Stubborn case of Bumblefoot

[MilesFluffybutt]

I have a rooster that has been battling a very stubborn case of bumblefoot for two months now. He's been in the chicken ER aka my bathroom since. He's kept in a kennel at night but gets free run of the bathroom during the day.

However, over the course of this month he has lost a pound. He was always on the small side, but now I can feel his keel now and it's kind of alarming. His appetite and water consumption are good. He's on Nutrena All Flock and gets daily helpings of fruits and veggies.

His comb and waddles are bright red. His poop is normal - nothing concerning about the color, consistency or frequency.

Is weight loss normal in chickens with bumblefoot? Or in birds that have been confined for awhile? Is there something I should be adding to his diet? (I'm going to have a fecal done in case he has an out-of-control worm/parasite load. I should just do the whole flock.)

Regarding his treatment, the vet initially lanced and drained the pus and prescribed a course of Baytril (3 weeks, mixed w/ his water). I've been giving him daily Epsom Salts foot soaks, draining the pus, cleaning the opening with chlorhexidine and packing it with Silver sulfadiazine cream before wrapping it.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Photos of the feet?
It's a bit odd that you are still having to drain pus from Bumblefoot even after surgery and a 3wk course of Baytril. Did the vet remove the core/kernel when he lanced the foot?

Being confined, it's possible he may lose a little weight. I would cut the treats (fruits/veggies) to about 5% of his daily intake to see if that makes a difference.

 

[Kathy Golla]

Agreed. That infection should be cleared by now...I would say if you are still getting pus out of the wound he still needs to be on antibiotics until the infection is gone.
Also, with everything you are doing, is there a reason you are keeping him in a bathroom?
If he was on antibiotics and you are using silvadene cream and wrapping his foot, he should be able to be kept outside.
After antibiotics end you need to administer 10 days of probiotics, if you haven’t already. The antibiotics killed off his good stomach flora.
He could be depressed being confined and by himself.
And his stomach may not feel good from the antibiotics.

 

[MilesFluffybutt]

The core was pulled and the vet drained the swelling/puss from the top of his foot. A lot of stuff came out, but it has built back up since his foot is still swollen and I'm still getting crap out of it. Not nearly as bad as it was, but there's still a fair amount.

The Baytril was administered through his water so it was easier to keep him in the house. He's still in the house because it's been raining for the last couple of weeks. I didn't want to encourage more bacteria to grow by having him in wet wrappings all day.

I'd have to look at the timing of the Baytril, but he's been without for a couple of weeks now. I called the vet to order another round, but they were waiting on it to be delivered. They didn't want to put him on anything else for fear of antibiotic resistance. It should be in this week.

I did not think to do the probiotics. I can start those tonight when I get home from work.

I should have stated this earlier, so I apologize. He isn't alone - he's confined with a hen that also has bumblefoot - her case is less severe and she's healing slowly, but nicely. (I'm convinced that my property is a former glass factory and/or a dump. The amount of garbage I find poking through the dirt after a rain is staggering. I'm going to have to put down sod in the fall.)

The photo of the top of his foot is from a couple of weeks ago. I thought I had more recent ones on my phone, but I guess not. I'll get some tonight.

The photo of the bottom of his foot is from last night.

 

[coach723]

Sometimes bumblefoot is not a very confined central core, but rather has ribbony or stringy bits that thread out from the central core. Thankfully these kind seem to be less common, and I'm not sure why they happen, but I've got a roo that I'm dealing with now that is like that, it's been 3 1/2 months and his lesions were small looking on the surface when found. It's much harder to get it all cleaned out, and if any is left in there then it reforms, like what is happening to yours. I have been doing repeated clean outs and letting it rest in between. I've done three surgeries between the two feet and will probably not do more, being that it's threaded through the foot getting a good margin that way is nearly impossible without removing an enormous amount of footpad. I have done two rounds of antibiotics (penicillin and enrofloxacin) mostly due to the trauma to the tissue I have had to cause, I don't feel like the antibiotics did anything to further getting rid of the bumblefoot, just prevented a worse infection from spreading. His ribbons of infection threaded fairly deep into his foot in places and doing some pretty hard squeezing has gotten some of the deep stuff out. Once you know what you are feeling, you can feel the stuff in there as hard spots that shouldn't be there. I think being a roo, and having bigger feet, and more tissue there in general gives it more area to work into than it would in a smaller hen foot. I have tried every suggested treatment possible, and frankly have felt I've made more progress with cleaning out with a currette, flushing it out with an herbal tincture of bidens pilosa, and packing with manuka honey, then I put the honey on gauze put that on top, and wrap it. He is not out of the woods, but I am stubborn and will not give up on him unless it appears to have spread from the foot, then I will have to cull him. It seems to be coming back a bit smaller each time, so intend to keep plugging away at it. He is a perfectly happy roo right now behaving normally, except for soreness on the days I do a clean out of the foot. This info may or may not be helpful to you, but thought I'd share it anyway.

 

[Kathy Golla]

Thanks for the update and context. Yes wet wrappings would be bad.
Keep up the good work!

 

[MilesFluffybutt]

Coach, thank you for sharing your experience. It certainly describes what I'm seeing when I pull gunk out. I'm seeing very few hard pieces of infection, but plenty of stringy bits. I'm only feeling one hard spot, and it's white - like scar tissue.

I'm not giving up on my guy, either, but you're right about the infection spreading. I attributed his weight loss to being confined for so long, but it's probably the first sign of the infection working its way through his body.

I'll give the antibiotics another shot, but I'm skeptical.

I really like keep chickens, but I think once my current flock passes, I'm done for a while. Between the shitty property and not having access to a poultry vet, I feel like a total failure. Plus, my state is passing agricultural laws that are making it tough for poultry keepers get access to medicines.

 

[coach723]

My roo lost weight also, he's put just a bit back on at this point. The white hard spot may actually be infection, but obviously that's hard to judge when I can't see it.
I had some ribbony bits that led to hard kernels deeper in the foot. Once I used the currette to get in there I was able to squeeze (pretty darn hard) and work it and get it to pop out. He did not enjoy it, but did seem relieved when it came out.
I wish you luck with yours, I know it's frustrating to feel like you aren't making progress.

 

[MilesFluffybutt]

I'll see if I can get a photo of the white piece tonight. It's attached to the backside of the skin at the top of the opening.

How do you avoid scraping out the fat and muscle tissue in your roos foot?

 

[nessa.morg]

One of my leghorns has bumble foot too. He is on antibiotics and and something to help inflammation. It is getting better. She has been to two different vets and they both said they think its a bad idea to drain it because it can make it worse by letting more bacteria in and the cut that they would have to make to drain it won't heal because its on the foot and it will keep opening up. At least thats what the two vets say. And I think mine lost a little less then a pound when but she's gained it back and I think its because the bumble foot is healing