Limping Chicken

[Elitistbird]

Hi, i wonder if anybody can shed some light on the problem one of my girls has. Unfortunately she came to us with only one wing so we called her Nemo. I have recently found out she also can only see out of one eye so really doesn't need the problem she has. She is so sweet and friendly. Nemo has started to limp and on closer inspection she has these horrible black rock hard growths/lumps on the top and underside. The foot has an horrific smell and her foot is definitely warmer than the other one. This was not noticed due to her feathers covering the problem.
I have soaked her foot in Epsom salts and gently brushed the areas in between her toes with a toothbrush. Some of her feathers just floated off in the foot spa. I have put antiseptic cream on and a layer of petroleum jelly.
Any help greatly appreciated.

 

[Shamo Hybrid]

Is her feet rotting away?! That poor chicken has had a bad hand dealt to her in life.

 

[Eggcessive]

I am not an expert but it could be the cutaneous or skin form of Mareks disease. Can you take a picture of her blind eye? Mareks disease can cause eye changes and blindness, weakness in a leg, skin tumors, and internal tumors. Mareks may not be the problem, but just something to consider.

Scaly leg mites might also be a problem, so soaking the legs in the Epsom salts daily, may help. I would also rub some coconut oil or mineral oil into her scabs and lesions.

 

[Elitistbird]

Is her feet rotting away?! That poor chicken has had a bad hand dealt to her in life.

Hi, it certainly looks like this thing is eating one of her feet, the other foot appears to be healthy.

 

[Elitistbird]

I am not an expert but it could be the cutaneous or skin form of Mareks disease. Can you take a picture of her blind eye? Mareks disease can cause eye changes and blindness, weakness in a leg, skin tumors, and internal tumors. Mareks may not be the problem, but just something to consider.

Scaly leg mites might also be a problem, so soaking the legs in the Epsom salts daily, may help. I would also rub some coconut oil or mineral oil into her scabs and lesions.

Hi, i thought it may be scaly leg mites so thats why i soaked them. I'll try coconut oil tomorrow when the petroleum jelly has sunk in. I've lost a few to Mareks over the years but have not encountered this.
This is the best picture i could get at the moment hope it helps.

 

[cottagecheese]

Knowing that skin conditions respond really well to homeopathy, and seeing her poor foot and her sweet face, I repertorized (looked up) her homeopathic remedy. Sulphur is considered the greatest skin medicine, but to my surprise, ARSENICUM ALBUM came up with an enormous number. It fits everything visually, thank you for the excellent pictures, and the fact that you mentioned the offensive smell again helped very much, there's even a correlation to malignancy, but unfortunately that had to be expected... But so what if they are possibly malignant tumors, they can be controlled, Arsenicum will help her because it maintains the system under the stress of malignancy regardless of location - and she desperately needs it. When repertorizing for a human being, they are able to tell the homeopath how it feels, this poor chicken can't talk, but the very strong indication of Arsenicum means that she's in pain. What am I saying, she's limping, so she actually can communicate.
Next I was going to say please, please, give homeopathy a chance, the medication needed revealed itself perfectly, it's so unbelievably cheap and you can probably find it at your local pharmacy, but then I noticed that you did say "Any help greatly appreciated." Okay, not worried, I know that at least we'll talk.
Arsenicum album is a profoundly acting remedy on every organ and tissue, I have great hopes that we can turn this around. The mental picture of the remedy is one of fear and anxiety, please comfort her, she's scared. So if you could get her ARSENICUM ALBUM 30c - and then we'll talk about the dosage, how to handle, store, etc.

 

[dawg53]

It's Marek's.

 

[cottagecheese]

Yes, of course it's Marek's, as I was saying, those are likely malignant tumors and the OP mentioned the presence of Marek's.
But it's absolutely not a death sentence! Even the poultrydvm mentions homeopathy as a treatment modality, but in the case of Marek's, the medication or remedy is, unfortunately, highly individualized, in other words it differs from bird to bird. Sweet Nemo needs Arsenicum album - which is not even mentioned there...

In the meantime, here's something to pass the time - a nice short video of a dog cured of paralysis by (you guessed it).

If you want to consult a homeopathic vet https://www.britishhomeopathic.org/treatment/finding-a-homeopathic-vet/. I'm thinking that if you email the pictures and the description, just like here, they'll be able to help. If it's not Arsenicum album, please tell me what a professional thinks it is, but I'm 99.99% sure it's Arsenicum album.

 

[Elitistbird]

Hi sorry for the delay in replying. Nemo is still with us and has a daily foot spa with Epsom salts and a gently brushing with a toothbrush which gets rid of some of the dead skin. The foot is definitely looking much better.
We then apply antiseptic cream and smother it with Vaseline.
Every morning she gets a raspberry which hides a 25mg piece of ibuprofen. The foot is definitely looking much better but unfortunately she is still limping. This is not stopping her getting about and chasing the odd mouse or baby bird!!
Thanks to all who replied.

 

[Eggcessive]

Thank you for the update. Glad to hear that she is still doing okay. It does appear that she may have a couple of the Mareks symptoms. Of course, Mareks makes carriers of your whole flock, and may remain in your environment for years, being spread in the dander and dust from the infected chicken.