Old Hazel Posted June 13, 2011 Share Posted June 13, 2011 Hi Lily May is walking with a limp and sits down more than normal. She seems to be lifting up her right claw. I can't see anything unusual and am not sure what to do - I thought she might have stepped on a thorn or something. Apart from that, she is eating and has laid today. Any idea of that I could do? Thanks very much Hazel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dixie chick Posted June 13, 2011 Share Posted June 13, 2011 My Orpington had a limp recently and I was worried that it might be 'bumblefoot' (google it for the symptoms) Fortunately it was not, and I found that gently massaging some arnica cream into her leg seemed to do the trick, and the limp went away within days. Hope this helps and that she gets better! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindafw Posted June 13, 2011 Share Posted June 13, 2011 My buff Sussex did limp, no limp, limp for 2 weeks. Eventually we caught her and noticed that the base of her foot looked slightly puffy, nowhere near as bad as the bumble foot I had seen on the web. I did however take her to the vet who stated it was early stage bumblefoot and gave up metacam for dogs and antibiotic for dogs in really large quantities because he said chickens have a high metabolic rate....it worked! Thank goodness for an avian vet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Hazel Posted June 14, 2011 Author Share Posted June 14, 2011 Thanks very much for the advice. I didn't know about bumblefoot but I've looked it up and will look out for it now. Lily isn't limping today but she does keep sitting down. She seems to be eating ok though (although I was at work all day and didn't see her) as I've let them all out for an hour or so and she has eaten the spinach and corn I gave them. I'm waiting for my OH to come home and will then wash her feet carefully in a tea tree solution. I admit I did give her a tiny dose of metacam because I had it to hand. I know you shouldn't sef-diagnose - but the does was small. Now I can't know if it was that that stopped her limping today or not. I don't think I have any vitamins or anything to give her. I live in a very country area - lots of small farms - and the locals are very unsympathetic about animals. (Last year, the local vet thought my hulking great cat Spike was a girl!) We know a vet hospital about an hour away where they keep a parrot and so I will ring them up tomorrow and see if they know anything about chickens. Thanks for your help, anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...