Bobcat attack!

A bobcat attacked my best layer this afternoon. She lost feathers and its talons ripped her skin. I put neosporin on it and separated her from the other three peeps!
She is just standing there with her eyes closed, obviously in shock. I don't know what else to do!!

Make sure that she is warm tonight since she is in shock. I have had a couple attacked, and the ones in shock sometimes don't make it. Just keep her inside in a cage with food and water. In the morning try to get her to drink especially, and if you have some electrolytes to use in the water or pedialyte/gatorade, I would use it. Scrambled eggs and other high protein foods in addition to her feed would be good. Watch the wound for infection in the next 2-3 days. An antibiotic may be necessary. Internal injuries may also be an issue.

Thank you for the encouragement. She seems better this morning and is actually drinking! I'm not quite sure how to clean her puncture wounds…and she lost a lot of feathers. Poor little thing! I put her in a separate compartment in my coop. One skin cut is particularly large. I'm going to our local feed strode today to see what they can recommend. I called our vet and they quoted around $300 to stitch her up!! Yikes!!

Sorry about the attack, in 2011 I had bad luck with Bobcats. One of my hens went into shock and had quite a bit of diarrhea and didn't feel like eating. She had just finished a molt a month ago, then had a very hard, sudden, molt after the attack happened. I gave her an extra boost in her water with Poly-vi-sol (no iron). (1mL per gallon)
(The hen in shock didn't get injured, but her flock-mate was killed)

Clean the wound everyday, and continue putting neosporin (non-pain relieving) on her wound. If she picks at her wound, you can put a blood-cover up called "Blu-Kote" on it. If the wounds start to stink, there's probably an infection going on.

Thank you! My chicken (Butterscotch) is hanging in there from her bobcat attack. I mixed up some of her regular food mash, and high protein vitamin food additive and electrolytes with yogurt and H20, and a few pomegranate seeds (which she normally loves off our tree). Then I spoon fed her off a long handled tea spoon. She ate well, eating off a silver spoon! What a spoiled chicken! Actually she was eating with her eyes closed or half closed, but she ate! She was such a trooper as I cleaned her wounds. She just let me do anything I wanted to do while waiting patiently. I used boiled water (warm) to which I had added a touch of sea salt and diluted peroxide. Then blew it dry with a gentle blow dryer to evaporate any moisture. I then topped the wounds with Vetericyn ( a very expensive gel product that I purchased at the feed store) . We will see how it helps the healing. She seemed to have gained some energy from the spoon feeding. That is good. The feed store clerk gave me some antibiotic pills to break up, add to water and give them to her…but I forgot to do so. I'll look for signs of infection tomorrow. It all seemed pretty clear today, fingers crossed! She has bad bruising just under the skin on her 'wing bones'. I hope that does not indicate infection! I don't know who has been more traumatized..me or Butterscotch!!

Don't repeat the peroxide any more because it may prevent healing. Other than that you sound as though you really are doing a great job. You can still start the antibiotic now. Good wishes for you hen.

It's been 8 days since the bobcat attack. Butterscotch is still not herself. I treated the wounds for five days and they seem to be healing as well as can be expected. However, she has developed projectile water diarrhea. She is not eating much unless I 'spoon feed' her a paste mixture of lay mash, vitamins, electrolyte water, and yogurt. I try to feed her at least twice a day leaving a tray of her regular mash food for her to eat. She seems to want to drink a lot of water as she probably dehydrated because of all the diarrhea. I'm exhausted caring for this baby. It has really depressed me that she does not seem to be getting better. She seemed so healthy before the attack and was my consistent best regular morning layer. Now I'm wondering if there is something else going on with her digestion. How should I treat the projectile water diarrhea? I bought some probiotics today. Garlic? I'm at a loss!

She is probably having liquid diarrhea because of drinking so much. Did you give you any antibiotics. I would get some probiotics for her water (Probios is a good brand, or some human ones) and stop the yogurt. If she had antibiotics, that could have caused the diarrhea. I would put her on dry feed now--the more water in the feed, the more diarrhea. Garlic can be helpful. Fresh is best, but I also use powdered--a little each day.

I just want to report that my Butterscotch survived the bobcat attack ordeal and her puncture wounds, ripped skin, and feather loss have miraculously healed. The attack happened four weeks ago. For two weeks, I fed her high protein mixtures, gave her plenty of water, and dressed her wounds almost every day. She spent three weeks in the infirmary separated from the other three. However, the infirmary is on a 'third floor' of the coop. Butterscotch was able to see them through a screened window and hear them as they went through their day eating, pecking, and pooping, which gave her a sense of still being part of the flock. I then brought her down with the others but separated with a wire barrier for about a week. It took several days of re-socializing her with the others. The alpha pecked her and wouldn't let her eat and Butterscotch just runs away when she sees her coming. Today they were all getting along, much like they used to before that hungry, sneaky, bobcat traumatized and uprooted their whole peaceful existence. I hope to Butterscotch her began laying again…She is completing a molt triggered by the attack, but continues to eat and drink healthily and also is exploring the nesting boxes in preparation. It's been a looooonnnnnnngggg month!
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Thank you for the update. Good to hear that she is now back to normal, and I'm sure her laying will get their after the molt.