Treating bumblefoot in a big duck

[Galaxyfalcon]

Hello everyone,

I noticed my big Pekin limping a couple of weeks ago and didn't think anything of it at the time. Earlier this week, we checked all of our ducks feet and our Pekin has bumble on both feet. One foot it looks like it just starting, very small, and the other foot is much more developed. We've been treating him for a few days with a 30m warm epsom salt bath and spraying his foot down with vetricyn anti-microbial. On the 3rd day we started wrapping his foot, spraying it with the vetricyn and then applying Green goo to the wounds and then wrapping it. I've just picked up some triple antibiotic neosporin and am considering using this as well. I'm trying to avoid surgery as much as possible—I'm terrified of cutting him, and he's been struggling a bit the last two days getting him wraped.

Is soaking him once a day for 30m in the epsom salt okay? How often should we be applying medicine to the wound? We started once a day but I'm pushing to do a morning and evening spray/clean/application of medicine to the foot. Or should I stick to once and just leave it wrapped? Is this foot bad enough that I should take him to the vet?

A second issue has been getting him positioned for care. He's a big boy, not like my girls at all. It's been really difficult trying to get a towel around him to secure him, and then he's so big that it's not very graceful trying to tip him over on his back so we can get his feet. Yesterday he was really struggling and was kicking a lot which made treating his feet extra difficult.

I'm looking for some general advice on treating bumblefoot as far as medicine and the actual daily routine, and then also any advice on securely holding such a large duck to make the process easier. Today I'm going to try wrapping him in a spare scarf since it's a bit easier to get under him and I'm hoping that will help make it easier to tip him up to get to his feet. I'm attaching a photo of the worst foot, his other foot has two tiny nodes that are less than half the size of the smaller node here. I'm concerned about the big nodule since this looks pretty advanced. I really don't want to operate if I can help it.

PS: I've got some duck booties on the way that will hopefully make the process easier but I don't know how long it will take to get them here.

Thanks for any help everyone!

 

[Miss Lydia]

You might read and try this. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/bumblefoot-new-ideas-on-treatment-with-pictures.807777/

Trying some type of drawing salve may help too. Wrapping after soaking and applying. I have big Muscovy and geese I understandhow hard it can be to try and treat. Before I got good at wrangling by myself my dh would help we'd work to get one wrapped in a towel then He would hold while I did the rest. Now it's easy but it comes over time believe me.lol

 

[Galaxyfalcon]

Thanks @Miss Lydia I appreciate the response! We just tried his nightly treatment before putting him down to bed for the evening and using old scarves worked well for swaddling him up. We soaked him for 30 minutes in epsom again and then sprayed his feet down with vetericyn then some ointment. Things went fine until we were trying to wrap the feet...he kicks his feet while wrapping SO much. We got the first foot secure but after getting the second foot wrapped up he really started kicking and managed to kick off the bandaging. We're trying to wrap his feet gently so nothing is getting pinched or cut off, but it's such a difficult balance with such a feisty patient. We weren't able to get the feet wrapped up so we turned him loose in his coop for the night.

Since the weather is starting to turn, I'm considering making a space inside where we may bring him to treat him until he's better. I'd hate for him to be alone, but I don't know if there's enough space to bring a friend. I think we'll see how the next few days go.

Does anyone have any advice for a patient who's a big kicker? How ineffective will treatment be leaving him unwrapped? This is the second day we weren't able to wrap him properly.

edit: If we eventually don't see any improvements and decide to do a little operation, I'm super concerned with how much he kicks, I'd hate to try to do any cutting.

 

[CoriM]

Hi, I'm sorry about your bumblefoot! I'm attaching a link to a recent thread I started about dealing with bumble on my 10 pound pekin: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/should-i-pull-this-scab-off.1415545/. There is some good info in here about meds that you can give to help your duck. I am still working on my duck...sometimes it can take months. My understanding is that the soaking is often prep to pulling off the scab, and I think especially that big one is something you're going to have to carefully pull off and try to get any infection inside out. Because of the swelling you probably need something like Meloxicam to help with pain and swelling, as well as an antibiotic. If you have an avian vet around you might want to just go that route if you're uncomfortable doing the "surgery" yourself. My duck was a good soaker, but I never did it for more than ten minutes at a time. I did not tip her upside down to bandage or work on the scab. I just tucked her head and wings under my arm and let her stand on her good foot while I turned the bad one upside down to work on her. I bandaged with a gauze over the wound and then wrapped with vet wrap. If you do the surgery it will bleed and you'll want to leave the bandage for 2-3 days, if you can keep it clean and dry. Otherwise you can change the bandage every day.