Swollen ankle. Pictures included.

[heidiannlewis]

So this has been going on for over a month now, I've had 3 vet visits. First was an ER visit where they gave me anow anti inflammatory/ pain medicine. No improvement. Second vet vist we decided to have it cut open and drained, left with antibiotics and the same anti inflammatory medicine. Told to warm compress it 3x a day for 5 to 10 minutes. Third vet visit, x-rays taken. Pus extracted and examed under microscope, not an active infection. Pus sent out for a culture, which came back normal. No fracturesuch or broken bones seen on X rays and told it didn't look like gout.
I am currently soaking her foot once a day in hot water with Epsom salt.
Wondering if anyone here knows what I can try or what this could be maybe?

 

[Eggcessive]

Did the vet ever suspect mycoplasma synoviae (MS?) More likely the other foot would be swollen, but it could be possible. I am under the impression that mycoplasma can be hard to grow out in a culture as bacteria is, and so there may be false negatives. A PCR test is best for MS. Viral arthritis, which will not grow out on a bacterial culture could also be a possibility. If you should lose him (hope not) I would get a necropsy by the state vet to look for mycoplasma. The body has to be refrigerated, sent in, but they could look closer at the synovial fluid in the joints. Here are several articles on MS, some a bit complicated, and in the first one, scroll down to the MS section:
http://www.oie.int/doc/ged/D9107.PDF
http://waddl.vetmed.wsu.edu/animal-disease-faq/mycoplasma-synoviae
http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/p...nfection_in_poultry_infectious_synovitis.html

 

[chicknmania]

I would have said a staph infection but if you are under the vet's care that is the best thing. I don't know if I would use HOT water, as that might not do much for the swelling, but if the vet said to use hot water, then by all means do so. When I soak our chicken's feet or legs I use warm water, but not too warm, considering their body temperature is higher than ours. I would keep bugging the vet, ask for more anti inflammatory medicine or ask them what else you are supposed to do Does she have pain with the swelling? Maybe it is a sprain, or some kind of tumor?

Mycoplasma Synoviae is a thought too, as Eggcessive says. We had a rooster with it, (or we are pretty sure that is what it was, we never had an official diagnosis) and in fact i think he still has lingering remnants of it. We treated him all last winter with soaks, baby aspirin, and Denagard, treatment strength. Later we switched to LS50 (Lincomycin) and that really made a big difference for him. Or seemed to. After a couple of weeks on the LS50, he was well enough to go out, but he still limps slightly, and if we don't periodically treat with preventative strength Denagard, he seems to get worse. He never had as much swelling as can be seen on your bird, but he did have swelling in all his leg joints, with heat in the joint, and also some swelling in his feet. Also, one foot and leg (his right) was much worse than the other, but the left was slightly affected for a while.

to me, yours does not look like MS, it looks like it's more in the tendon. But it's worth mentioning the possibility to the vet

 

[heidiannlewis]

Thank you guys, I appreciate the feedback and the links! I'm definitely gonna call my vet and see what he says.

 

[chicknmania]

OK, let us know what the vet says!