FINCHforum

I came home today to a zebra with one foot and leg SWOLLEN. The swollen part stopped at the split band. And the band is so tight to the leg that it will not move. Because the leg is swollen under the band, I can't remove the band. Based on what happened to the last bird that I tried to remove the band from a swollen leg, I am likely to injure or break the leg.

I looked at the foot and did not see any injury that might have gotten infected. But I plan to give her foot a Listerine bath in the morning, but not sure what else to try on her.

bath the leg in salty water-warm-it usually helps, then remove the band

Does the foot feel hot, like there could be an infection? Maybe antibiotic is needed. If it's not hot the band may have restricted circulation.

Shame Gary. Is it possible she caught her foot/leg up on something in the cage?
Just give it a wash and see how it does in 24hours. If the leg is still very swollen I'd try get the band off. If you take the banding tool from her elbow and get the band that way it would probably be less damaging. Rather a superficial scrape to the skin than loosing her leg to lack of circulation.

Gary...the lit dental mirror I use comes with two hook probes. If you dull the tip of one you may be able to slip it down the band from the top and open the band that way. I had to do this with one of my birds...these are plastic bands not metal? The swelling in the leg can't disapate and will constict the blood flow to the toes.

You can get the mirror at Target and I think WalMart.

I bath her foot w Listerine. I found a scratch on one toe, but that was it.
Her leg was too swollen to get a banding tool under the band. In fact I could not move the band at all. I will have to figure a way to pry open the band at the split to try to remove it. ARGH

If there is a scratch I would think it got infected so I would try to put an antibiotic cream on that toe. To pry off plastic bands I have used my finger nails while someone else holds the bird.
Good luck

Gary, like Debbie suggested have someone hold the bird steady for you and if you can use either your nails to lift the edges of the band up on both sides at the split at the same time. Sounds like there is to much swelling to get the tool I mentioned up under the edge to open it.

I have done it like Debbie suggested by myself but it is tricky, I like her suggestion of having someone hold the bird for you.

Once the band comes off if the infection looks bad you may want to consider an oral antibiotic, chances are once the blood flow is restored the body should start to take care of it.

I "finally" got the band off her leg.
My wife had to hold her while I used a jewelers screwdriver to open up the band so my fingernails could get into the split. And I just cut my nails, so it was tricky getting my short nails into the split. Her leg was raw from where I probably scraped her, but the band is off. I put neosporin on her leg. Not sure what else to do for her.

I think I figured out what she did to cause the swelling.
When I took her out, I found dried poop stuck to the bottom of her foot. So she was walking in her wet poop, and bacteria from the poop probably got into scratches on her foot, which caused the swelling.

Glad you were finally able to get that band off. How's she doing at the moment?

She looks OK, moving about the cage and eating.

I put her in a new cage, so I could really clean the bottom of the other cage. The poop sticks to the wire grate harder than I thought. Scraping still left a lot on the wire grate, I had to wash it off.

Then I used that cleaned cage to swap cages on another zebra hen that is in isolation (she was plucked and bloodied), to prevent another foot injury.

ac12 wrote:She looks OK, moving about the cage and eating.

I put her in a new cage, so I could really clean the bottom of the other cage. The poop sticks to the wire grate harder than I thought. Scraping still left a lot on the wire grate, I had to wash it off.

Then I used that cleaned cage to swap cages on another zebra hen that is in isolation (she was plucked and bloodied), to prevent another foot injury.

Glad to hear she's doing ok.

I had to do some of that wire grate cleaning with the 2 cages my zebras came in. It was a bit of work, for sure, especially trying to clean the underside of the non-removable grates. Now I have paper down on the grates.

Seems like we're both doing a lot of cage swapping. Darn zebras.

Glad you came right. Wishing your little finch a speedy recovery.
Happy cleaning