Hope's foot

Its been six days and her foot is still swollen. She does not like to stand on it. I have examined it twice, Initially with Connie, then again with Tami, and I can see no obvious injury other than a scrape on the inside of the ankle. I am at a bit of a loss as to what to do other than to wait it out.

Since publishing this, I have had many suggestions as to what I could do. I appreciate all of them, however there is not a lot I can do in this case.

There is no open wound. I have examined it, I asked Tami to come over and we scrubbed the foot with my toothbrush (personal one) and soap. She could find nothing, and even squeezed, rubbed the abrasion and nothing shows up, either by visual of tactile examination.

On the first day, I applied an antibiotic salve and drove it in with DMSO. She still smells like garlic. We did that twice. Since then I have been using Prep H in the hope that it would reduce the swelling.

I could take her to the Vet. Last trip with Jessie cost $120.00 for medication for frounce. (The vet, a good one with Raptors, insisted that she had Aspergillosis. I insisted that she had an internal version of Frounce, so yes, I did know more about raptor problems than he did. Still a good vet!)  However there is nothing to treat other than the swelling. No open wounds, no obvious broken bones. A two hour drive with her swaying back and forth in a box, most likely needing to use that foot to steady herself, is not something that I really want to do, not to mention the cost. I suspect that it is a stone bruise, in which case only time will help. Her swelling is not so bad that it is hazardous to the foot tissue and does not seem to be an issue. My biggest handicap in treating her is that I have no one to hold her while I work on the foot. My biggest worry is for the healthy foot that she is having to stand on all the time. I have since brought her in the house where I have a perch that is better for her other foot.

It would appear that our season has ended a bit early. I don't see much chance of hunting her again before it gets too cold to do so. Perhaps I can get some hunting in Feb or March.