Post Surgery for Severe Bumblefoot, Any Thoughts? - Graphic Photos

Rayfous

Hatching
Sep 26, 2017
2
0
7
Hello all,

This would be my first time joining the community, so hey! Anyways, I had a couple of long work weeks that kept me from noticing bumblefoot manifesting in my chickens foot. We never had this problem, so it was foreign to us. We read some sites for information and learned what had to be done. Since we did not have access to a vet, we learned what we could from web sites and proceeded to my aunt, whom is a nurse, for medical tools and supplies. Attached is a picture from pre surgery denoted with letters to better describe what was done. I'll call the bottom of the foot where the core was Site C.

So our first step was lancing Site A after a soak in a tea tree oil solution. A large knot was found under the skin, along with white residue that looked like excess infection. We proceeded to lance the knot and exerted pressure to purge the hard, white shards from the knot (I'm guessing those shards are infection). Once we had the knot feeling softer as if we had all the shards out, we moved to Site B. A small incision was made between the toes. We pressed the fluid out, which was later followed by a large amount of white infection. Site B was pressed flat and later showed no more signs of infection or fluid being purged. Healthy blood flow was now taking place. Our last step was working on Site C (the core). From watching videos, we just cut a circle around the plug, work it loose with our fingers, and extracted the rest with tweezers. After all of this, we let her heal. Her post surgery picture is also attached.

It has been since this past Saturday that we have done this surgery. My family and I continue to soak her foot in epsom salt and tea tree oil every night and doctor it accordingly. So here is what I'm looking for:

1) From what I described above, does it sound like we handled this situation correctly?
2) Were we right to leave that fleshy knot in Site A, or should have the whole thing been cut off?
3) Should we be worried about Site B needing more attention, or could that just be a sort of blood blister that has formed?

Question 2 is our most important question, because we don't know if that is vital tissue/ muscle in the chickens foot. Thank you for the comments in advance!
 

Attachments

  • site-names.jpg
    site-names.jpg
    4.6 MB · Views: 132
  • IMG_20170923_181009616_HDR.jpg
    IMG_20170923_181009616_HDR.jpg
    4.8 MB · Views: 123
That's one of the worst cases of bumblefoot I've ever seen, and I just finished treating a hen for what I thought was the worst case I'd ever seen.

Some cases require weeks of treatment to conquer the staph infection. An antibiotic can greatly assist in this effort. I used Cephalexin at 250mg once daily for 21 days. I've used amoxicillin and penicillin in the past for stubborn bumblefoot cases, but those were useless against the staph. Cephalexin was very effective.

I would recommend a second surgery removing the black crusty mass site A on the top of the foot along with any solid pus underneath. The swollen mass at site B is what the antibiotic will address.
 
Thank you for the surgery consultation and prescription advice. I will definitely look into Cephalexin. Also, thank you for the time frame of your past treatments. It's good to have an idea how long of a haul this is going to be.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom