Vaseline on Feet: Roost, Barn, or House?

[Wyorp Rock]

Many updates. First, my power was knocked out by a storm Saturday and I just got it back, so it's been a hectic week to say the least!

On Monday I took Poppy to a vet. A long drive (90 minutes each way), but they did a great job evaluating him. It's a good news/bad news situation. He has an infection that is in his bone, but it's in the part of the bone of what remains of that middle toe. Tomorrow (Friday), they are going to attempt to fully amputate the toe and hopefully take the infected bone fully out. We'll then treat and hope it doesn't spread any further.

This is a lot (and expensive), and I'm still kind of processing it. I hope he does well tomorrow. In a little bit I'll post a picture of the X-ray for you all to see. Naturally I'll update as things go along.

The vet had an interesting theory about what all happened, because he said he was surprised that the infection was only in that bone in the toe and not spread further. He said there's a tendon in their foot that runs down to the middle toe. That tendon slipping/dislocating could cause swelling, but also cut off circulation to part of the toe. This could explain the initial swelling with no visible injury, the loss of the middle toe (with no damage to any other toe), and then if the infection really started with the loss of the toe, why the infection hasn't spread very far.

Thank you for the update on Poppy and the information, it's interesting.

I hope the Vet is able to remove the toe successfully and stop the infection so Poppy can make a full recovery.

You've done a good job taking care of him. I look forward to seeing another update about how Poppy is doing.

 

[Anon112]

Poppy had his surgery today, and hopefully I will pick him up tomorrow. I did not realize how attached I was to this rooster until I dropped like 2/3 of my emergency fund on fixing his foot.

This is the x-ray of his foot. You can see the infection in the middle toe bone, which is what they removed today.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Poppy had his surgery today, and hopefully I will pick him up tomorrow. I did not realize how attached I was to this rooster until I dropped like 2/3 of my emergency fund on fixing his foot.

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This is the x-ray of his foot. You can see the infection in the middle toe bone, which is what they removed today.

I hope he came through surgery well and there will be no complications.

They sure can wiggle their way into your heart. Poppy is lucky to have you.

Thank you for the photo and information, this is interesting.

 

[Anon112]

I hope he came through surgery well and there will be no complications.

They sure can wiggle their way into your heart. Poppy is lucky to have you.

Thank you for the photo and information, this is interesting.

Thank you for your continued cheerleading! I know that this is the place to go to confess that I'm spending my hard-earned money on a chicken's foot!

They said he had some respiratory issues coming out of the anesthesia. I'm hoping that's an anesthesia specific issue and not that he has some bigger issues. During the exam on Monday the vet said his heart and lungs sounded good, so I'm going to not think too hard about that.

I am also finding this whole process interesting, and I hope that in the future if people have a rooster/chicken with mystery swelling, this thread could be helpful for them.