Seriously infected bumblefoot surgery, toes might be dying!

[blueberrychickens]

Birds do not produce runny pus like mammals, so the wound will not drain. The "pus" in birds is more of a soft cheese consistency and you need to dig it out of the wound area before it can heal. All of that fat bump on your hen's foot is full of cheesy pus that needs to be removed.

I read about this on a BYC thread with photos that takes you through the procedure. Will search for it and post back if I find it. Otherwise, try a general google search about removing pus or infected material in birds.

I have seen the thread, read it over & over & over. I did the bumblefoot surgery in the other foot & it came out great. I tried to do it on this foot & now it is so horribly infected & gross. I even tried to go back in to do it again, but that just seemed to make it worse. I have even ordered the tricide neo that is supposed to work for bumblefoot, but it still hasn't arrived yet. I will not be trying this surgery again on the other girls feet. I will try the tricide neo treatment, if it ever gets here!!!

 

[Wishing4Wings]

I have seen the thread, read it over & over & over. I did the bumblefoot surgery in the other foot & it came out great. I tried to do it on this foot & now it is so horribly infected & gross. I even tried to go back in to do it again, but that just seemed to make it worse. I have even ordered the tricide neo that is supposed to work for bumblefoot, but it still hasn't arrived yet. I will not be trying this surgery again on the other girls feet. I will try the tricide neo treatment, if it ever gets here!!!

Sorry to hear that. Looks like she has a chronic case. Hope the tricide neo treatment works.

 

[janinepeters]

Looks like more than bumblefoot now, in that bad foot. Perhaps gangrene. It must be quite painful. I would put her down.

 

[Nambroth]

If you are trying to save her and are unable to take her to the vet, this is what I would do. My bumblefoot surgery healed well on my hen, but she got a secondary infection when the pinfeathers on her foot (faverolles with feathered feet, oi) became infected after abrasion from the vet wrap. We also had a period of mushy, wet weather and I think it contributed to the infection developing at the abrasion site. I had put her outside after the bumblefoot surgery as I didn't want her to get alienated from the flock, and though I kept her in clean bandages, the ground was mucky (we got >4" of rain in one evening!) and it was impossible to keep her dry outside.

So, I brought her in and soaked her feet in quite warm, salty water, and cleaned them as well as I could.

I lanced the infected area, and used a sharp, sterile scalpel to scrape away as much as the infection and infected flesh as possible. It's important to note that the infection was not gooey or pussy, but rubbery in texture. If you can not use a scalpel, use a sharp blade that you are comfortable handling! Though it sounds contradictory, this is easier with a blade with a rounded tip, and not a pointed one. Keep it clean.

While doing this, I encountered a lot of blood around one toe. I immediately packed with powdered cayenne (yes, the kind you cook with). and applied pressure until all bleeding stopped, which took about 10 minutes. Cayenne has minor natural antibacterial properties and will help blood form a clot and scab. It will NOT cause a burning sensation! Cayenne is one of the most painless things you can apply for surface clotting. I have used it on myself before. Just keep it out of your eyes, and your hen's, of course. It will burn, there.

After the infection was opened to the air, and as much scraped away as possible, I packed the site with bacitracin (neosporin) and closed with vet wrap. I kept her indoors to keep her feet DRY and CLEAN... the two big important ones! Every day I removed the bandages, to inspect the infection site and to apply clean bandages if necessary. I re-packed the wound with bacitracin once per day.

After the wound was not weeping or wet looking, we removed the bandages to let the wound breathe and harden, still keeping her inside where we could control the surface, and kept her feet DRY and CLEAN.

She healed to a solid scar within a week, which made it safe to let her outside again, and now (about 3 weeks later) you cannot even tell that her feet had any problems at all.

I hated having to re-integrate her into the flock, but it was better than losing her! A few days of bulling was worth saving her feet (or worse).

I don't know if this will help you but I hope you can glean some information from it!

 

[Nambroth]

Forgot to mention-- depending on how the infection looks to you, an overall antibiotic treatment might be necessary. If you can post clear photos of the infection site it would be helpful.

 

[blueberrychickens]

Thank you Jennifer for taking time out of your busy work schedule for that info. I have tried 2xs to go in & do the surgery. I never got any infection out if this foot. I was out of town for 2 days last week & left my daughter to tend tto her. I think that she wrapped her foot to tightly & that is why her toe died. She has been in the dog crate for about 10 daays now. I stopped mwrapping her foot & tried to make her more comfortable as I thought she might have to go to the big coop in the sky.....but to my surprise she actually looks better!!! I think letting her foot dry out & not be wrapped up is helping it heal. I also started spraying her foot with BLU-COTE (& myself for that fact! That stuff doesn't come off easily!) So now she has a purple foot too! I FINALLY got some syringes & needles today & gave her some penicillin. I definately think one toe is dead & figure it will fall off at some point. I hope the penicillin works & does help her. I would take a pic but right now all you would see is a purple foot!! Also this isn't on my faverolle, but on a gold laced wyandotte, so clean feet, not feathered.

 

[NJchixs]

I hope she pulls through. Your doing a great job taking care of her.

 

[Nambroth]

Thank you Jennifer for taking time out of your busy work schedule for that info. I have tried 2xs to go in & do the surgery. I never got any infection out if this foot. I was out of town for 2 days last week & left my daughter to tend tto her. I think that she wrapped her foot to tightly & that is why her toe died. She has been in the dog crate for about 10 daays now. I stopped mwrapping her foot & tried to make her more comfortable as I thought she might have to go to the big coop in the sky.....but to my surprise she actually looks better!!! I think letting her foot dry out & not be wrapped up is helping it heal. I also started spraying her foot with BLU-COTE (& myself for that fact! That stuff doesn't come off easily!) So now she has a purple foot too! I FINALLY got some syringes & needles today & gave her some penicillin. I definately think one toe is dead & figure it will fall off at some point. I hope the penicillin works & does help her. I would take a pic but right now all you would see is a purple foot!! Also this isn't on my faverolle, but on a gold laced wyandotte, so clean feet, not feathered.

Just used blu-cute today to 'hide' some blood feathers coming in on Derp and a few of the other girls (all of my chickens have developed a bad habit of eating blood feathers off of one another) so I know what you mean about being purple/blue all over. At least it seems to be fading from my hands fast.

It sounds like you are doing your best for her! Thank goodness she is not feather footed. I love the feather footed chickens but they are a headache when they get foot problems!
Watch for spreading infection-- if you can-- and nip it in the bud. If the blood was entirely cut off from that toe yes it will probably be eaten by necrosis and fall off. Just keep an eye for gangrene... that's a terrible way to go for any critter. The good news is that if she heals up well she will be just fine even with missing a toe. Good luck to you both! I am rooting for you.