Hulk has the hurts. *Graphic and Gross*

This is a post on Hulk and his wounds and recovery from a Raccoon (of Doom) Attack. This will have some pretty gross pictures and hopefully help out some other people who experience the same thing.

I didn't get pictures of the wounds before i treated Hulk so I don't have a base line to present. Also I have a low quality camera on my phone but will try to do my best to get clear pictures. Also I have an ugly bathroom, bare with me.

The attack happened June 2, 2016 at about dusk. He was discovered within 20 minutes of it happening. There was no noise or commotion from the other birds, our dog didn't bark to alarm us to anything out of normal, so we had no idea what exactly it was but raccoons showed up later every night and were quickly dispatched.

I used peroxide and warm water to clean him. I used scissors to cut back feathers as best I could. I flushed his nose and neck wounds with basic nasal spray since I had that on hand at 9:45 pm and sleeping kids so I couldn't go get stuff I actually needed. I used the kind that is straight saline that one would use on small children.

To protect his neck i mixed liberal amount of the antibiotic ointment with some petroleum jelly and covered all exposed areas of skin, and skinless places I could find including his beak after i checked it for more holes. Hulk nor I were happy about this part but i held his beak in the water, leaving his nostrils out to see it the broken parts blew bubbles when he breathed to see if the damaged parts were more than visible on the outside and to see if his sinus passages got clipped by teeth.

The beak bled alot. It smelled of blood in that bathroom for days. It took two days to completely stop bleeding completely. Hulk wouldn't let me keep pressure on it as it was really painful and i wasn't sure how without doing more damage.

We glued his beak back on with some super glue gel. it didn't do as well as i hoped at first so June 4 I purchased some nail bandages.Seriously, i stopped at Sally beauty supply and got a box/case of silk nail repair bandage. This was a better idea to me over fiberglass tape or bondo or anything else i saw as suggested online, (i figured one would use these things on massively broken nails so why not beaks) I placed these nail things over the cracks and broken places as a cast and used more glue to make them hard. worked pretty well i think. These things are the white part on his beak. I should mention that his beak formed a clear scabby stuff over parts of it on its own. Not really a scab but like where it was knitting itself back together. really hard stuff that didn't clean off. I should also point out that we aren't expecting his beak to survive either. I would be surprised if it does since it was really damaged and torn off 3/4 across. More like when human drops stuff on their toes and the nail shatters and breaks like glass. but is still alive and attached too well to remove. His beak was really loose and still attached on the sides and on the inside on his mouth is the same as his pink tongue no damaged on the bottom beak either.

the white things are the nail bandage. the brown/black bit is where it bled more from the pressure of putting it on. I used three pieces to cover it.



One of the areas where the skin was torn off. This is the area is mostly missing feathers but the dark part toward the top is missing skin (showing muscle) and the darkish place in the middle was a puncture.



The worst wounded area right behind his skull. not enough skin to sew it up. i couldn't cut all the feathers back here without pulling his skin so i did what I could. The green area places are his green feathers and the wet look is the ointment. the dark place in the middle is where the part of muscle is and the red part along the bottom is a tendon i think. I cant keep a bandage on here or he wont drink and lays his head down on top of his injured beak or it slides down his neck and pulls his feathers and the hole more.. I have been alternating between keeping it very covered with goo (as suggested by my vet when our dog did something similar to the inside of her leg) and letting it dry some before bath time followed by more goo.

These pics are from June 5. When I realized i should keep track in order to post follow ups.


Hulk did no duck things up to this point. Other than small quacks and walking and drinking. he had no interest in food and would become lively when the cat approached in order to scare her away. Later he tried to eat but wouldn't. I offered him anything i thought her would eat: worms, fish bits, baby food mixed with water. Nothing until the 5. He only made attempts to eat worms but couldn't find them with his beak covered and banged it around some. How ever when i threw worms into his water he slurped them up after a few tries. He also really works hard to eat creamed corn and baby duck crumbles mixed in baby food.
last night he started to try to bite/peck at me when i approach to put more goo on him and look him over. He also is starting to shake out his feathers and wiggle his butt and play/wash himself in the bath time. However he takes care to not shake his head and neck and is funny to watch his preen some. without using his neck and not being able to feel with his mouth.



I forgot to post one important bit: he is taking antibiotic treated water. I alternate him with medicated and un-medicated water every few hours since he drinks from a bowl in the bathtub. Partly to make sure that he drinks some of the medication and partly to clean it of the blood and ick that may get into his water. It also keeps me checking on him frequently.

Because he doesnt have skin in places to keep track of the inflammation/infection I have had to smell him. his neck wounds smell of duck now instead of blood and 'sickness' however I am pretty sure his beak has died some as he has that sweet sticky smell of dead of dead thing breath, since i cant see under his bandage, nothing leaks from it of his mouth. I know it sounds really gross but my sense of smell is pretty darn good and I can smell a sick kid before they think they are going die from sore throats.

This is a really amazing recovery and act on your part to try saving your duck. I honestly don't know what I'd do- probably take the duck to the vet since I wouldn't cull him myself, but if damages were severe I'd probably put the duck to sleep :/ This is really an inspirational story and I'm sure it'll inspire others who may face similar situations. Do you have any veterinary or medical experience? I'm looking at going to Vet. Tech. school as I want to have the knowledge to handle animals in medical emergencies such as this. I wish the best for Hulk's recovery. I also read your post from the other day, and I am sorry about your duck's lost buddy as well

thank you for your words, they mean alot.

I honestly didnt/havent helped to heal him for me. My husband and I am country/farm folk so while it would have been unpleasant I would have 'taken care of him' and culled him if needed. however he really has been a fighter. He put himself away after all this (before i could close them away) he went after the cat when we brought him in to check him over, he immediately drank and quacked at us when we hurt him, my husband got chased. Mentally he didn't seem shocked or broken having been chewed. Like he wasn't ready to accept what happened and was going to rip into what ever else came at him. he has been that way this whole time. If he wasn't we would have ended it there.

And, no, other than basic human first aid, personal experience and common sense I haven't had such training. I did some research that honestly, good information that was helpful, was hard to come across aside from a few bits and pieces from this forum. There was one post about pain medication, a nearly and hour later a post about someone elses duck healed from something similar but no actual information, and such other pages about parakeet care were the best i could find.

The nearest avian vet to me is a 2 hour drive, if i could get in to see him in a reasonable time. He doesn't do emergency care.

Where I live good vet techs are hard to find, for a farm community there is only one large animal vet for several counties, I wish you luck if thats what you choose.