Early bumblefoot

[austroberta]

I agree with @Miss Lydia about needing to get it out. My Pekin duck has been dealing with a bone/joint infection for over a month now and we're still tending to her multiple times a day, every single day. This all escalated quickly and I truly believe she was hiding her suffering from bumblefoot for a while before she could barely get around. She lost over 2lbs in a very short time. It was bad. Ducks hide any discomfort for a long time, so I've found that I need to treat quickly and aggressively (I wouldn't want to do surgery either unless all other options were unsuccessful). You've got some amazing and knowledgeable folks here that have quite a bit of experience treating this, plus support from your vet. I wish you all the very best

I am definitely keeping bone infections in mind, but I'm hesitant to start digging in there when the 'scab' is a little bit bigger than a pinhead. She's getting 2 epsom soaks a day, topped with neosporin and her antibiotics. I'm keeping her in the duck run when it's sunny (so no free-ranging) and when it's raining, in her duck house. When the course of anti-biotics is finished, I'll re-assess. So far her bumble is not reddened, so I think it's in the early stages. She is also still super active, has a great appetite and is pooping normally.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Sure sounds great!

 

[Isaac 0]

Thanks for asking! She is doing great. No sign of lingering problems. The regimen I used(epsom salt soaks, and a slathering of PRID every night), although quite lengthy, did the trick. I check her feet periodically (although she hates it) and everything looks great.

Thanks for the update.

Glad to hear she's doing better!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Do you think they will go ahead an get it out? Let us know what they do.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Keep us update as you go along with this.

 

[austroberta]

Solrikka's foot is showing no improvement with the antibiotics. The vet is not being helpful. She told me that if she didn't respond to the antibiotics, that there's something else going on and that I should take her in for x-rays and blood tests. It doesn't give me much confidence that she's going to help my duck out. The little dark pinhead on her bumble is getting bigger, however. I tried soaking her foot for longer one day, with the hopes of peeling off the scab and getting at the infection, but there were not edges yet for me to pull on. Should I wait longer for a better scab? Solrikka is limping, but she still has a great appetite, and she still gets around. Her leg/foot is warm, but not blazing. I'm keeping her in the duck run, which has softer substrate than the rest of my yard. Will that scab get larger, or should I just bite the bullet and start digging?