Rooster very sick, bumblefoot complications

[alinas2010]

We have some amoxicillin from a human. It's 875 miligrams per pill. The chicken is toweled again. He had some treats this morning, some apple and a bit of all flock feed.

That’s great you have it on hand if it’s needed, I’m so happy to hear that. I think risk for infection goes up significantly with exposed bone, but I am not sure on the best advice for you right now.

Let’s wait for the @azygous and @Eggcessive to chime in and see what advice they have for antibiotic use and treatment options for his leg. Hang in there, you’re doing great. He’ll do just fine with one foot and owners like you, it’s just getting him over this hump.

 

[azygous]

Yes, the foot does appear to be auto-amputaing. It's ghastly looking, but the shank looks healthy. He won't die from this. Chickens are lucky in this respect. Their immune systems wall off the infection by shutting down blood flow so the bacteria doesn't circulate in the rest of their bodies. There's very little chance infection will have spread to the bone in this short time.

You need to only keep it clean. Continue to soak it once a day. The foot will fall off at some point, and then you will need to treat the stump as you would any injured tissue until it heals over.

He will amaze you by how quickly he will adjust to having one foot to get around on. Some chickens manage without both feet following frostbite.

 

[alinas2010]

Yes, the foot does appear to be auto-amputaing. It's ghastly looking, but the shank looks healthy. He won't die from this. Chickens are lucky in this respect. Their immune systems wall off the infection by shutting down blood flow so the bacteria doesn't circulate in the rest of their bodies. There's very little chance infection will have spread to the bone in this short time.

You need to only keep it clean. Continue to soak it once a day. The foot will fall off at some point, and then you will need to treat the stump as you would any injured tissue until it heals over.

He will amaze you by how quickly he will adjust to having one foot to get around on. Some chickens manage without both feet following frostbite.

Will tissue/skin grown back over the exposed bone? In what cases does skin or tissue not cover exposed bone I guess is what I mean, if there are any.

 

[azygous]

Yes, tissue should grow down from the healthy shank and cover the exposed bone. My friend documented the auto-amputation and healing process with her hen Matilda who survived a couple years after the event, but died two summers ago from a wicked Texas heat wave. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/matilda-is-going-to-lose-her-feet.1454933/

 

[alinas2010]

Yes, tissue should grow down from the healthy shank and cover the exposed bone. My friend documented the auto-amputation and healing process with her hen Matilda who survived a couple years after the event, but died two summers ago from a wicked Texas heat wave. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/matilda-is-going-to-lose-her-feet.1454933/

Aw chickens are so tough

 

[HorseDad]

Yes, tissue should grow down from the healthy shank and cover the exposed bone. My friend documented the auto-amputation and healing process with her hen Matilda who survived a couple years after the event, but died two summers ago from a wicked Texas heat wave. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/matilda-is-going-to-lose-her-feet.1454933/

Thank you so much for all the help you've given us! With luck, we'll have a success story with Goose like Matilda had. We will keep you updated!

 

[Worm94]

Yes, tissue should grow down from the healthy shank and cover the exposed bone. My friend documented the auto-amputation and healing process with her hen Matilda who survived a couple years after the event, but died two summers ago from a wicked Texas heat wave. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/matilda-is-going-to-lose-her-feet.1454933/

thank you so much for the reassurance, we will continue to do everything we can for him. When I saw it this morning I honestly thought he was done for, despite his will to live thus far.
I will keep updates going, we've looked at that thread too for ideas on what to do next.
We have a barred hen named matilda too, funny enough. she had some bad bumblefoot last winter but she pulled through and is fine now. reading this gives me a lot of hope, thank you again.

 

[ManueB]

thank you so much for the reassurance, we will continue to do everything we can for him. When I saw it this morning I honestly thought he was done for, despite his will to live thus far.
I will keep updates going, we've looked at that thread too for ideas on what to do next.
We have a barred hen named matilda too, funny enough. she had some bad bumblefoot last winter but she pulled through and is fine now. reading this gives me a lot of hope, thank you again.

I was also scared by your pictures, but indeed I have read and seen stories of chickens who recover from loosing a foot very well.
Chicken's abilities to recover from wounds is quite incredible in fact compared to how fragile they are to viruses, cancer and reproductive infections for hens.

His spunky attitude and the fact that he is eating are encouraging. And he trusts you a lot obviously!
And, if you feel up to it, I'd be happy to see a picture of the rest of him .

 

[Worm94]

I was also scared by your pictures, but indeed I have read and seen stories of chickens who recover from loosing a foot very well.
Chicken's abilities to recover from wounds is quite incredible in fact compared to how fragile they are to viruses, cancer and reproductive infections for hens.

His spunky attitude and the fact that he is eating are encouraging. And he trusts you a lot obviously!
And, if you feel up to it, I'd be happy to see a picture of the rest of him .

Here he is, looking quite miserable since we changed his dressing recently but he's had some food and water and what's most important is rest right now. he had some frostbite last winter that took his comb points
he's a total sweetheart though and i just hope his trust in us holds through this ordeal.

 

[alinas2010]

Here he is, looking quite miserable since we changed his dressing recently but he's had some food and water and what's most important is rest right now. he had some frostbite last winter that took his comb points
he's a total sweetheart though and i just hope his trust in us holds through this ordeal.
View attachment 3964334

He looks handsome