Matilda is going to lose her feet. :(

[RubelliteRose]

How does Matilda's foot look and smell this morning?

I know my own notifications have been hit and miss lately on watched threads, so you may want to make a new post and also link back to here so more people can see the new pictures and offer advice.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Kinda late for advice this is wait time will be the guide now

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

How does Matilda's foot look and smell this morning?

I know my own notifications have been hit and miss lately on watched threads, so you may want to make a new post and also link back to here so more people can see the new pictures and offer advice.

Well u are sure right re missed notifications. I had no clue you had responded to this thread until just now. I now think it was the dead part of foot that smelled so horrible. It still reeks, & the remaining wound looks & smells ok. I am going to post some "backdates" soon, as to the obvious changes that took place over the past weekend. Even still, the detachment on tuesday caught me by surprise since there had been no obvious changes for weeks. I will be "backdating" thread in a bit.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

Sunday, May 23.
The following change literally happened overnight. Photo #1. The skin/tissue on right top part of her foot appeared to be "sloughing" off. No obvious further separating, just sloughing. The other 2 photos from sunday show foot looking same as it had for weeks. I.e. with no obvious changes, other than (3rd photo) a slight but obvious swelling in the healthy part of tissue just above the dead.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

Monday, May 24
Photo #1: Viewed from the top, there was an obvious rotation of her foot.


Photos #2 & 3: Much more concerning, a large "hole" became evident in the same area where the sloughing had taken place the day before. The rest of foot appeared the same. After the hole appeared, i became very concerned about infection. Thought to myself "This foot needs to come off." I even shined a flashlight into hole to see if i could get any clue as to what was going on inside. Saw nothing but darkness.

 

[Meg-in-MT]

It must be a relief that the other foot is finally gone. I hope you both are doing well and will wait to see what else is coming

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

Tuesday, May 25. I still had no expectation of imminent separation. Thanks to input from @ryneaeiel last week, finally got confirmation the foot would "eventually" fall off. That answered a question i had previously sought for weeks. (As late as last week, was questioning if the foot would somehow remain "dead" but attached). But still, i was expecting "eventually". A few days later and "boom its gone."

Photo #1
I was researching the word "eschar" mentioned in the reply from @Siamoureux. That word (which i had never head before) led to yet more understanding as to what had been taking place on/in the right foot during the previous several weeks. More info about that later. Took a break to go check on/tend to Matilda, & discovered this.



I will admit as i stared at the foot, was for a moment stunned and crestfallen. "Wow. Its really happened. Matilda has lost Both her feet." And the foot Reeked! At this point I panicked a bit, over concern of a massive infection. But meanwhile, Matilda waited motionless in my arms, as patient and calm as ever. Well, at least the waiting was over and the foot was finally gone. Only a bit of dead skin and tissue now kept the dead and live parts attached. So i doused her foot with vetericyn spray, coated open wound with triple antibiotic, & put her back in her basket.


She took one step forward, & then this. Unlike the left foot, she didnt need to put her right foot in her food bowl so i would be sure to see it.

Due to the odor and large surface area, at this point i didnt know what to do. Was vetericyn and triple antibiotic enough to defeat infection? Should the foot be covered or uncovered? Per advice from @azygous , i medicated the wound again, covered with non-stick gauze and wrapped with vetwrap.

 

[ryneaeiel]

Tuesday, May 25. I still had no expectation of imminent separation. Thanks to input from @ryneaeiel last week, finally got confirmation the foot would "eventually" fall off. That answered a question i had previously sought for weeks. (As late as last week, was questioning if the foot would somehow remain "dead" but attached). But still, i was expecting "eventually". A few days later and "boom its gone."

Photo #1
I was researching the word "eschar" mentioned in the reply from @Siamoureux. That word (which i had never head before) led to yet more understanding as to what had been taking place on/in the right foot during the previous several weeks. More info about that later. Took a break to go check on/tend to Matilda, & discovered this.

View attachment 2692874

I will admit as i stared at the foot, was for a moment stunned and crestfallen. "Wow. Its really happened. Matilda has lost Both her feet." And the foot Reeked! At this point I panicked a bit, over concern of a massive infection. But meanwhile, Matilda waited motionless in my arms, as patient and calm as ever. Well, at least the waiting was over and the foot was finally gone. Only a bit of dead skin and tissue now kept the dead and live parts attached. So i doused her foot with vetericyn spray, coated open wound with triple antibiotic, & put her back in her basket.


She took one step forward, & then this. Unlike the left foot, she didnt need to put her right foot in her food bowl so i would be sure to see it.
View attachment 2692993

View attachment 2693003

Due to the odor and large surface area, at this point i didnt know what to do. Was vetericyn and triple antibiotic enough to defeat infection? Should the foot be covered or uncovered? Per advice from @azygous , i medicated the wound again, covered with non-stick gauze and wrapped with vetwrap. View attachment 2693027

Honestly, the bad smell is the rotting foot, not the stump itself. The Veterycin and antibiotic ointment should be enough to keep infection at bay while the stump heals over fully.

Keep the stump covered, because without the foot, it's now open to bacteria around it. You do not want that bacteria to get into any bone marrow.

Get antibiotic wet wipes and wipe down the stump before applying Veterycin and the ointment, then wrap it again. This will help remove any necrotic tissue that's sloughing off. Repeat this process every day until the stump heals over. I'd recommend keeping her inside until she's healed, or at least out of the chicken coop, since coops are riddled with bacteria and could cause major issues with her healing.

 

[azygous]

I'm not easily grossed out. But the photo of that detached foot did it.

I wouldn't worry too much about infection other than keeping the raw stumps covered until a glaze of tissue forms. The whole point of chickens being able to jettison dead extremities like this is to protect them from systemic infection.

Thinking about how clever this strategy is, it makes me wonder why they didn't also evolve the ability to grow new feet.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

Honestly, the bad smell is the rotting foot, not the stump itself. The Veterycin and antibiotic ointment should be enough to keep infection at bay while the stump heals over fully.

Keep the stump covered, because without the foot, it's now open to bacteria around it. You do not want that bacteria to get into any bone marrow.

Get antibiotic wet wipes and wipe down the stump before applying Veterycin and the ointment, then wrap it again. This will help remove any necrotic tissue that's sloughing off. Repeat this process every day until the stump heals over. I'd recommend keeping her inside until she's healed, or at least out of the chicken coop, since coops are riddled with bacteria and could cause major issues with her healing.

Tu for your reply, & confirming that the horrendous smell was likely from the dead part of foot. And also for confirming that even if there Is infection in the live wound, vetericyn, ointment, and keeping wound wrapped should be enough to beat it.

The wound appears to be very tender. She pulls the foot in towards her body when i attempt to examine and treat it. (She never did that with the left nub.) A little later today, I will unwrap foot and medicate wound, take a current photo of foot, then post pic. Wound looked waaay better yesterday than it did at time of separation on tuesday.