HELP! Lame Chicken - sore feet?

[dlhunicorn]

another article for you:
http://www.worldpoultry.net/poultry_staphylococcosis
"Staphylococcosis
...Causes:
Gram positive, cluster-forming ubiquitous bacterium- Staphylococcus aureus. Common contaminate of skin and secondary infections occur in the joints.

Effects:
Birds are down on their hocks, have swollen feet (bumble foot) and gangrenous dermatitis. Although high mortality may be seen in baby chicks, morbidity and mortality are low with this disease.

Detailed causes:
All species of bird of all ages are susceptible to this acute to chronic disease. The agent involved in the aetiology is Staphylococcus aureus, which is a gram-positive coccoid-shaped, ubiquitous organism found in clusters.

Mode of transmission
Transmission occurs by soiled eggs, secondary infection through wound, contaminated hatchery and wet litter, which cause ammonia burns. Staph readily contaminates burnt skin.

Special note
This organism leads to trimming and downgrading in the processing plant. It is a common contaminate of skin and secondary infections occur in the joints following viral infection or stress. Staph is a leading cause of arthritis and synovitis in poultry. Arthritis and synovitis are a leading cause of condemnation (parts) in the broiler processing plant. Staphylococcosis is the second most common bacterial disease of chickens. Staphylococcal synovitis is a common problem in broiler breeders in the rearing period, often due to feed restrictions and improper feed distribution.

Clinical signs:
Signs include down on hocks, swollen foot pads (bumblefoot) or hocks, high mortality in baby chicks (omphalitis), and gangrenous dermatitis.

Morbidity and mortality are low with this disease.

Postmortem lesions
Lesions may include exudate on heart, liver and yolk in chicks, puss in joints and breast blisters.
Osteomyelitis (focal yellow areas of caseous exudate in the bones) and septicaemia (congestion of liver, spleen, kidney and lungs) may occur.

Diagnosis:
Laboratory isolation of coagulase positive organisms. Staph isolation on blood agar produces white to orange smooth colonies. Type bacteria using phages (bacterial virus).

It simulates Mycoplasma synoviae, viral tenosynovitis, Salmonella, E. coli, Pasteurella and Strephococcus.

Swollen, localised abscesses are characteristic for this disease.

Treatment and control:

Prevention
Fumigate eggs and incubator, remove sharp objects from house, use clean dry litter, and use nipple-drinkers for house to reduce the bacteria.

Treatment
Novobiocin (200-350 g/t), Penicillin, Lincomycin and Strephomycin are effective.."

You can contact Peter Brown at FirstState Vet Supply if you cannot get to another place for these meds (he will discuss treatment options with you ...post at his forum at featherfanciers.com
He can ship meds overnite

 

[antheat]

dl,

thanks so much - called my vet and he gave me a couple of places to call locally, so I'll try.

Question here - continue to soak the legs in epsom salts, then clean with peroxide and put iodine for something topical to do? Or would Blue Kote work better, then wrap Brownie's feet in baby socks?

I told Brownie that so long as she continued fighting, I'd keep on fighting with her. And I'll put Splashy on the same treatment as well.

thanks so much

Anthea

 

[greyfields]

You generally only use blu-coat when the skin is broken.

I'm serious about the penecillin thing. Go to your feedstore and buy a vial and some syringers (the smallest you can get, like the thickness of insulin syringes). 1 cc into the thigh and your birds will be better within a few days. Also an electrolyte solution containing B12 will help improve their appetite.

 

[dlhunicorn]

no...do not use peroxide...it is too hard on the tissue. And remember whatever you do...too much of a good thing...is a bad thing. As far aws a topical ointment for the feet, I have heard that ichthymol is good for such a case (but I have no personal experience with it)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8733451?dopt=Abstract
(research abstract on pubmed)
"...(conclusions)>...The therapeutic benefit of G & I is due in part to the inherent anti-bacterial activity of ichthammol against the Gram positive organisms as well as its anti-inflammatory action and the dehydrating effect of the glycerol."
It is often found in the horse section under the name Ichthammol
.... personally if it were me I would try and have your vet order the compounded DMSO/penicillin mixture described by the member in the case studies thread link I posted earlier as there will indeed be poor circulation in the feet :

"The vet is recommending some stuff called DMSO mixed with penicillin. The DMSO is an oil product that carries the medicine deep into the foot being that the foot infected will have poor circulation. "

There are online compounding services , here is one:
http://www.lionrx.com/vetmed.html

If you use penicillin be sure to get the Penicillin G (called PenG) there is less resistance to it over the "normal" penicillin​

 

[antheat]

dl,

I got Pen G - my vet is having a hard time getting the other stuff, is it injectable?

