It sounds like a dumb question, I know, but here's the story:
3-4 weeks ago, I noticed my Pekin, Ziggy, was limping really bad. I soaked her feet in warm water, cleaned them up, and picked at a few dark spots, but didn't see anything that bad. Her ankle was pretty swollen though. She was still limping a few days later, so I do the same thing and pick a little more, and pulled a 1/2 long barberry thorn straight out of her foot! The sore on the bottom of her foot was small, like smaller than the diameter of a pencil eraser, and not swollen around it.
(this pic was a couple days after I pulled the thorn out). I started her on amoxicillin for about week and kept up with the cleaning while she stayed in my living room on a blanket with a neoprene bootie on.
During that week (Thursday maybe?) I find my Rose standing in their own on one leg. Upon further inspection, she has what appears to be a traditional bumblefoot lesion. *Sigh* In the 8 years I've had ducks I've never had a case of bumblefoot, and now I've got two?
So I do the soak and clean and pick for a few days, but can't get into it like I could with Ziggy, and figure that's a sign I shouldn't dig further. But she's not eating much at all. And Ziggy's ankle is still super swollen.
So Monday I haul them over to the vet, who I was just sure was going to keep them, but she debrided and flushed the spots and gave me antibiotics and Meloxicam and sent us home, with orders to flush the wounds with chlorhexidine twice daily and keep them clean and dry the rest of the time.
A few days of coaxing and then forcing the antibiotics and I just gave up. They weren't eating their favorites that I'd put them in, and sometimes refusing food altogether (probably bc they didn't trust it not to have medicine in it, lol). From my hours of reading, systemic antibiotics aren't always necessary with this, but eating is always necessary.
Continued the twice daily flushing though, and after a few days of keeping them dry, started letting them have a bath (because again, all my reading says warm soaks are an important part of treatment). Never can find anything to pull out of Rose's foot. A day or two ago, I got another little chunk out of Ziggy (had gotten a bit out before), and it seemed like there was some fibrous in there but she was DONE laying on her back and letting me pick, so I let her be. Put them in the bath this afternoon with the intention of taking some pics after and asking for advice on what I saw yesterday. Picked a little at Ziggy's scab, and then sliced horizontally with a razor blade, just enough to slice the scab off, and there it was - THE KERNEL that everyone is always talking about.
Plucked it out and flushed the hole and held some gauze on it, then bandaged with a betadine covered gauze pad, wrapped with vet wrap, and put her bootie back on. And FYI, for anyone that's wondering...I'm sure the "surgery" hurts, but she cries and groans and kicks 3 times worse when I try to put that bootie on her, every time
So - my questions now are:
If Rose's scab is healing up, she isn't limping, she's eating normally again, but she still has a lump on the top/side of her "toe"...is she good to go back outside once the scab is completely gone, under a watchful eye? Or should I really get in there and try to get at whatever that lump is? It's pretty firm, but you can barely tell it's there from the bottom, I'm afraid I'd have to go way too deep for a home surgery.
And for Ziggy, does the kernel ever come back? Or if I keep it clean, should it finally just heal up now? And do you think it was the cause of the swollen ankle?
The swelling is very squishy, if that helps. Her appetite hasn't dwindled in the slightest through all this - she's a pig, lol. And she still walks plenty, just less and with a limp after a few hours of running around the yard.
I also noticed tricide neo foot soaks were often a recommended treatment, so I've ordered that, it should be here tomorrow. Any other advice, anything I should be doing differently?
3-4 weeks ago, I noticed my Pekin, Ziggy, was limping really bad. I soaked her feet in warm water, cleaned them up, and picked at a few dark spots, but didn't see anything that bad. Her ankle was pretty swollen though. She was still limping a few days later, so I do the same thing and pick a little more, and pulled a 1/2 long barberry thorn straight out of her foot! The sore on the bottom of her foot was small, like smaller than the diameter of a pencil eraser, and not swollen around it.
(this pic was a couple days after I pulled the thorn out). I started her on amoxicillin for about week and kept up with the cleaning while she stayed in my living room on a blanket with a neoprene bootie on.During that week (Thursday maybe?) I find my Rose standing in their own on one leg. Upon further inspection, she has what appears to be a traditional bumblefoot lesion. *Sigh* In the 8 years I've had ducks I've never had a case of bumblefoot, and now I've got two?
So I do the soak and clean and pick for a few days, but can't get into it like I could with Ziggy, and figure that's a sign I shouldn't dig further. But she's not eating much at all. And Ziggy's ankle is still super swollen.
So Monday I haul them over to the vet, who I was just sure was going to keep them, but she debrided and flushed the spots and gave me antibiotics and Meloxicam and sent us home, with orders to flush the wounds with chlorhexidine twice daily and keep them clean and dry the rest of the time.A few days of coaxing and then forcing the antibiotics and I just gave up. They weren't eating their favorites that I'd put them in, and sometimes refusing food altogether (probably bc they didn't trust it not to have medicine in it, lol). From my hours of reading, systemic antibiotics aren't always necessary with this, but eating is always necessary.
Continued the twice daily flushing though, and after a few days of keeping them dry, started letting them have a bath (because again, all my reading says warm soaks are an important part of treatment). Never can find anything to pull out of Rose's foot. A day or two ago, I got another little chunk out of Ziggy (had gotten a bit out before), and it seemed like there was some fibrous in there but she was DONE laying on her back and letting me pick, so I let her be. Put them in the bath this afternoon with the intention of taking some pics after and asking for advice on what I saw yesterday. Picked a little at Ziggy's scab, and then sliced horizontally with a razor blade, just enough to slice the scab off, and there it was - THE KERNEL that everyone is always talking about.
Plucked it out and flushed the hole and held some gauze on it, then bandaged with a betadine covered gauze pad, wrapped with vet wrap, and put her bootie back on. And FYI, for anyone that's wondering...I'm sure the "surgery" hurts, but she cries and groans and kicks 3 times worse when I try to put that bootie on her, every timeSo - my questions now are:
If Rose's scab is healing up, she isn't limping, she's eating normally again, but she still has a lump on the top/side of her "toe"...is she good to go back outside once the scab is completely gone, under a watchful eye? Or should I really get in there and try to get at whatever that lump is? It's pretty firm, but you can barely tell it's there from the bottom, I'm afraid I'd have to go way too deep for a home surgery.
And for Ziggy, does the kernel ever come back? Or if I keep it clean, should it finally just heal up now? And do you think it was the cause of the swollen ankle?
The swelling is very squishy, if that helps. Her appetite hasn't dwindled in the slightest through all this - she's a pig, lol. And she still walks plenty, just less and with a limp after a few hours of running around the yard.
I also noticed tricide neo foot soaks were often a recommended treatment, so I've ordered that, it should be here tomorrow. Any other advice, anything I should be doing differently?
