Pekin Bumblefoot

[Gwenduckmama]

I’ve been dealing with Bumblefoot on my Pekins for the last year. I’ve taken them to the vet a few times, given them antibiotic injections, soaked in epsom salt and betadine, sprayed with veterycin, and I just got them shoes. We’ve even figured out how to work together so the shoes aren’t stressful to put on. But I don’t feel like I’m getting anywhere.

Im not willing to do the surgery I’ve seen in videos where you cut out the staph plug, and the vet doesn’t recommend it. Is that the only way?
Possibly I’m confusing long term maintenance with short term kick this infection, because last year the vet said to get them a stock tank snd have them float as much as possible to get the weight off their feet. But they aren’t supposed to get their shoes wet, and maybe while we’re trying to heal this they shouldn’t get their feet wet?
Also I don’t know how people soak their feet twice a day. It’s a huge production, gets a few towels and my clothes poopy, and It takes an hour to do both birds and clean up. I saw a video where this guy just put his bird in a bucket. She couldn’t get to the salt water to drink it, so yay, but that seems hella stressful. Tonight Eloise got upset and I got covered with staph infected water and had to run in and douse myself with rubbing alcohol. There MUST BE A BETTER WAY.

If anyone is a Bumblefoot expert and has some tricks and encouragement, I could really use it.

 

[Miss Lydia]

If your soaking that scab should soften up enough you could peel it off then you can get to the infection get it out and pack with antibiotic salve wrap and keep dry and clean until healed. I have yet to be able to let a bumble heal on its own. Plus if this infection spreads it can get into the joint bone and blood stream

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Clean it with Chlorhexidine, smother (and I mean smother) the bumble in plain old Neosporin (The kind without pain medication), pad then wrap. Crazy K farms sells duck booties which are amazing or someone on her suggested cutting out pool noodles and then wrapping to the bottom of the foot. Keep her feet dry and don't let her bathe during treatment. Quarantine her in an area that is well padded with clean bedding. You may also want to start antibiotics. There is a thread I'll go look up with different antibiotics and their dosages. For bumble I personally prefer Cephalexin that you can get at Chewy.com (it's labeled for fish, but works just fine).

Edit: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/bumblefoot-information-in-progress.1388301/#post-22795137

 

[Gwenduckmama]

They’ve been getting antibiotic shots every three days for the last month. It didn’t get worse, but it didn’t get better. I wonder that the vet doesn’t want to get the scab off and infection out. I was questioning if it could actually heal without removing the core of yuck.
Ok, just started adding neosporin to the bedtime routine. Thanks
I’m sorry if I’m being whiny. I’ve had a bad cold for two weeks, so coming up with the energy to do all the things has been impossible. I’m starting to feel better though, so hopefully I’ll have some fresh energy for nightly soaking and shoeing.

 

[CoriM]

That scab has got to go and it won't get better until it does. You should be able to just peel it off after a ten minute soak or so. You should try to squeeze it a bit and get out any whiteish gunky stuff in there. There will probably be some blood, but you have to go through it in order to get better. When done, pack it with neosporin or triple antibiotic without the pain med, put gauze over it and use vet wrap to make a bandage on the foot. Keep her out of the water and the foot as clean and dry as possible for a couple of days while a new scab forms, then you can re-bandage and reapply ointment until it heals completely. That is in a perfect world - you can visit my threads about my pekin Penny who had a big bumble like that and it took many months of soaking and bandaging and pulling the scab, antibiotics, and now her foot has finally healed completely. A bumble that big will not go away on without peeling out the infection.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

They’ve been getting antibiotic shots every three days for the last month. It didn’t get worse, but it didn’t get better. I wonder that the vet doesn’t want to get the scab off and infection out. I was questioning if it could actually heal without removing the core of yuck.
Ok, just started adding neosporin to the bedtime routine. Thanks
I’m sorry if I’m being whiny. I’ve had a bad cold for two weeks, so coming up with the energy to do all the things has been impossible. I’m starting to feel better though, so hopefully I’ll have some fresh energy for nightly soaking and shoeing.

What antibiotic are they being given? Different Antibiotics are used for different ailments and are not all created equal.

 

[Gwenduckmama]

Excede (Ceftiofur) 100 mg/ml .5cc into muscle every 3 days.

Vet wants to see them again, so I’ll make the schlep on Monday (they are over an hour away) and we’ll see if they want to change it up, or get the dang staph cores out. I’m going to keep them out of water for the weekend (they’ll be miserable) and keep piles of neosporin and their shoes on to keep it in place. Eloise is a right bastard about getting her shoes off. (Eloise: “how dare you slander my parentage!”)

can I ask another question? What is the best, easiest way to soak ducks’ feet? I keep getting nasty water all over myself, and my immune system isn’t in the best shape, so…must be a better way.

 

[Gwenduckmama]

That scab has got to go and it won't get better until it does. You should be able to just peel it off after a ten minute soak or so. You should try to squeeze it a bit and get out any whiteish gunky stuff in there. There will probably be some blood, but you have to go through it in order to get better. When done, pack it with neosporin or triple antibiotic without the pain med, put gauze over it and use vet wrap to make a bandage on the foot. Keep her out of the water and the foot as clean and dry as possible for a couple of days while a new scab forms, then you can re-bandage and reapply ointment until it heals completely. That is in a perfect world - you can visit my threads about my pekin Penny who had a big bumble like that and it took many months of soaking and bandaging and pulling the scab, antibiotics, and now her foot has finally healed completely. A bumble that big will not go away on without peeling out the infection.

My instinct says you’re absolutely correct: one always cleans out any kind of abscess, it makes no sense to think it will…fall off on its own? Get reabsorbed? I don’t get why the vet didn’t do that.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Excede (Ceftiofur) 100 mg/ml .5cc into muscle every 3 days.

Vet wants to see them again, so I’ll make the schlep on Monday (they are over an hour away) and we’ll see if they want to change it up, or get the dang staph cores out. I’m going to keep them out of water for the weekend (they’ll be miserable) and keep piles of neosporin and their shoes on to keep it in place. Eloise is a right bastard about getting her shoes off. (Eloise: “how dare you slander my parentage!”)

can I ask another question? What is the best, easiest way to soak ducks’ feet? I keep getting nasty water all over myself, and my immune system isn’t in the best shape, so…must be a better way.

An interesting choice of antibiotic and I have never heard of a vet using it for staph unless the infection was respiratory (it's most common use. I'm honestly overall surprised at your vet not wanting to remove the infection and staying with an antibiotic that the bumble foot is obviously not responding too. As far as soaking there isn't really a non-messy way to do it unless you have a calm duck. Even with wrapping the duck in a towel to keep them from moving their legs often thrash around on the water. I personally do not soak and find a heavy coating of Neosporin to soften up the scab and removed with tweezers after 2-3 days.

 

[Gwenduckmama]

An interesting choice of antibiotic and I have never heard of a vet using it for staph unless the infection was respiratory (it's most common use. I'm honestly overall surprised at your vet not wanting to remove the infection and staying with an antibiotic that the bumble foot is obviously not responding too. As far as soaking there isn't really a non-messy way to do it unless you have a calm duck. Even with wrapping the duck in a towel to keep them from moving their legs often thrash around on the water. I personally do not soak and find a heavy coating of Neosporin to soften up the scab and removed with tweezers after 2-3 days.

From your earlier post you prefer cephalexin? I can ask for that on Monday.