My Poor Ming Mei is starting to feel better! (recovery pics pg 5)

[jjthink]

Just saw this thread and am so glad things are looking up! You are a wonderful friend to your sweet quack and this no doubt gives her great comfort, knowing she is not alone and knowing you are trying to help her (she knows).

JJ

 

[nettie]

Quote:
I thought the same thing! lol, you should see her when we have to hold her down to put her bandages on. She gets so crabby. When she gets upright agina she does this rumbly sounding quack like she's totally offended. lol. (Her face also is wet and almost looks like she was crying, lol)

 

[redhen]

so glad she is doing better! she is adorable!

 

[nettie]

Quote:
We clip their nails with a pedipaws/file every month about. Usually just when i notice how long they are. Ming mei needs it bad, but i don't want to mess with her feet while she is not feeling well.

They will occassionally sit on our bed, when they are diapered of course, but they prefer the floor. They sleep undiapered in their pen at night. Some people who diaper their ducks keep the diapers on 23 hours a day, including through the night. I only allow my ducks to wear them 4-8 hours a day for health reasons.

 

[kseabythec]

I know this has been a long time ago...but my feller has the almost exact same thing. I cannot justify a vet bill for my duck (I have three sons in college, trying to find a job and my husband would kill me, figuratively, of course), but not sure what all to do...so was curious how Ming ended up? My guy started limping the other day and I managed to corral him (my babies are not very friendly, even though we have had them since they were babies and handled them a lot) and take a look. Didn't see anything odd so let him go about his business, thinking maybe he had a stone bruise or something. My ducks free range on our 11 acres, but tend to stay up near the house (we've lost two in the last two months...so I try to pen them at night). We do have a stone patio, but the rest is just grass/dirt, no cement. My guy's foot looks like your posts on Ming's foot on the bottom, with small hard little "kernal" type blister things, but they are hard and do not have a scab that can be removed. The top of his foot shows that his middle "toe" is swollen huge (about twice the size of his "good" foot). No knot or major abcess (sp?) to lance. I just soaked him in epson, used vertricyn (sp?) and vetwrap...which he managed to remove in about 7 minutes. I have him in my dog kennel (he is NOT happy about that) with towels. My girls are running around screaming at him, so not sure how long we can keep him like this. No way can I bring him inside...I have 3 indoor dogs, plus my ducks smell...even on on a good day. And they poop wherever. ...So, long story not short, how long did it take for your duck to heal and what all did you do for her? Thanks in advance!

 

[Haunted55]

I know this has been a long time ago...but my feller has the almost exact same thing. I cannot justify a vet bill for my duck (I have three sons in college, trying to find a job and my husband would kill me, figuratively, of course), but not sure what all to do...so was curious how Ming ended up? My guy started limping the other day and I managed to corral him (my babies are not very friendly, even though we have had them since they were babies and handled them a lot) and take a look. Didn't see anything odd so let him go about his business, thinking maybe he had a stone bruise or something. My ducks free range on our 11 acres, but tend to stay up near the house (we've lost two in the last two months...so I try to pen them at night). We do have a stone patio, but the rest is just grass/dirt, no cement. My guy's foot looks like your posts on Ming's foot on the bottom, with small hard little "kernal" type blister things, but they are hard and do not have a scab that can be removed. The top of his foot shows that his middle "toe" is swollen huge (about twice the size of his "good" foot). No knot or major abcess (sp?) to lance. I just soaked him in epson, used vertricyn (sp?) and vetwrap...which he managed to remove in about 7 minutes. I have him in my dog kennel (he is NOT happy about that) with towels. My girls are running around screaming at him, so not sure how long we can keep him like this. No way can I bring him inside...I have 3 indoor dogs, plus my ducks smell...even on on a good day. And they poop wherever. ...So, long story not short, how long did it take for your duck to heal and what all did you do for her? Thanks in advance!

