Rooster foot Injury

[SamLockwood]

My big cuckoo maran roo got himself injured on the REALLY BAD DAY in late February, which I didn't notice right away because I had another roo with a bad limp, a dead hen, and another hen with a notched comb (due to a VERY determined hawk attack).

I did notice a couple weeks later when he got rather badly infected, at which point he was limping, sick, and otherwise at death's door.

The foot was extremely swollen in the center, as were the toes. The whole foot was even hot to the touch (compared to his left foot which was When I got him cleaned up with an epsom salts bath it looked like he initialy had a toenal injury and a small cut on the top of his inside toe on his right foot, and the infection spread from there.

I tried lancing the foot in a couple of places to no real effect (no pus), and I started administering asprin and baytril.

The combo seemed to do the trick, within a couple days he still had the limp but he lost the lethargy and didn't seem to be in as much distress.

After several weeks where he seemed to be "treading water" (as in, not making any progress but not getting any worse) I started upping the dosage on the baytril until the foot started improving. Ultimately I ended up going from 0.3cc per day to 0.6cc.

So as of today he's more or less back to normal (his energy level is good, the limp is almost gone, and he's his usual well-intentioned but incredibly stupid self). For the last couple weeks his toes are back to normal but the swelling at the center of the foot is still there, and it does seem to be decreasing VERY SLOWLY.

So I guess the question is do I just stay the course until the swelling goes down all the way? Or should I up the baytril dose further?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I started upping the dosage on the baytril until the foot started improving. Ultimately I ended up going from 0.3cc per day to 0.6cc.

Do you have a photo of the Baytril you have?
Is it 10% Liquid?

How much does your rooster weigh?

Below is the dosing for 10% Baytril, that may help you determine dosing.

Do you have a photo of the bottom of his foot? I'd give his foot a daily soak in epsom salts to see if that will help with swelling and inflammation.

Thanks.



The recommended oral dose is 10-15 mg/kg twice a day.

10 mg/kg math for 8 pounds - twice a day
8/ 2.2 x 10 / 100 = 0.36ml (I'd round up to 0.4 ml) twice a day

15 mg/kg math for 8 pounds - twice a day
8 / 2.2 x 15 / 100 = 0.54 ml (I'd round up to 0.6 ml) twice a day

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/antibiotics-once-or-twice-daily.1610980/post-27477769

 

[SamLockwood]

Do you have a photo of the Baytril you have?
Is it 10% Liquid?

How much does your rooster weigh?

Below is the dosing for 10% Baytril, that may help you determine dosing.

Do you have a photo of the bottom of his foot? I'd give his foot a daily soak in epsom salts to see if that will help with swelling and inflammation.


https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/antibiotics-once-or-twice-daily.1610980/post-27477769

It is the 10% liquid. He's about 7 pounds right now, and from the link you provided it looks like I need to up the dosage.

I didn't bother with a pic of the bottom because he had no damage there. The original injury was to the top of the inside toe, just past the last joint. He got dirt packed in there and after I cleaned it out that healed pretty quickly.

The underside of the foot looks normal except for some swelling on the center pad. I think the joint itself is what's inflamed at this point.

Thanks.

 

[SamLockwood]

An update. This morning when I let the flock out to free range I noticed the rooster's foot had ballooned up significantly more than the picture on Friday in spite of the increased dosage of antibiotic.

I got some extra supplies and brought him in tonight. I used an LED flashlight to determine the biggest "void" area on the foot and lanced it about 3/8" deep with an xacto blade. Again like last time there was blood but zero pus. The swollen area feels pretty hard, but it's definitely sensitive because the more I handled it the more antsy he got.

I'm kind of at a loss at this point. I wonder if he picked up some sort of secondary injury after the infection, or he's got some inflammatory issue. He has no bumbles or cuts or any problems at all on the bottom of the foot, in fact it looks pretty much normal.

I'm thinking I'll just keep the epsom salt baths up, keep dosing him with the baytril because once you open it up I don't think it will keep, and maybe up the asprin dosage to help with the inflammation.

Any thoughts?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm not sure what else you can do, doesn't sound like the antibiotic has helped much.

I'll tag in @coach723 and @Eggcessive hopefully they will have other suggestions.

I'm sorry he's not getting any better.

 

[SamLockwood]

I'm not sure what else you can do, doesn't sound like the antibiotic has helped much.

I'll tag in @coach723 and @Eggcessive hopefully they will have other suggestions.

I'm sorry he's not getting any better.

Thanks.

Initially the baytril seemed to help, the foot was really red at first, the redness was spreading up his leg, and he was lethargic and feverish as well. The first week the color got better and the bad foot didn't feel hot any more.

The weird thing is other than the swelling he seems fine. He doesn't even have a limp unless he tries to run (then he's got this funny sort of lope but can still get up some decent speed), and he's his usual dumbass, kind-of-a-jerk most times but always comes through when the flock is in danger self.

 

[Eggcessive]

I don’t think that I would lance his foot anymore, since it may introduce a severe bone infection. It looks to me like he may have fractured or badly sprained the ankle, and it may remain swollen if there is a callus that has formed.

 

[coach723]

I'm also wondering about gout, since you have found nothing when you have lanced. Some have said that tart cherry extract supplements have been helpful for that in some cases.