Nasty sore on top of foot

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Jaye
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Nasty sore on top of foot

Post by Jaye » Wed Jan 24, 2018 6:25 pm

My poor old arthritic girl Twyla has a nasty wound, discovered yesterday. I treated by soaking and applying iodine. I didn't wrap it, but maybe i should have, because it doesn't appear much better tonight. I will clean it again, reapply iodine, but am wondering if I should be doing something else. Any thoughts? This is a picture from last night, pre-treatment.
IMG_20180123_210022.jpg
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RIP Scooby, AKA Awesome Dog. Too well loved to ever be forgotten. "Sometime in June", 2005 - January 24, 2017.
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Happy
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Re: Nasty sore on top of foot

Post by Happy » Wed Jan 24, 2018 8:26 pm

Kinda hard to tell from the pic if that's an open wound or a scab.
Either way I would soak in epsom salt water (if a scab try to soak long enough to soften it) then wrap.
When one of my older girls had bad bumble foot last spring I had to cut little gauze squares and soak in iodine I then applied them directly on the infected area and wrapped with vet wrap. I soaked and changed dressing daily then every other day once things were on the mend.
Hope she's feeling better soon.
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Jaye
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Re: Nasty sore on top of foot

Post by Jaye » Wed Jan 24, 2018 9:00 pm

Thanks, @Happy , I did do the Epsom salt soak last night and dabbed on iodine by way of q-tips. I didn't wrap it because I thought it might be better to keep air at it. It's not an open sore, and I think whatever happened, happened a couple of days ago because there was quite a bit of blood on the roost one morning, but at the time I couldn't find anyone who was obviously injured. I did check them out while they were feeding after I saw the blood on the roost, but none of them appeared out of sorts; all just going about the business of being chickens when I brought them their morning treats before heading off to work. It was still dark, though, and the light in the run is not very bright before dawn. It is, a rather angry scab, though, if that makes any sense. There's nothing underneath the foot to indicate bumble. It almost looks like her toe or nail may have been caught on something.
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RIP Scooby, AKA Awesome Dog. Too well loved to ever be forgotten. "Sometime in June", 2005 - January 24, 2017.
"Until one has loved an animal, part of one's soul remains unawakened" - Anatole France

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Happy
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Re: Nasty sore on top of foot

Post by Happy » Wed Jan 24, 2018 9:11 pm

They can sure find all sorts of ways to hurt themselves that you'd never imagine!
Is her toe swollen from the injury or arthritis? I've got a few girls with narly toes like that.
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Jaye
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Re: Nasty sore on top of foot

Post by Jaye » Wed Jan 24, 2018 9:24 pm

A bit of both, I think. Her toe seems a bit swollen at the source of the injury, but she also has major arthritis. She's had trouble with it for a few years now. Poor dear.
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RIP Scooby, AKA Awesome Dog. Too well loved to ever be forgotten. "Sometime in June", 2005 - January 24, 2017.
"Until one has loved an animal, part of one's soul remains unawakened" - Anatole France

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windwalkingwolf
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Re: Nasty sore on top of foot

Post by windwalkingwolf » Thu Jan 25, 2018 1:09 pm

It does look like she caught it on something, or was digging at it. It almost looks to me like she had a thread or hair wrapped around her toe at some point. Would cause swelling and irritation, and happens more often than you might think :-/ especially in the very young and very old, and especially at my place where there are two long-haired people lol
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Jaye
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Re: Nasty sore on top of foot

Post by Jaye » Thu Jan 25, 2018 1:29 pm

windwalkingwolf wrote:
Thu Jan 25, 2018 1:09 pm
It does look like she caught it on something, or was digging at it. It almost looks to me like she had a thread or hair wrapped around her toe at some point. Would cause swelling and irritation, and happens more often than you might think :-/ especially in the very young and very old, and especially at my place where there are two long-haired people lol
You may be onto something there, WWW. Although I didn't see any evidence of hair, very well could have been, since I don't usually tie mine back. It makes sense that she may have been picking at whatever it was and was digging at it to get rid of it.
It didn't look any worse last night, but no obvious improvement either, so I cleaned it off and applied more iodine anyway. Is there anything else I should be applying?
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RIP Scooby, AKA Awesome Dog. Too well loved to ever be forgotten. "Sometime in June", 2005 - January 24, 2017.
"Until one has loved an animal, part of one's soul remains unawakened" - Anatole France

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Happy
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Re: Nasty sore on top of foot

Post by Happy » Tue Feb 06, 2018 10:17 am

@Jaye how is this girl doing? Hope she healed up fine.
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Jaye
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Re: Nasty sore on top of foot

Post by Jaye » Sun Feb 11, 2018 8:08 pm

She's doing alright. Her foot looks to be healed up, and she's getting around just fine, given her advanced age. She's a shadow of her former self, but even still, it appears she's still head hen, and all still defer to her. She's always been a benevolent leader. I hope she makes it through the winter so that she can enjoy spring out in the yard. She's a lovely, sweet-natured hen.
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RIP Scooby, AKA Awesome Dog. Too well loved to ever be forgotten. "Sometime in June", 2005 - January 24, 2017.
"Until one has loved an animal, part of one's soul remains unawakened" - Anatole France

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Jaye
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Re: Nasty sore on top of foot

Post by Jaye » Sun Mar 04, 2018 12:22 pm

Well, I guess I spoke too soon ... this morning I was doing a routine spy in on the hens via the security camera inside the coop to see who was in the nest boxes or if there were any eggs, and I noticed Twyla sitting on the coop floor and the other birds all milling around her and sticking their heads underneath her. The camera is angled to only shows birds from overhead. I knew something wasn't right, so I ran down to see what was going on. They were all taking turns pecking at her foot and it was bleeding profusely, so I scooped her up and brought her into the laundry room to clean her up and take a better look. To my untrained eye, it looks almost like bumblefoot to me. I don't see any plug, but that may be because it's still steadily oozing blood. I have her resting in a crate on the dryer at the moment. I have never had to deal with bumblefoot, so would really appreciate some advice. Do I have to cut it open? I tried squeezing it a bit, and no pus came out; it just started bleeding more again. I put some iodine on it but didn't wrap it with gauze or vet wrap or anything yet, because I don't know if I need to do something else before covering it up. She isn't picking at it herself, thankfully. Oh, scratch that last observation - just checked on her and it looks like she is picking at it now. Sigh. Guess I'll need to wrap it up.
What should I do about treating the infection?
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RIP Scooby, AKA Awesome Dog. Too well loved to ever be forgotten. "Sometime in June", 2005 - January 24, 2017.
"Until one has loved an animal, part of one's soul remains unawakened" - Anatole France

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