Two trips to a vet- a three month battle with bumble foot..

[Three Little Bunnies]

I hated dealing with the bumble foot my chickens had. I treated four or five and had to cut one out . The others I just monitored for a while. Most of them went away on their own or the treatment worked.

Yours sounds a lot worse than mine were, though. Good luck with your girl!

 

[Orpingtons Mom]

I don't have any experience using that stuff on a bird,
But I've been burned a few times times over the years in kitchen work and been prescribed that and it is definitely good stuff.

I had a severe burn on my torso after I spilled a cup of boiling water on myself; 14 inches long and about 6 inches wide. That's exactly what I had to use on it, every day (yes I did go to the emergency room.) After 20 years or so all that's left is a tiny scar...took years though.

Also, I had a horse with a nasty kick develop an abscess. Nothing would clear it up; vet recommended plain sugar with a little bit of water packed right into the wound, and very lightly bandaged. Apparently sugar is a desiccant and an antiseptic (who knew.) I had to continue to cold hose her leg. It took about three days and this huge plug of tissue came out—yup, looked white and cottage-cheesey. (bleeech) Healed up fine after that.

 

[#lovemychickens]

I had a severe burn on my torso after I spilled a cup of boiling water on myself; 14 inches long and about 6 inches wide. That's exactly what I had to use on it, every day (yes I did go to the emergency room.) After 20 years or so all that's left is a tiny scar...took years though.

Also, I had a horse with a nasty kick develop an abscess. Nothing would clear it up; vet recommended plain sugar with a little bit of water packed right into the wound, and very lightly bandaged. Apparently sugar is a desiccant and an antiseptic (who knew.) I had to continue to cold hose her leg. It took about three days and this huge plug of tissue came out—yup, looked white and cottage-cheesey. (bleeech) Healed up fine after that.

I tried the sugar/ iodine mix for about a week and it didn’t do anything. I didn’t just do sugar and water though. I may have to try that if the Silver Sulfadiazine doesn’t work. I can’t imagine getting burned like that and I’m glad it was able to help!

 

[Orpingtons Mom]

I tried the sugar/ iodine mix for about a week and it didn’t do anything. I didn’t just do sugar and water though. I may have to try that if the Silver Sulfadiazine doesn’t work. I can’t imagine getting burned like that and I’m glad it was able to help!

i didn’t have much faith either. The water is just to make it into a “paste” so I could get it into the wound, which was about the size of a 50cent piece. The vet wrap I used was very loose...

 

[GloriaEggstefan]

How did this turn out? I'm 5 months into treating bumblefoot on a chicken that came to us with the infection. We soaked and wrapped for months then she seemed to be getting better after treatment with Penicillin G but now her foot is swelling and redness is spreading. I'm wondering if anything ever worked for this case? Or should I be bracing for the worst.

 

[#lovemychickens]

How did this turn out? I'm 5 months into treating bumblefoot on a chicken that came to us with the infection. We soaked and wrapped for months then she seemed to be getting better after treatment with Penicillin G but now her foot is swelling and redness is spreading. I'm wondering if anything ever worked for this case? Or should I be bracing for the worst.

I’m still battling it with her. The vet gave me a different antibiotic to try and that really didn’t help. I continue to keep it clean and squeeze as much out as I can.. I do think it’s getting better and is a little bit less swollen so I will keep trying until I feel like there’s no more improvement. The vet said her foot may just look different afterwards due to the scar tissue building up.. it’s just so weird because I’ve treated several others over the last 5 plus years and have never had this hard of a time to get rid of it. Not sure if this is helpful or not but the vet said once the infection goes into her joint it’s almost impossible to get rid of it. For my Mabel I think it was up into her joint or dang near close. She had at least three puss pockets. I thought I caught it quick enough but clearly I didn’t. Hang in there!!

 

[theoldchick]

The vet needs to take a culture of the wound and request a sensitivity test be performed. This test will tell you exactly what you are dealing with and what antibiotic will stop it.

 

[GloriaEggstefan]

Thank you for the update, sorry you haven't found a solution yet, so frustrating. Ours was pretty deep with many pockets as well so maybe management rather than a cure is a more achievable goal. Nasty business! Good luck!

 

[humblehillsfarm]

The vet needs to take a culture of the wound and request a sensitivity test be performed. This test will tell you exactly what you are dealing with and what antibiotic will stop it.

Bumblefoot is a staph infection, and staph infections are gram positive, meaning any antibiotic targeting gram positive bacteria should be effective. This is why I suggested Baytril in an earlier post as it targets gram positive bacteria. On the whole it is an excellent all purpose antibiotic!

 

[GloriaEggstefan]

Thanks for the extra antibiotic info, I'm wondering if it would be worth doing another round of antibiotics or would that increase the likelihood of her developing resistance? Maybe if I used Baytril this time instead of Penicillin G it would be different enough to cause a new reaction?