Pekin - Bumblefoot

[jbohmann]

Have a Pekin that was limping and checked her out and found what I am 99% sure is bumble.
It had a black scab and I been soaking her for 6 days about 30-45 min each time and the scab peeled off 2 days ago. No blood really or puss or anything. I have been using the vetericyn and antibiotic cream and wrapping the foot everyday. So past 2 days same thing. It looks like this “ball” is separating from the foot though. You can see it like it would just pop out like a marble.
I will keep trying this but wanted to check and see if anyone had some more advice on next steps for me or should I continue. Does that ball eventually come out or is that swelling?
She is eating and drinking great. I would have thought she would be scared of me from daily torture but she knows she gets peas so she comes running when I go out by her.
Thanks for any advice you have.

 

[Ratchnick]

There may be puss inside. Personally i would give it another week of treatment before i cut into it. More often then not there is no puss and its just swelling.

 

[Weeg]

@Isaac 0 @KaleIAm @fatty and friends
That needs to be drained. I personally don't think its gonna heal without surgery, and its likely full of puss. I'm not an expert, but the people I tagged have more experience. Hopefully they can give you expert advice soon.

Give her a soak for 20 minutes, then flip her over and try to pull the plug, (ball) away from her skin. Soaking can help loosen the plug and eventually, with enough soaking time, you can pull it out. That is what I so when it comes to surgery. It seems way less invasive, but sometimes it gets so big that this approach doesn't work. Even removing the plug with this tactic may require squeezing puss out. Sorry about your girl.

 

[HeatherKellyB]

Are you keeping her foot slathered with triple antibiotic ointment and bandaged between soaks? I feel like that was a big help whenever I was treating my precious Pekin. Is she able to move around ok?

 

[jbohmann]

Are you keeping her foot slathered with triple antibiotic ointment and bandaged between soaks? I feel like that was a big help whenever I was treating my precious Pekin. Is she able to move around ok?

Oh yes — lots of ointment and bandages! She moves around okay and is eating and acting normal.

 

[jbohmann]

@Isaac 0 @KaleIAm @fatty and friends
That needs to be drained. I personally don't think its gonna heal without surgery, and its likely full of puss. I'm not an expert, but the people I tagged have more experience. Hopefully they can give you expert advice soon.

Give her a soak for 20 minutes, then flip her over and try to pull the plug, (ball) away from her skin. Soaking can help loosen the plug and eventually, with enough soaking time, you can pull it out. That is what I so when it comes to surgery. It seems way less invasive, but sometimes it gets so big that this approach doesn't work. Even removing the plug with this tactic may require squeezing puss out. Sorry about your girl.

So that is the “plug” then I read about. I didn’t want to just pull without checking.

 

[HeatherKellyB]

If she were my Pekin Duck, I'd soak her foot twice a day for 10-15 minutes each time in warm water with epsom salts. After the soak you can try to get the pus out by trying to lift all around the edge of the plug. If it doesn't come off, spray and then slather it up with triple antibiotic ointment or even better, sulfa silvadene. If that's the plug, it needs to come out.(the pus will be hard and more like a crumbly rubbery cheese block) It may be tightly attached to the skin and will possibly bleed. I always stopped whenever I found it to be tightly attached still. Once I removed the plug, there was a hole but it will work out and fill itself in.

 

[HeatherKellyB]

I'll tag a few other duck experts that helped me so much for the 8 months that my Pekin suffered with this.
Side note ~ she's been doing well for 5+months now!
@Miss Lydia @JaeG

The others that helped have already been tagged.

Also, you'll want to evaluate what type of ground she's living on right now. It's important for her to be on a soft ground

 

[Ratchnick]

Usually when people refer to the "plug" They are talking about the puss core. You would need to cut into the foot to see that.

 

[fatty and friends]

@Isaac 0 @KaleIAm @fatty and friends
That needs to be drained. I personally don't think its gonna heal without surgery, and its likely full of puss. I'm not an expert, but the people I tagged have more experience. Hopefully they can give you expert advice soon.

Give her a soak for 20 minutes, then flip her over and try to pull the plug, (ball) away from her skin. Soaking can help loosen the plug and eventually, with enough soaking time, you can pull it out. That is what I so when it comes to surgery. It seems way less invasive, but sometimes it gets so big that this approach doesn't work. Even removing the plug with this tactic may require squeezing puss out. Sorry about your girl.

twice daily soaks in a warm tub of water mixed with epsom salt (20-30 minutes each time), then wrap foot and put antibiotics on it.

personally i would never do surgery on my ducks because without vet anesthesia and pain meds it is very painful for them, and could be dangerous too. if possible a vet is the best option especially since it is so bad and could spread to her bones and kill her.