Wound Care Advice

[sarahlee]

I need a little advice for wound care for my Buff Orpington. She had a very severe case of bumblefoot. We removed 2 kernals, 1 from the bottom of her foot & another from the top & the holes cleaned out. We did not have to do surgery. Now, there is a hole about the diameter of the cotton end of a q-tip,maybe slightly smaller. However, it goes through her foot. She is eating & drinking as usual. I am a nurse & have years of experience with healing complicated wounds in humans, but not so much with chickens. I packed the wound with thin strips of gauze just after kernal removal to help remove anything I may have missed. I only did that for a few days. Now I have been packing it with triple antibiotic ointment, covering with gauze, & wrapping with self-adhesive wrap. I'm not sure what else to do. It has been over a month. About 2 weeks ago, I did have to remove scabs from the inside of the hole. Not all scabs are good news. Now the wound is nice & pink & clean. I'm just not sure if there's anything more I can do. I have been feeding her some yogurt mixed with her feed, for extra protein. She has been inside since first noticing the bumblefoot. I'm sure she's not complaining about being inside, it's pretty cold here & just had a huge snow last week. But, I'm sure she's a little lonely & missing her friends. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!

 

[Eggcessive]

Well it sounds like you have really done a good job on the foot. I would probably give her several days' of warm epsom salts soaks to the foot, and let it start to dry up and heal. Maybe just put a piece of Telfa nonstick gaze on it and wrap with strips of vet wrap to keep it clean until the skin is closed completely.