FINCHforum

Hi all,

Yesterday I noticed that my zebra finch had a swollen with grayish crusts on the top. Also, the bottom is looking dark with a red/brown spot on his sole. He's been pecking at it sporadically, so I'm thinking that it may hurt. Also, when perching he's lifting the hurt foot up like a flamingo. Sometimes making really quiet weird noises that I've never heard before. He hasn't been as active as usual, mostly resting.

Today, the top of his foot looks less swollen but his sole isn't red anymore but brownish/grey and crusty.

Any ideas? Mites? Fungus? Infection? Maybe a cut? Tumor? ...

Could it be bumble foot?
http://www.avianweb.com/bumblefoot.html

Looks like it might be bumblefoot.
CLEAN all the perches and the cage floor. I think in my case, the pad on the bottom of the foot was being cut by the HARD poop on the perches and cage floor. Once I sanded the perches and cleaned the wires on the cage floor, problem went away...until the poop built up enough that the problem happened again. So I try to pay attention and clean/sand the perches when I see poop collecting on it. Especially if the poop on the part of the perch that they perch on.

Bumblefoot
Clean the foot with dilute disinfectant and applying some antiseptic cream .
Give all the perche's a rub down to clean any imperfection's and dirty split's/crack's , you could soak these in some dilute disinfectant also before placing back into cage
A bird bath would also help as the bird will wash himself regularly which will keep his feet clean by not allowing any crusty/dirty build up
Regards , Mick M.

Hi everyone,

Thanks for all of the help and advice, I really appreciate it!

One question, what would you recommend as a disinfectant for cleaning the perches and cages?

I have read using warm sea salt soaks or using warm baking soda water then applying Polysporin? Does it seem like a good plan?

I don't know where you are located, so I don't know what is available. If you put your location in your profile, it makes it easier to answer locale-specific questions. I personally like Virkon-S as a disinfectant, but a 10% dilution of bleach will work. Polysporin/Neosporin works great as an antibiotic cream.

and immediately put polysporin on the birds foot. (or a no name version of).

Sores on a birds feet are serious business. A little sore like this can lead to the loss of the foot. I had a bird lose toes last spring on this exact problem. Sadly, it can be hard to spot the problem until it's too late. Good job catching it early.

Sally wrote: I don't know where you are located, so I don't know what is available. If you put your location in your profile, it makes it easier to answer locale-specific questions. I personally like Virkon-S as a disinfectant, but a 10% dilution of bleach will work. Polysporin/Neosporin works great as an antibiotic cream.

I too use Virkon S , and also a 10% dilute solution ( household bleach )for disinfecting the seed hopper's and drinker's .
Once this clear's up give the bird the option of a bath every couple of day's at least .
Regards , Mick M.

When the bumble foot is bad, the foot will bleed, and you will have blood on your perches. That is how I usually find out about the foot problem.

I use a Q-tip to clean the dried on poop off the foot. Some times that causes the foot to bleed, because the poop was covering the injury and stopping the bleeding. Then I either use neosporin on the wound, or if it is bleeding a lot some stop-bleed powder.

I used to put 1/8 or 1/4 teaspoon of Listerine into their bath water, as a disinfectant. But now just use ACV.