Infected silkie roo paw and broken spur, could someone help advise?

SleepyDinos

Chirping
Jul 31, 2024
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153
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Wyoming
My Coop
My Coop
Hello! A couple months ago I noticed my silkie roo, Little Man, with a slight limp. After checking I found no signs of any injury or illness. At first I brushed it off as a minor mishap, but in the following weeks it kept getting worse. I started soaking it in epsom salts and hotish water to see if it could help him at all. It seemed to give him some temporary relief. Each time I soaked his foot, I checked for any source of pain. A few pulled feathers, but not enough to cause him so much pain. After a few more weeks of epsom foot baths for the little fella, it just kept getting worse. At that point, he could hardly walk, and most of the time he laid on the ground to the point where the skin on his keel bone was covered it sores. It was also around this time I found a severe lice outbreak on his fur/feathers, however it was a quick fix. I started to lose hope, and began thinking of putting him down. I didn’t want to, I love the lil guy; however, I didn’t want to suffer. After another week of soaking his foot, not only did I find a little bit of infection, but a broken spur on his other foot. A bit relieved, as well as a bit worried with the new injury, I kept gently squeezing the swollen area. Despite me working in one spot, new spots on his foot would split open and more pus would come out. After I thought I got the majority of it out, I sprayed some Poultry Vetericyn on both his infected paw and his broken spur, which looked a bit worrisome. I wrapped both up in gauze and medical tape. He was walking plenty better by this point. This was the routine in the time up until this point. I finally introduced him back to the flock, as he was depressed and not eating enough. Of course, as soon as I put the guy down (he is normally the sweetest guy ever and will come up to you for pets) he gets in a fight with a young cockerel. I let them fight it out, with a close eye to ensure it would not go too far, and I noticed that not only was his infected foot weak (which is expected after weeks of no use) but he was starting to limp again. I brought him into a hotish bath to soak both of his injuries. I carefully squeezed his foot, not expecting as much infection as there was to come out. I had to go to an vet check appointment for my show birds so I dryed him off with a towel and carefully put him into a enclosure in the run so he couldn’t fight the other guys. Because we live in a small town, our vet doesn’t have the knowledge to deal with this severe of a chicken injury, only enough to ensure no mites terrorized the flock. However, he kindly gave us some Betadine with instructions to flush the injury out. I honestly don’t know how to flush out an injury, I don’t want to cut too deep. If possible could someone help me with identifying if this is bumblefoot or not, and how to flush it out; as well as making sure his spur is nothing to worry about?
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This is his infected foot
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This is on the other foot with the spur. There are also a few sores.
 
Oh yikes... that's a nasty infection. Ask your vet if he can provide you with meloxicam (7mg tabs) some 18guage needles and a curve tip syringe. Also purchase yourself some sterile bandaging guaze, an exacto knife, bandaging tape, triple antibiotic (without "painrelief") and 90% rubbing alcohol. I would then wash the infected foot, and poke/lance the infected area with the 18guage needle or with the sterilized the knife (don't cut very deep) and have a partner hold the roo (he's not going to enjoy this). Get as much of the pus out as you can and flush the incision area with betadine using the curve tip syringe. Apply triple antibiotic to the affected area, bandage and wrap. You will likely have to clean the wound everyday, but hopefully the initial drain gets most of the pus out. Be sure to give the little guy 1/4 tab of the 7mg meloxicam to help reduce swelling and pain. The spur looks necrotic and will likely need to be removed soon otherwise you risk sepsis- though @Wyorp Rock may be able to give you better advice. I do believe your roo needs antibiotics though to deal with his infection... is your vet able to provide anything?
 
Oh yikes... that's a nasty infection. Ask your vet if he can provide you with meloxicam (7mg tabs) some 18guage needles and a curve tip syringe. Also purchase yourself some sterile bandaging guaze, an exacto knife, bandaging tape, triple antibiotic (without "painrelief") and 90% rubbing alcohol. I would then wash the infected foot, and poke/lance the infected area with the 18guage needle or with the sterilized the knife (don't cut very deep) and have a partner hold the roo (he's not going to enjoy this). Get as much of the pus out as you can and flush the incision area with betadine using the curve tip syringe. Apply triple antibiotic to the affected area, bandage and wrap. You will likely have to clean the wound everyday, but hopefully the initial drain gets most of the pus out. Be sure to give the little guy 1/4 tab of the 7mg meloxicam to help reduce swelling and pain. The spur looks necrotic and will likely need to be removed soon otherwise you risk sepsis- though @Wyorp Rock may be able to give you better advice. I do believe your roo needs antibiotics though to deal with his infection... is your vet able to provide anything?
Thank you so much for helping me with this! You have no idea how much this mean to me! I don’t think my vet can supply very much else, since the only supplies he really has is for much bigger livestock, but our local feed and grocery stores might be able to sell me those items you mentioned. I don’t know if I will be able to find some suitable antibiotics for him, the stores in my town mostly supply for larger livestock, but I might be able to make smaller dosages for him. Thank you so much!
 
Oh yikes... that's a nasty infection. Ask your vet if he can provide you with meloxicam (7mg tabs) some 18guage needles and a curve tip syringe. Also purchase yourself some sterile bandaging guaze, an exacto knife, bandaging tape, triple antibiotic (without "painrelief") and 90% rubbing alcohol. I would then wash the infected foot, and poke/lance the infected area with the 18guage needle or with the sterilized the knife (don't cut very deep) and have a partner hold the roo (he's not going to enjoy this). Get as much of the pus out as you can and flush the incision area with betadine using the curve tip syringe. Apply triple antibiotic to the affected area, bandage and wrap. You will likely have to clean the wound everyday, but hopefully the initial drain gets most of the pus out. Be sure to give the little guy 1/4 tab of the 7mg meloxicam to help reduce swelling and pain. The spur looks necrotic and will likely need to be removed soon otherwise you risk sepsis- though @Wyorp Rock may be able to give you better advice. I do believe your roo needs antibiotics though to deal with his infection... is your vet able to provide anything?
Also, sorry if this is a bad question, I don’t mean to bother you at all, but how would you remove the spur?
 
Thank you so much for helping me with this! You have no idea how much this mean to me! I don’t think my vet can supply very much else, since the only supplies he really has is for much bigger livestock, but our local feed and grocery stores might be able to sell me those items you mentioned. I don’t know if I will be able to find some suitable antibiotics for him, the stores in my town mostly supply for larger livestock, but I might be able to make smaller dosages for him. Thank you so much!
Meloxicam is used for larger livestock- so he may have some! I'll look into what antibiotics would be appropriate for this sort of infection
Also, sorry if this is a bad question, I don’t mean to bother you at all, but how would you remove the spur?
let me see if I can find anything in my handbook that might help (prevet student here lol), if not, hopefully someone on here has some suggestions!
 
Meloxicam is used for larger livestock- so he may have some! I'll look into what antibiotics would be appropriate for this sort of infection

let me see if I can find anything in my handbook that might help (prevet student here lol), if not, hopefully someone on here has some suggestions!
Okay! Thank you so much!
 

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