How I Treated my Indian Ringneck Parrot's Pododermatitis (Bumble foot).
I just want to say I am not an expert on the topic! Just talking about my experience and how I treated my parrot.
Hi this is long overdue! This is how we treated my parrot Rosie's bumble foot. I hope this helps anyone who is dealing with bumble foot too.
1. What is "bumblefoot"? āBumblefootā is the common term for inflammation or infection of the weight-bearing surface of the foot. āBumblefoot" is a form of pododermatitis (foot inflammation). 2. What species of bird are affected by ābumblefootā? It is very common in budgies, cockat
www.birdexoticsvet.com.au
This is a link that explains what bumble foot is.
First symptoms I noticed:
tapping and shaking feet and biting her feet. Our vet told us she was tapping due to her feet being sore and it hurt to put pressure on them. She was biting at her sores I guess the same way we might pick a scab/wound. It was hard to prevent her from doing this. If you can you could wrap a bandage around the wound but Rosie kept taking hers off so we stopped trying that.
Treatments:
I will attach photos of everything. From our vet we were given f10 germicidal barrier ointment and f10 wound spray. Antibiotics given were Baytril to deal with the
staphylococcus bacteria that Rosie was tested for. Also given Metacam as a pain killer and to help with inflammation. All treatments were twice a day, morning and evening.
How we treated her:
Rosie is a friendly parrot. She enjoys company but does not like to be held or touched. So I couldn't hold her to treat her feet or give her medicine so unfortunately we had to hold her against her will but for her own good. I was very hesitant to do this because I knew she would resent us for a while but it's more important that she's treated than whether she likes us or not. If your parrot doesn't mind being handled this will be a lot easier!
We got her in her cage and then slowly entered her cage with a blanket and gently took her and wrapped her round. We did have to chase her with the blanket a bit which is stressful but honestly we couldn't have treated her any other way. My dad held her while I treated her feet. First we clean the wounds with salt water. I also bought saline wipes for a better clean around the wounds. Then I sprayed the wounds with the f10 and applied the f10 ointment directly onto the wounds.
We syringe fed her medicine. We always put her back in the cage after this to let her settle and so we can give her a treat before letting her out.
We did this everyday for 3weeks to a month. Yes it is awful but Rosie doesn't hate us anymore.
Another thing is that Rosie had a ring around her foot with an identification number. Our vet cut it off, it was uncomfortable due to the swelling.
Other things to help with healing:
I wrapped all the perches with vet wrap. Vet wrap is super easy as it sticks to itself and is good padding. I'd replace the vet wrap as needed. She slept on a rope swing which is soft anyway but I did wrap it anyway for a cleaner surface. I bought f10 disinfectant spray to disinfect the cage/perches as needed. She also likes to stand by the window so I put a rope perch there as it's softer than sitting on the wooden sill.
Spot cleaning the cage everyday and a deep clean at least once a week. making sure there isnāt any poo on perches. The staph bacteria can be found in poo so itās really important their area is clean and disinfected with a bird safe disinfectant like F10.
Have perches of varying sizes, this is important to exercise the feet and so pressure isn't always in the same place on their feet. Avoid sanded/rough perches. I am hopefully going to be buying a wider cage so I can fit in more perches of various sizes. I underestimated how important this was.
Good diet is always important! Fresh veggies and some fruit everyday and good quality pellets. Harrison's Lifetime Pellets are organic and approved by vets. I've now started leaving a couple tablespoons out all day as appose to just the evening and my parrots will graze on them. Remember seeds are not a parrot's main diet and shouldn't be fed as a meal.
I'm from the UK. Northern Parrots is an excellent website and where I buy all my perches, pellets and seeds (tidy mix).
Honestly I was reminded to make this post because Rosie has got bumble foot again after having recovered for a couple months. But now I have experience and I hope it shouldn't get to the point it was before as we are treating her foot early (still have the f10 stuff). She seems okay, still singing and flying but I will monitor her and if needed will contact my vet to pick up the same antibiotics as before. I am going to make changes to her cage and get more perches, admittedly I have few.
And parrots are different. I have another ringneck, Paco who hasn't had bumble foot before despite him being in the exact same environment as Rosie.
seriously if you are considering getting parrots please take into account how expensive they are and how stressful it can be to deal with things like this for both you and the bird. This is the case with any pet but omg are parrots way more complicated than my bunnies!
Also found out Rosie is actually a boy! Her ring came in a little after she turned two! I'm still going to say her cause I'm so used to that and she doesn't care lol.
Please let me know if this has helped you or if you have any questions. Again not an expert just sharing my experience.
Photos attached are:
- sterile wipes
- Rosie in the blanket
- Rosie's foot wounds. I believe the first pic is from when it was quite bad and then following pics are her foot recovering.
- f10 ointment and spray