Brownie. Her feet are a stinking gangrenous mess. I put padding on her hocks as she is getting pressure points there, not at the sore stage, but looking red and irritated so I wrapped her hocks up after cleaning and using a liberal application of neosporin. The only reason I'm still trying is she is still active and fighting, eating well and drinking well and protesting loudly when we treat her feet. If her feathers were ruffled and she looked miserable and such, I'd have put her down by now. She's either incredibly resilient or stubborn!

BUT, can I, putting baby socks on her and such, use a rabbit cage? The droppings are really causing a problem and the shavings caused just as much of a problem if not more.

Splashy I think is 'okay' - he's walking around and not laying down so much, but he's due for a soak and scrub tonight or tomorrow. One foot I'm not happy with (left one), its looking reddish, but I'm hoping the penicillin injections will head off any major infections for him and if he has to wear a sock, oh well, I got some white ones for boys to wear. I've been washing his feet daily, but tonight he gets to soak in Epsom Salts again, with a gentle scrub and I'll be able to check under his feet better.

The Galactic Joke will be, of course, that they switch gender on me.

One other question is HOW do you wrap a bird up so that you can work on their feet if its just you? My hubby has been helping me, but it would be much easier if I could just treat their feet myself, if someone can help me figure out how to wrap them. If I can lay them down on their sides, I could work on them far more easily than my hubby holding them up in the air. And when I'm ready to give them their daily injection, he can help with that.

Thanks in advance for your kind help and assistance - its meant a lot to a newbie.

 

[dlhunicorn]

I got Pen G - my vet is having a hard time getting the other stuff, is it injectable?

Exactly what are you referring to ??? The Penicillin /DMSO is compounded (and applied topically)...you will need to get in touch with a specialized compounding pharmacist to compound that ...that is why I sent the online compounding link in that link (Lionville)
...the Ichthammol is often sold in the horse section of feed or agricultural products stores(you do not need a vet to prescribe it) or you can google it for an online source.

You can make a "hammock" type thingy , first wrapping around his wings (that should be sufficient to keep him from flapping away) for your bird ...two holes for his feet to go thru (make sure his chest is not too restricted or he will have problems breathing)
or
you can restrain his wings by using vetwrap (again be carefully not to bind too tightly as birds must be able to move their sternum in and out sufficiently in order to breathe) and then place in a box with two holes for hois legs and suspend that ....anyway, you get the idea... be creative

 

[antheat]

I was referring to the other treatment options.

Splashy is responding well to the treatment with injectable Pen - G, apart from having a fit, so my hubby and I thought we'd killed her. That was not fun at all, watching a bird in distress from an injection. I'm not sure what we did wrong, but it scared us mightily. The diseased skin has sloughed off between her toes on the one foot. The other is still looking a bit nasty, but she's standing up and eating well so that's a plus.

Brownie, I'm not seeing any improvement in the feet. If anything its worse.

So I need to know how to humanely put her down.

And please don't tell me to chop her head off, I'm finding that prospect very hard to take and was hoping there might be an alternative that we can use that she basically goes to sleep and never wakes up. I can't find any ether or chloroform so far and that's all I know to use.

thanks

Anthea

 

[sammi]

please describe how you gave the injection..

for a muscle shot..in the meaty part of the breast away from bone..
some people give th Pen-G in the thigh.

you don't stick the needle straight in..you go in on an angle..just a teeny bit into the muscle.
if an SQ can be done (skin shot) you pinch the skin up and put the needle only a teeennnyyy bit in the skin at the back of the neck..(some people use the flap of skin under the wing).
tho I can't say for sure if Pen-G is a suitable med for SQ.

since I can't actually see the bird's feet..I would still treat with betadine tea..and keep her area clean..
I would consider the horse skin med suggested above.

if you opt for the hammock, make sure her vent is free.
they aren't hard to rig up.

fingers crossed.

 

[antheat]

Hubby gave the injection and I think he just went straight in instead of at an angle - so I see where we went wrong there.

 

[dlhunicorn]

Have a look here:
http://www.thebirdclinic.com/UploadedFiles/BirdClinicHandout16.pdf

and here:
http://dlhunicorn.conforums.com/ind...ion=display&num=1158272823&start=0#1158272823