Pain Relief for Bumblefoot

[roofgoat]

Ok, I have read a few threads here on bumblefoot removal and have seen a few youtube videos.

My question, before I cut into the bird's foot, can I deaden the nerves a little? Ice it? But that would make the plug hard.

Ambesol (the tooth pain reliever)? Any ideas?

Thanks

 

[DanasChicks]

Hi roofgoat,

In my experience if done properly, the cutting into a birds foot to remove a bumble foot infection should not produce much if any pain for the bird. You may even see a bit of blood while removing the white cheese like substance and the kernel. It takes a bit of messaging and wiggling to get it out. If you think about when we get a callous, the skin is not necessarily tender anymore, which seems to be how the bird reacts to the poking and prodding.

The most important thing you can do is make sure that your birds foot is washed thoroughly before beginning, and find a way to flip your bird on it's back making sure it is as comfortable as you can. Be sure to cover the birds eyes by draping a cloth over it lightly. Once the bird is comfortable with eyes covered, you will be able to work on the bird without much resistance at all and the bird should be relaxed and not in pain. The only time I ever had a bird struggle is when their eyes were uncovered.

After cleaning out the infection, I applied a triple antibiotic ointment. Wrapped the foot with thin pieced of elastic bandage and a bit of tape and put the bird back out with the others. Within just a few days of removing the kernel, the bumble foot totally cleared up, but if you find it is not completely gone in a few days, remove the old bandage, wash the foot again, look at the bumps, if any seem full, check again for more cheesy substance, remove that, apply ointment, wrap and check in another 3 days.

Maybe other BYC members have a better idea about pain relief tropical sprays or ointments, but I do not have any experience with them.