how to treat a foot wound?

[jriley]

Hi everyone. Our Amazon managed to jump off of his cage and climb up our Quaker's cage. The Quaker promptly chomped on the Amazon's foot. The wound looks kind of like a skinned knee and extends all along one toe on the bottom. The bleeding stopped before I even realized he was bleeding. I toweled him and put some antibiotic cream on the wound and he's walking around okay, though he tucks the foot up when he's perching. Do I need to do anything else for the wound? How often should I put the cream on it? I'm just grateful he didn't lose a toe tip!

Julie Riley

[Pepper's Pa]

Carefully observe your Amazon's foot to determine if he can bend his toes normally or if there is excessive swelling or a possible broken bone in his foot. If he's still favoring the foot a lot, you should bring him to the vet. Especially if he can't properly grip a perch. For now, applying the ointment or undiluted Aloe fluid would be good to prevent infection and promote healing. You should reapply the cream as often as directed for use on a person.
Let us know how his condition progresses.
Good luck.

[txbird]

Short of a trip to the Vet, sounds to me like you are doing what I would do. I would dress the wound with the cream you are using, just a trace of the stuff twice a day for a couple of days, then back off to once a day or every other day ONLY if it was getting back normal skin color, begins using that foot normally not holding it up, and not red and raw. If it's a raw or open wound see a Vet. Don't want it to get infected.

[Cindy215]

I would use Aloe Vera Gel ...and have it vet checked.

[txbird]

Yep aloe gel would be good to aid the healing process, after you know the toe is healing properly and there's no infection going on.

[ROYJOY]

Yes put stuff on it, mentioned above, also clean all perches and any where else he stands.

[jriley]

Thanks everyone. He's looking better today. Perching on both feet and the wound is scabbed over. He's running around his playtop and picking up toys with one foot and standing on the hurt foot while he plays. He still looks a bit ouchy when he steps onto something hard, like the edge of his food dish or the edge of the tray on his playtop, but otherwise he looks a lot better. Thanks for the idea of using the aloe. I was worried about the cream because I know dogs and cats will lick it off and I wasn't sure if birds did something along those lines, but I haven't seen him try to remove any yet. Makes sense, since I've seen him run around with a raisin stuck to his foot for quite a while before he'd let me pull it off!

Guess I need to get off my hiney and finally get set up with an avian vet. My regular vet can handle the routine, but I'm not sure he'd be able to handle anything serious.

Julie Riley