Severe Bumblefoot in Meat Rooster, Antibiotic advice?

[Kris5902]

I have a very large meat Rooster who is a wonderful boy. With severe bumblefoot on both his feet. I’ve removed the bumble and cleaned one foot, but the infection and swelling just isn’t responding to topical treatment. I’m using a triple antibiotic, changing the dressing and flushing the area daily with sterile saline. I can’t get betadine here (I’ve tried). No poultry friendly vets either. It’s been over a week and he is in a lot of pain and won’t walk on his foot at all though it’s looking better and there is less heat in the foot.

He will not be separated from his girls, I need to treat him right next to their run where he can see them or he stresses out a lot. I’m keeping the bedding fresh, clean and dry, and the run as clean as possible

Can anyone recommend a good oral antibiotic that would help? I may not be able to get it here, but I’m going to try to mail order something in for him. I could also probably do an intramuscular injection if necessary.

 

[Fuchsia]

can you post pictures?

 

[Kris5902]

Yes, sorry... very busy day, pics taken at today’s flushing/ redressing the foot in the morning. Hopefully DH did a decent job with the phone. Roostie is calmest when I hold him, but DH’s photo skills are a little lacking

This is the healing foot. Mostly pus free at the lesion bit the foot and ankle are still hot and clearly infected. Foot #2 is where we started with the other though some of the swelling has reduced on its own

Blurry AF (thanks hubby) but that is mostly the scab over the bumble in the center. And looks a lot like where I started with the first bumble on the other foot. I’m very worried the infection has spread deeper into the tendons or bones. And this is why it is so tenacious. I’ve dealt with bumbles before but never this bad, and the hens that I’ve treated have never shown any signs of pain, but my big boyo here is clearly suffering.

again, ANY suggestions on additional non surgical treatments are appreciated. I will try to order any meds suggested. I just want him to be feeling better. Granted he did attempt to mount one of his hens today, so I think he may be feeling a bit better? But I want to see him putting weight on the foot and for the “heat” to go out of it.

please

 

[Kris5902]

@Wyorp Rock @azygous @aart ? Suggestions on a good antibiotic to supplement my external treatments? He’s a very sweet boy, I’m not sure if I’m keeping him more for breeding or because of his awesome personality... he is very pet like, and will be extremely hard to cull if it comes to that. But I don’t want to watch him suffer needlessly.

 

[Ebony Rose]

Warm soak (test temperature with the inside of your elbow, yes... dip your elbow into the water and if it's too hot for the inside part, then it's too hot for your guy), with Epsom salts if you have them; 15 to 20 minutes. Afterwards, briskly rub the feet with a dry terry cloth (rag) going from the leg towards the toes, can occasionally give the pad of his foot/feet a squeeze with the washcloth as you're doing this in a gentle yet firm pinch to encourage any material inside (pus, infection) to push through the softened skin. All this in an effort to avoid the scalpel.
If this bath and massage effort proves fruitless, you can try to merely lance it open (without cutting around the entire pad of his foot, just a simple straight cut) to give the contents a path of least resistance OUT of your poor dude's foot. Once opened and drained (push hard and be sure to get everything out), pack the wound with a neosporin type product (vaseline consistency, without pain relief), cover that medicine packed wound(s) with a bit of teflon coated gauze (non-stick gauze), and wrap that up with sports tape (sticks to itself wonderfully, doesn't stick to the wound) to make him a pair of boots. Remove the dressing and reinspect every other day, and until a good solid scab has formed, redress the wound. This is an excellent time to massage some cooking oil into his legs and feet to moisturize and prevent/suffocate scaly leg mites. Rounds out his spa treatment

 

[Kris5902]

Warm soak (test temperature with the inside of your elbow, yes... dip your elbow into the water and if it's too hot for the inside part, then it's too hot for your guy), with Epsom salts if you have them; 15 to 20 minutes. Afterwards, briskly rub the feet with a dry terry cloth (rag) going from the leg towards the toes, can occasionally give the pad of his foot/feet a squeeze with the washcloth as you're doing this in a gentle yet firm pinch to encourage any material inside (pus, infection) to push through the softened skin. All this in an effort to avoid the scalpel.
If this bath and massage effort proves fruitless, you can try to merely lance it open (without cutting around the entire pad of his foot, just a simple straight cut) to give the contents a path of least resistance OUT of your poor dude's foot. Once opened and drained (push hard and be sure to get everything out), pack the wound with a neosporin type product (vaseline consistency, without pain relief), cover that medicine packed wound(s) with a bit of teflon coated gauze (non-stick gauze), and wrap that up with sports tape (sticks to itself wonderfully, doesn't stick to the wound) to make him a pair of boots. Remove the dressing and reinspect every other day, and until a good solid scab has formed, redress the wound. This is an excellent time to massage some cooking oil into his legs and feet to moisturize and prevent/suffocate scaly leg mites. Rounds out his spa treatment

All done... plus the scalpel and removing a very nasty kernel, I think I have the majority of the bumble taken out, but the heat in the foot and persistence of the infection is my isssue. I’ve never had one get to this point before, where he won’t put weight on it. I would bring him in and give him a chicken sling/seat/chair... except for his bonded ness and protectiveness of his girls.

I am over a week into treatment... the nastiness and chunks and pus are gone for the most part, but the healing isn’t going as smoothly as I have experienced before. I am only going to move onto his second foot when he is relatively comfortable on the one I’m working on now. He is well over 10 lbs in weight... but he’s a meat bird/red ranger type breed

 

[4 Chickies]

I have a very large meat Rooster who is a wonderful boy. With severe bumblefoot on both his feet. I’ve removed the bumble and cleaned one foot, but the infection and swelling just isn’t responding to topical treatment. I’m using a triple antibiotic, changing the dressing and flushing the area daily with sterile saline. I can’t get betadine here (I’ve tried). No poultry friendly vets either. It’s been over a week and he is in a lot of pain and won’t walk on his foot at all though it’s looking better and there is less heat in the foot.

