Swollen ankle

[Danielle1229]

Hi All,

I was wondering if anyone has any input on my Frankie’s ankle. It’s been like this for a week. As far as I’m aware he didn’t injure it & it doesn’t seem to bother him when I give him a birdy foot massage with coconut oil. It’s odd because it’s not blistered even though it looks like that in the picture & there’s no broken skin, just some swelling & redness surrounding the white part. He’s eating/drinking/pooping/playing/other normal bird stuff, which is good.

I had been giving him baytril & metacam for the past week to no avail. I took him to the vet last night & he wasn’t sure what exactly was going on. We did a round of cold laser therapy & are going to wait on x-rays since he’ll have to be anesthetized & we didn’t want to stress him out more than what was necessary at the moment. It does look a little bit less angry this morning but just wanted to see if anyone has dealt with something like this before.

Thanks, guys!

<3,

Danielle

ETA: He is a 10 year old Hahn’s. He had his leg band on the leg in question removed last year because it suddenly caused swelling to his leg & foot. The swelling from his band irritation looked a little different than his current issue & his foot itself is not swollen this time.

 

[Birdbabe]

Hmmm, not sure, if he's on metacam, that would help with the inflammation ...is he sitting on his " hocks"..causing pressure on that area? What kind of perches does he have?
This stuff is awesome for foot, leg boo boo related things, can you ask the vet to give you some? Here in Arizona, it's $ 40.00 dollars a tube...won't hurt to try...I use it daily for leg/ foot care..
Hope he's ok!

 

[JLcribber]

Yup. Looks like the start of bumble foot from improper perches. No thin or symmetrical (dowel) perches.

 

[Danielle1229]

Hmmm, not sure, if he's on metacam, that would help with the inflammation ...is he sitting on his " hocks"..causing pressure on that area? What kind of perches does he have?
This stuff is awesome for foot, leg boo boo related things, can you ask the vet to give you some? Here in Arizona, it's $ 40.00 dollars a tube...won't hurt to try...I use it daily for leg/ foot care..
Hope he's ok!

View attachment 269160

He mostly has soft rope perches of varying sizes. The one he hangs out on most often is ideal for his foot size & the area doesn’t touch the perch unless he’s really crouching down (like if I were to try to scratch his head & he didn’t want me to). I do have the SSD cream & should have mentioned that. I have applied it without much help. Thank you for your help!

 

[Danielle1229]

Yup. Looks like the start of bumble foot from improper perches. No thin or symmetrical (dowel) perches.

He doesn’t have any dowel perches, excessively thin or oversized perches and sleeps in a hanging tent with a soft bottom. I asked the vet who checked him out because bumblefoot was also my first thought based on the few pictures I’ve seen online (never saw it in person), but he said that it didn’t look like bumblefoot at all because it’s not blistered and it’s never had any scabbing. He is a certified avian vet who works out of a clinic that only sees exotics so I trust his judgement, but since he didn’t really have a solid answer I figured maybe someone here might have seen something odd like this.

 

[Danielle1229]

I also forgot to mention that he is “right footed” & overall has always put less pressure on his right foot/leg due to using his right foot to eat.

 

[Tiel Feathers]

How frustrating, it sounds like your doing everything right. I hope you can get to the bottom of it soon!

 

[JLcribber]

He doesn’t have any dowel perches, excessively thin or oversized perches and sleeps in a hanging tent with a soft bottom. I asked the vet who checked him out because bumblefoot was also my first thought based on the few pictures I’ve seen online (never saw it in person), but he said that it didn’t look like bumblefoot at all because it’s not blistered and it’s never had any scabbing. He is a certified avian vet who works out of a clinic that only sees exotics so I trust his judgement, but since he didn’t really have a solid answer I figured maybe someone here might have seen something odd like this.

It’s definitely some kind of irritation. Which causes redness/soreness?

 

[Danielle1229]

How frustrating, it sounds like your doing everything right. I hope you can get to the bottom of it soon!

Thank you. I feel bad because I don’t want it to turn into something else but have no idea what it is. The vet probably thinks I’m nuts because a couple of weeks ago I took my other bird to him because she got her toe stuck in her foraging toy & luckily only had a small blood blister that cleared up on its own. GD birds, haha. I wish they could tell you if they did something to cause their problem or what it feels like to help you figure out what the heck is going on.

 

[Birdbabe]

Ok,,well..if you haven't had much luck with the silver solvidine...then, maybe, try some thing natural,,,like aloe Vera?

 

[Danielle1229]

Ok,,well..if you haven't had much luck with the silver solvidine...then, maybe, try some thing natural,,,like aloe Vera?

I honestly haven’t thought of using aloe. Do you know if there is an aloe gel that tends to be better than others?

 

[Lady Jane]

Best aloe gel is from a plant. Good to have at least one around the house.

 

[iamwhoiam]

Hope the redness and swelling will go away. Aloe is a good idea. There is an aloe spray for birds.
Amazon.com: Avitech AviVera Aloe Spray 16 Oz: Beauty

 

[Danielle1229]

Update...

So I took Frankie back to the vet last night because his foot still looked concerning. I went to the same office but saw a different doctor (Dr. R) because I wanted a second set of eyes to look at him. She immediately said that she thinks it’s bumble foot but was also sort of concerned about gout but his labs have always been good so she said it’d be a surprise if it was. She was 50/50 about whether to do x-rays but I told her to just do them to rule out crystal accumulation related to gout, bone lesions, fracture, and whatever else. X-rays looked good & exactly the same as they did in 2011 when he had an emergency, so that confirmed what she initially thought with the bumble foot. She said it was a little bit of a weird presentation of it & she feels I’m doing what I should be doing, but that’s what it is. Frankie is the worst with meds & will hold meds in his mouth for up to 5 minutes just to spit them out so I asked if an injection was an option & it was.

I’m just really upset about the first visit with Dr. C on Monday when he said to discontinue the antibiotic & anti-inflammatory meds & that he didn’t think it was anything serious. I’m not really upset that we did the laser therapy because that it certainly didn’t hurt anything & I knew it’d be a crap-shoot anyway. Obviously he didn’t intentionally do anything to hurt Frankie, but if there was any slight doubt in his mind about whether it was serious or not, I don’t understand why he wouldn’t ask for another doctor to come in to take a look, especially considering that I know he wasn’t the only doctor there at the time. Frankie went 3 days without medication with a potentially dangerous issue. On top of that, money is a little tight right now & it costs $70 to just walk in & say hi to the vet plus the cost of whatever tests, treatments & medications are done.

Please let this be a testament that you have to be an advocate for your pets & if something doesn’t feel right to get another opinion if possible. I’m hoping that Frankie will be okay. I have to get some towels & vet wrap to wrap his perches & just have to keep a close watch for now. Might have to design him a “shoe” to help keep pressure off of that area...not sure how that will work out considering he’s a high-strung bird with severe aversions to anything new or unusual touching him, haha. Thank you guys for all of your input & support with my original post.

 

[Catherine89]

I hope his little foot gets better soon

 

[Clueless]

Yikes, hope this info helps others.

 

[webchirp]

 

[Tiel Feathers]

I’m glad you went to the other vet, and I hope his foot gets better soon!