Vet said bumblefoot has spread to joint- anyone have (positive) experience of recovery? 🥺

[Lazygaze]

My favourite chicken has had mild bumblefoot for quite a long time, but recently I noticed it had got worse and so today she has been at the vet. She had an anaesthetic and they cut open and flushed it out, but the vet said it has spread to her joint. Everything we and they have done will give her the best chance- flushed out, pain meds and antibiotics etc- but I wondered, does anyone have experience of a chicken recovering from bumblefoot spread to the joint? It had definitely got worse but from the images that I’ve seen online it really didn’t look as bad as some of the photos I’ve seen… attaching a photo of the swelling a few days ago. I don’t have a photo of the scab but I’m sure you can imagine- it was about the size of 2 small peas/half a small coin (5p in uk! 1 Cent in America maybe?!) please be gentle I am very sad and worried today. I hoping for positive stories of recovery x

 

[Eggcessive]

What does the bottom of the foot look like? What antibiotic did the vet prescribe? Hopefully, he can survive this.

 

[coach723]

I have a roo that had horrible bumblefoot. I did not have vet care, no one close by that sees chickens, so I treated completely by myself. After his first bout I was fairly certain he had osteomylitis, but cannot prove that. There was swelling, I lanced, and only found bone. I treated with a combination of clindamycin and SMZ/TMP for several months. He recovered and the bumblefoot finally cleared up. The antibiotics were to treat for possibly osteomylitis and the bumblefoot itself I cleared up with sugardine. I had more luck with sugardine than with any other treatments for the bumble itself. When he had a recurrence I started with sugardine straight off, and treatment went much more quickly. He hasn't had another recurrence to date. More on his foot, and sugardine, in this thread, post #8:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/bumblefoot-not-healing.1443809/
Every foot is different, but yes, there is a good chance you can beat it.

 

[junipercloud113420]

three of my chickens had bumblefoot and all of them lived, it just went away by itself

 

[guest226]

My favourite chicken has had mild bumblefoot for quite a long time, but recently I noticed it had got worse and so today she has been at the vet. She had an anaesthetic and they cut open and flushed it out, but the vet said it has spread to her joint. Everything we and they have done will give her the best chance- flushed out, pain meds and antibiotics etc- but I wondered, does anyone have experience of a chicken recovering from bumblefoot spread to the joint? It had definitely got worse but from the images that I’ve seen online it really didn’t look as bad as some of the photos I’ve seen… attaching a photo of the swelling a few days ago. I don’t have a photo of the scab but I’m sure you can imagine- it was about the size of 2 small peas/half a small coin (5p in uk! 1 Cent in America maybe?!) please be gentle I am very sad and worried today. I hoping for positive stories of recovery x

I understand how you feel! My hen had bumblefoot in both feet. One was small but the other was very bad. The black scab covered majority of her entire foot pad. She wasn't walking much for a few weeks!! Her foot felt hot, reddish, and was puffy.
The vet took tweezers and took out the hard core in one foot. She couldn't get the other out.

I gave her epsom salt baths daily for 10-20 minutes. The epsom salt relaxes the muscles. Then I put her on a towel. She was uncomfortable being on her side, so I figured out a system. I would get iodine and mix some with warm water. I dipped a cotton pad in the iodine solution and disinfected her foot pads by gently lifting up her feet. Then I dabbed some
Silver sulfadiazine cream on the spot. I then took soft gauze and wrapped it around each toe and around the leg, not too tight.I used gauze tape to seal it together. You want padding.

I gave her antibiotics once a day for 14 days too.

Bumblefoot is a long healing process, and I did this daily for a week. it was so tiring! Especially since I'm still in school. Eventually I changed the treatment to once a week. Her feet both recovered and she can now run around without pain. She still has small little traces of bumblefoot, but much better than before. There are also little chicken boots on amazon that protect for future cases.

You can probably see all my concerned threads in my profile, lol. I was really scared that she would never recover, but she did!! Good luck and don't give up!!

 

[guest226]

Thank you so much for the hope, I’m so glad your chicken got better! Can I ask if the vet was successful on the worse foot or the less extreme foot? When we were trying to home-treat it there was no kernel and I wondered whether it wasn’t bad enough to actually treat it .. then we left it and bit and it seemed to get worse in quite a short space of time. Anyway, we have done all we can now for her and I’m now just hoping she will recover! She is a lovely chicken.

The vet was able to get the kernal out on her less bad foot, but the kernal came out on her worse foot I believe. If there's no visible kernal at all then continuous treatment would be good for healing whatever infection is still there! good luck!

 

[Lazygaze]

 

[Alexandra Runner]

Hello! I had a girl whose foot looked much, much worse than what you are describing. (I was out of town for a good long while and came back to it.) I didn't have a vet to go to, so I don't know if Molly's spread to her joint, but with time and effort, she is completely back go normal now. It's not over until its over!

 

[Lazygaze]

The bottom of her foot looked like classic bumblefoot before she went to the vet, I don’t know what it looks like now as she has been kept in overnight and she is all bandaged. I also don’t know what antibiotics they have given her yet, I will be able to update tomorrow. Thanks for your message x

What does the bottom of the foot look like? What antibiotic did the vet prescribe? Hopefully, he can survive this.

 

[Lazygaze]

Hello! I had a girl whose foot looked much, much worse than what you are describing. (I was out of town for a good long while and came back to it.) I didn't have a vet to go to, so I don't know if Molly's spread to her joint, but with time and effort, she is completely back go normal now. It's not over until its over!

This was just the kind of reassuring comment I was hoping for i was kinda shocked when they told me because it didn’t look that bad- BUT she has had bumblefoot for about 2 years and we have been unable to shift it ourselves. So glad your chicken got better thank you for the comment x