Can I make a suggestion? What I and a few other have been doing is painting these places with iodine. I have a thread started on this but have not had a chance to post the rest of my pictures and such.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...s-on-treatment-with-pictures/10#post_11743468

I have been finding fantastic results with this treatment, even when they are not showing the typical scabbing. The iodine kills the infection and helps the body push it out. You don't need to do much at all to have this work. I painted my first duck's foot and because of the craziness of my life right now, was unable to get back to her for 6 days. The pictures in the above link show what I found. This duck is now completely healed, as in no traces at all of the bumbles. She is back with her flock mates and happily going on with life.

 

[kseabythec]

I will get some iodine!! I'm willing to try anything to not have them lame or hurting AND that won't force a vet bill. I'm stuck until Saturday with just the vetericyn (and in fact, he will be alone all day tomorrow, have to move a kidlet into college), but will pick some up and start iodining them all! Thanks for the tip!

 

[Amiga]

For what it's worth, I have done Epsom salts compresses followed by triple antibiotic (no painkiller), without wrapping the foot. It seems to work pretty well especially overnight. I do it three times a day at first. It takes longer to resolve the bumble, but you might consider starting with that until you get the iodine. Haunted55, do you think doing that would be counterproductive, just to try to get some progress going on the foot?


I plan to try Haunted55's suggestion next time we need to deal with bumblefoot.

So far, we have not had to cut any feet. I have been catching it early enough.

Please keep us posted!

 

[Haunted55]

I will get some iodine!! I'm willing to try anything to not have them lame or hurting AND that won't force a vet bill. I'm stuck until Saturday with just the vetericyn (and in fact, he will be alone all day tomorrow, have to move a kidlet into college), but will pick some up and start iodining them all! Thanks for the tip!

I am using the decolorized iodine I picked up by mistake at WalMart. I have no clue if it is the ammonia added that is doing the trick or if it's just the iodine itself. All I do know is it is working. For the smaller ones it's fairly fast in the results, with the larger ones it is slower, but the end results are the same. They go away and there is little you have to do to them. Paint the bumble or raised area, I blow on it to dry it and then either separate into a clean cage or I even let them stay with the flock. Letting them stay with the flock mates, it takes longer to go. They walk where they want but still, the bumbles are getting smaller and smaller and finally going away completely. I have had no problems with these going septic either. Not a one, no matter how bad they seem. A bath for the inside birds being treated, then the scab that forms is pulled off and any surface pus is removed gently with tweezers. You don't need to squeeze or cut anything. Any infection the iodine touches, dies and is pushed to the surface by their body. Most of the time it is removed with the scab, sometimes the hard pus is readily seen and can be pulled out without bleeding and risk of blood infection. I then repaint with the iodine and dry it and leave them alone for a few days, allowing the iodine to work. Yes, it's that simple. A word of caution though....keep checking their legs for heat. This would tell you it has turned septic and an internal antibiotic is needed ASAP. I have not seen it once in my birds, but it doesn't mean it can't happen. I would recommend Duramycin-10 if this ever happened. This is strong enough to kill the infection and readily gets into the extremities quickly to fight it on two fronts. I really don't see this happening, but a word to the wise, ya know? Good luck and please update this thread to let us know how everything turned out, or post to the thread I gave the link for in my other post.

 

[Haunted55]

For what it's worth, I have done Epsom salts compresses followed by triple antibiotic (no painkiller), without wrapping the foot. It seems to work pretty well especially overnight. I do it three times a day at first. It takes longer to resolve the bumble, but you might consider starting with that until you get the iodine. Haunted55, do you think doing that would be counterproductive, just to try to get some progress going on the foot?


I plan to try Haunted55's suggestion next time we need to deal with bumblefoot.

So far, we have not had to cut any feet. I have been catching it early enough.

Please keep us posted!

No, Amiga, I think the quicker you can hit it, the better. I just happened to have the decolorized iodine and found this by accident. Even if the triple antibiotic doesn't get in far enough, it is going to soften the skin up and get the iodine in a lot quicker. No way would it hurt!