He will not be separated from his girls, I need to treat him right next to their run where he can see them or he stresses out a lot. I’m keeping the bedding fresh, clean and dry, and the run as clean as possible

Can anyone recommend a good oral antibiotic that would help? I may not be able to get it here, but I’m going to try to mail order something in for him. I could also probably do an intramuscular injection if necessary.

Try giving him Hepar Sulph 200c (homeopathic medicine) 2 doses a day (am & pm). (1 dose =2-3 pellets) can find on amazon or local Whole Foods.

 

[4 Chickies]

Try giving him Hepar Sulph 200c (homeopathic medicine) 2 doses a day (am & pm). (1 dose =2-3 pellets) can find on amazon or local Whole Foods. Try for 1 week and if you see no results then stop.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I have a very large meat Rooster who is a wonderful boy. With severe bumblefoot on both his feet. I’ve removed the bumble and cleaned one foot, but the infection and swelling just isn’t responding to topical treatment. I’m using a triple antibiotic, changing the dressing and flushing the area daily with sterile saline. I can’t get betadine here (I’ve tried). No poultry friendly vets either. It’s been over a week and he is in a lot of pain and won’t walk on his foot at all though it’s looking better and there is less heat in the foot.

He will not be separated from his girls, I need to treat him right next to their run where he can see them or he stresses out a lot. I’m keeping the bedding fresh, clean and dry, and the run as clean as possible

Can anyone recommend a good oral antibiotic that would help? I may not be able to get it here, but I’m going to try to mail order something in for him. I could also probably do an intramuscular injection if necessary.

Yes, sorry... very busy day, pics taken at today’s flushing/ redressing the foot in the morning. Hopefully DH did a decent job with the phone. Roostie is calmest when I hold him, but DH’s photo skills are a little lackingView attachment 2376169
This is the healing foot. Mostly pus free at the lesion bit the foot and ankle are still hot and clearly infected. Foot #2 is where we started with the other though some of the swelling has reduced on its own View attachment 2376170
Blurry AF (thanks hubby) but that is mostly the scab over the bumble in the center. And looks a lot like where I started with the first bumble on the other foot. I’m very worried the infection has spread deeper into the tendons or bones. And this is why it is so tenacious. I’ve dealt with bumbles before but never this bad, and the hens that I’ve treated have never shown any signs of pain, but my big boyo here is clearly suffering.

again, ANY suggestions on additional non surgical treatments are appreciated. I will try to order any meds suggested. I just want him to be feeling better. Granted he did attempt to mount one of his hens today, so I think he may be feeling a bit better? But I want to see him putting weight on the foot and for the “heat” to go out of it.

please

Hi Kris,
I'm sorry about your rooster.
@coach723 may offer some suggestions about treating this. I *think* I remember her saying she used Baytril in the wound (bumble) but I may be mistaken about that.
Baytril is very strong and banned for use in poultry but if this guy is a pet and not for consumption, then use your judgement in using it.

Another option would be trying Tricide Neo. I've never used it but have heard good things about it's use. You would need to soak the foot in the solution 2X a day. I know that you have a lot going on, so you may have time constraints. http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/513183/treating-bumblefoot-with-tricide-neo

Severe cases can take a while to resolve. Keep us posted.

 

[coach723]

Any providone iodine 10% solution is equivalent to betadine, if you can find any. May be another casualty of Covid and out of stock many places.
I have used Tricide Neo, it is a time commitment and healing will still be slow. I've had best luck with it on smaller, shallower lesions. I have used antibiotics in the past, including putting enrofloxacin oral solution into the lesion. I've used it orally and injectable also, oral and injectable penicillin, amoxicillin, clindamycin, sulfa, and cephalexin. The best response I've gotten is with cephalexin. It will not get rid of the bumble itself but it will help with any secondary infection from digging around in there. I used Fish Flex or Fish Cephalexin at a dose of 35-50 mg/kg orally every 6 hours for 5 to 7 days, up to 10 days. I always try to go a couple of days past when it looks like it's gotten it. I mix the emptied capsule with coconut oil and refrigerate til firm and give like a custom pill, divide into appropriate doses. Any powdered meds are easy to give orally that way.
At one point I used a mix of clindamycin and SMZ-TMP orally for about 3 months running as I suspected that this was possibly osteomyelitis, and via literature that seemed to be the most promising treatment that I was able to get my hands on. His foot became quite swollen, I lanced it thinking it was pus, and it was bone, thus those treatments. He's still here nearly 2 years after that, so either I was wrong, or treatment was successful, but his foot is more normal now. He has had a recurrence of bumblefoot in one foot which is currently being treated again. This time it's responding to sugardine treatments, so am continuing with those and have not had to resort to antibiotics this time. I am also probably going to put him in booties once this is healed, since he is so prone to it, to see if that will help prevent a recurrance.
http://www.hensaver.com/Birdy-Bootie.html
Lastly, to soften the lesion for removal/cleaning, if soaking isn't softening it up enough then I use decolorized iodine (in the US it's in any first aid section). Apply to the lesion, and wrap overnight, it's usually softened up the next day pretty good. With my roo's deep lesions doing the epsom salt soaks just wasn't softening enough to get them all cleaned out. His did not come out all as one kernal, it was ribbony through the foot.
Maybe some bit of all that you will find helpful. Last time around my roo took over a year to heal up.