. Thanks for sharing your story and hoping your girl healed great!

I'm honestly not sure the difference between ointment and gel- I think you just want something that's going to stick to the surface rather than just rinse off like a liquid. I had not heard of Povidone Iodine at all, but my lovely country vet (who's game to see chickens and ducks! ) recommended it.

And as for vetricyn, I use the hydrogel and have been pleased with how you can really pack an open hole with it or get it to stick to the surface of a tough-to-bandage area.

I'm certainly no vet, but it seems to me that you need to get that scab off to get a handle on what's underneath it and to help encourage healthy new tissue to regenerate. That said, it's so difficult to keep their feet clean, even when bandaged, so if you do work the scab off, you probably need a plan for how to keep whatever hole results clean and as free of dirt and water as you can. My chicken was confined to a deeply bedded dog crate basically 24 hours a day for about two weeks in an effort to keep the open wound clean while I was trying to clear out the infection.