How do you know when bumblefoot treatment can be stopped?

[Isaac 0]

SMZ-TMP (Bactrim)...they must taste awful because EVERYTHING that I put it in, she'd eat once, if I was lucky, and then she wouldn't touch it again. She's too smart for her own good.

Speaking of how smart she is, I can't remember if I've already mentioned it in this massive thread, lol, but at one point in her stay in my house I got up one morning and there was water running. She had turned on the faucet in the tub where she was staying. It's a clawfoot tub, tub-mounted faucet with lever handles (and I actually kept it set on handshower to rinse the poo frequently, so she was getting herself a shower), so I figured she was just nosing around and bumped it up with her head. 3 more times and I decided it wasn't an accident then she turned on the hot water one day and turned my whole house into a sauna! And she learned not to turn that side on again...the next 9 times she did it, it was always the cold. Also, when I'd run her a bath to swim in, when she was done she'd pull the plug and drain the water

What dose are you giving it to her at?

 

[cymbaline]

What dose are you giving it to her at?

Supposed to be 1/5 of a 960mg tablet, but it's basically impossible to cut it into fifths, so she said it was okay to quarter it.

 

[cymbaline]

Y'all, her morning treatment was a FIGHT! She fought me taking the tape and wrap off, she fought me putting it back on, and she really fought taking that quarter of a pill. Took me four tries to get it far enough in that she couldn't spit it back out. The only time she didn't fight much was when I was irrigating her incisions, one of which she had made bleed a little again by kicking around so much. the vet didn't think she'd let me do that, and I just laughed...I knew that would be the EASIEST part of the whole ordeal, lol.
She got rewarded for all the "torture" - she's all set up out by the pond with her own beach umbrella...I think the other ducks are jealous.



Edited to add that nope, she didn't actually swallow the pill - she must've spit it out when I wasn't looking and then sat on it so I wouldn't know. I found it in the floor after she went outside. *sigh*

 

[jaykayhuff]

Y'all, her morning treatment was a FIGHT! She fought me taking the tape and wrap off, she fought me putting it back on, and she really fought taking that quarter of a pill. Took me four tries to get it far enough in that she couldn't spit it back out. The only time she didn't fight much was when I was irrigating her incisions, one of which she had made bleed a little again by kicking around so much. the vet didn't think she'd let me do that, and I just laughed...I knew that would be the EASIEST part of the whole ordeal, lol.
She got rewarded for all the "torture" - she's all set up out by the pond with her own beach umbrella...I think the other ducks are jealous.
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Edited to add that nope, she didn't actually swallow the pill - she must've spit it out when I wasn't looking and then sat on it so I wouldn't know. I found it in the floor after she went outside. *sigh*

Can you mix the pill up with a treat so it’s disguised and she can just eat it right up?

 

[cymbaline]

Can you mix the pill up with a treat so it’s disguised and she can just eat it right up?

Oh no, either she's too smart or it tastes horrible - everything I mixed it in the first round she would eat once (if I was lucky) and then wouldn't touch again.
I was going to try to source some Baytril and got to reading about antibiotics again and found quite a few reputable sites that said lincomycin was often used for Joint and bone infection so I went back to that. Also got the impression that it should be twice a day.
I wasn't able to flush one incision last night, it had already sealed up, but I flushed the other side. Probably won't be able to get in it again.

 

[cymbaline]

It's been a week now and I'm not seeing any improvement her ankle is still very swollen and she's still limping. Thought maybe I'd give the Bactrim yet another shot, since the vet seems to think that's one of the only antibiotics that might fix her. So last night I hid the whole quarter pill inside half a cherry tomato, fed her the empty half, then the one with the pill, and it worked! So this morning tried the same thing - nope. But she did eat it inside a piece of rolled up lettuce. Before I was crushing it up into a powder, and I'm thinking that makes the taste worse because it gets all over...if it's just one chunk she can swallow it whole (like she does most of her treats lil' piggy).
Y'all, it sounded like the vet's next step will be amputation I do NOT want to cut this poor girl's foot off! The meds seem to be keeping the infection down, but she can't stay on antibiotics forever. I guess for a person with this problem you'd give them high dose IV antibiotics for a period of time, but if that's even possible for a duck I can't imagine how expensive it would be. I have no idea what else can be done to help her...

 

[DucksOhio]

I can’t believe this is taking so long for you and your duck, my condolences. Is there another vet you can see? IMHO, I have never had good luck with Batril for severe bumblefoot. There are plenty of injectable antibiotics for ducks, and it’s much easier than trying to give medicine orally.

 

[cymbaline]

I can’t believe this is taking so long for you and your duck, my condolences. Is there another vet you can see? IMHO, I have never had good luck with Batril for severe bumblefoot. There are plenty of injectable antibiotics for ducks, and it’s much easier than trying to give medicine orally.

To my knowledge, the nearest avian vet is about a 3 hour roundtrip drive from me. I took my Bullwinkle there about 5-6 years ago and while they did seem very knowledgeable, they weren't able to identify what was wrong with him or treat him.
We actually haven't tried Baytril yet. For the better part of the past few weeks I've been giving her lincomycin injections; I quit for a few days leading up to the surgery since it was apparent meds alone weren't going to cure it, and tried the Bactrim the day after surgery, and when dosing her failed again, went back to the injections, but twice a day instead of once.
I agree, injections are way easier than trying to dose the nasty-tasting meds, but the amoxicillin was so easy - just open the capsule and dump over her food. Never had a bit of trouble with her eating every bite.
The vet mentioned clavamox as an option, but said not only was it pricey (like $60 for a 5 day supply, I think she said), but that I would have to feed her like 5-6 pills for every dose, so I may as well stick with the Bactrim.
Now that I'm thinking about it though, clavamox is also a people-drug (Augmentin), and a brief search of available people-doses and prices tells me I could probably get 10 days' worth from my local pharmacy for maybe $30-40, and just one pill would be right around the correct dose. I've got a call in to the vet's office to see if that's something they can/will do.

 

[DucksOhio]

Sorry, I’ve read most of this thread, but are you keeping your duck isolated from too much movement? Is the duck bandaged?

 

[cymbaline]

Sorry, I’ve read most of this thread, but are you keeping your duck isolated from too much movement? Is the duck bandaged?

She's indoors in a confined area most of the time, but up until her surgery last week I'd been letting her out to play with the other ducks most evenings and on weekends. She would run around some, but mostly find a nice spot and sit for a while. Last weekend I made her a little pen in the grass out of some leftover fencing, maybe 6-8 sq ft, so she could be outside but she couldn't get into the dirty pond water. I think I stopped rebandaging when I couldn't flush the incisions anymore, but I still haven't let her get in the pond. Maybe this weekend...
Bit of good news - this evening makes three doses in a row of Bactrim I've tricked her into taking, lol.
Edited to add: No, not good news - apparently it's making her regurgitate. When I came home from work I saw bits of lettuce laying around and I wondered, but thought maybe she just missed some pieces or something...she gets pretty messy, lol. Gave her evening dose, after changing her blanket and getting her fresh food and water, and later on noticed chunks of lettuce in her water, along with bits of dirt and grass (she'd been outside for an hour or two just prior). Swirled her water around and saw what was left of the pill also.