Rooster's wing torn completely off by our dog- Is there anything else I should be doing for him?

[Sarevan]

I agree that the green is deep muscle bruising. Will be changing colors as it heals up. I would try to boost the protein in his feed to help with healing, and maybe give him some vitamins to help too.

I think you are doing a great job for such a severe injury, nice to see him doing so well too.

 

[subhanalah]

I didn't read your whole explanation, but did you give antibiotics? Dog bites are the worst for bacterial infections. I hope its not infection.

Praying for your little trooper.

 

[kdwhita]

Day 5 Progress

The green bruising from two days ago has faded to yellow and looks a lot better! Yay for it not being gangrene!! It seems a little more swollen than it did, but it's scabbed over and healing nicely. We are still changing the bandage every other day and keeping the wound slathered with neosporin. His last dose of the penicillin G was today, so tomorrow (Monday) I'm going to call our vet and see if he will prescribe us some stronger antibiotics, or if he has any other suggestions on what we should be doing.

Wound on day 5 (green bruising has faded to yellow)


On his side with his head covered..having his bandages changed. He has become less and less cooperative each day (not mean, just trying to get away from us) so that encourages me and lets me know he's feeling more like himself!



Yesterday (day 4 since the injury), we put Big Red down in the yard with his three hens and two guinea buddies (trust me he was under very close supervision to make sure they didn't mess with his wound). The second his feet touched the ground, he ran straight over to one of the hens and proceeded to breed her!! I was shocked to see that missing his wing didn't mess up his balance or sex drive at all..and during the probably 45mins he was outside with everyone, he mated with each of the three hens.


His buddies didn't seem to mind at all that he was injured..but we didn't leave him unattended just in case they decided to peck at him.


Even my pig Napoleon was glad to see his buddy out of the house!

 

[Aacre]

Aw! He's looking so good! I am glad to hear that it's not gangrene!

 

[hannahrachel]

So glad to hear your roo is feeling better! Posting so I can subscribe and keep up with his progress

 

[chickenlover80]

Yay this is so exciting I am glad Big Red is up to being himself more and more every day Keep up the good work!!!

 

[kdwhita]

Day 7 (One Week) Update!

I didn't even need to see his wound to know that Big is on the road to recovery today!! Just take a listen at what I came home to. He was wanting to go out and see his ladies!

We have continued with our same routine, letting Big Red out in the yard under close supervision every afternoon for 45 minutes or so to get some fresh air, and changing his bandages every other day. I decided not to call the vet since he's doing so well, and since he finished his round of Penicillin G injections on Sunday, all we've been doing is covering the wound really well with original neosporin (from everything I've read you want to avoid any antibiotic ointment that has pain relief in it as those added ingredients can be deadly to chickens) each time we change his bandage, and keeping him warm and in the house away from the added germs that being outdoors would bring. Below are some photos from today's bandage change.


It's really amazing to me how their skin can go from being such a bright green color to almost back to normal in just a few days. I guess he will always have that strange little skin flap on the top of his nub now That's ok..just a little more character he'll have because I surely didn't want to risk cutting it off when he was first injured, and it's healing up great.



What's that I spy? NEW SKIN!! Just look at the edges around the wound..healthy new skin all starting to show all around. I'm so excited that it seems to be healing so well.



Now that you've suffered through the wound photos..here are some bonus photos of Big Red over the last two years that we've had him! Enjoy


My fiance, Dustin, and Big Red shortly after we got him two years ago.



My Nubian Buck brothers, Ricky and Bobby with Red on his favorite roosting spot.



Big Red and I just a couple weeks ago..he's such a big, sweet boy! Look at that spur!



Big Red about two months ago

 

[subhanalah]

Love the history photos! Thanks for updating us on how Red is doing!

 

[happybooker1]

He is such a handsome boy! Glad he pulled through.

 

[kdwhita]

Day 9 Update


Big Red continues to do well, and I look forward to posting updates about him! So far I've been really good about keeping to my every other day schedule and I'll try to keep it up!
He has been crowing off and on since he started back two days ago, but not at the right times, which I find quite funny. I'm assuming that being under the heat lamp light and being indoors has his days and nights all mixed up. lol..I turned my lamp off to go to sleep right after midnight the other night, and no sooner than I turned over, he started in with the crowing. Lucky for me though, he just did it about 5-10 times and was done, and he hasn't been keeping me awake.
As far as wound care, we're sticking to our routine of putting on a new bandage (mainly just to keep dirt/debris/bacteria out of it) and covering the wound with neosporin every other day. Yesterday, the bandage fell off on its own, so I decided to just let the area air out for a while, and it looked just fine.The pictures of the wound today are with it having been completely dry with no neosporin for at least 24hrs. I did notice letting it air out definitely made the wound dry up and feel 'harder' which I'm thinking is probably not best for healing, so I'm not going to do that anymore. I'll be sure and keep it moist with neosporin to help the new skin grow.
We are also taking him outside every day for fresh air, and so he can have conjugal visits with his ladies I think getting to go outside is the only way he's kept his poor little rooster sanity from being cooped up in the house for almost two weeks now. Also, now that he's pretty much back to his normal self, we're starting to get a glimpse of what his new 'normal' will look like, and I must admit that it's pretty funny! He's just going to be a funny looking chicken, and that's just fine by me!!
An update also on our dog Zoe that got ahold of him (she's deaf by the way, not sure if I mentioned that before): my fiance's mom was already in the process of finding a foster home for her when Big Red's incident occurred, and by going through a rescue group, they were able to connect her with a wonderful deaf lady in Wisconsin (we live in SC) who adopts deaf animals. She was thrilled to take her (despite being made well aware of issues that Zoe has with aggression-much if not all of it I believe is related to the fact that she's deaf and communication is very hard for her, and she gets startled easily since she can't hear you walking up on her). Since her new owner is deaf herself, I feel like she will be much more capable to train and communicate with Zoe than we ever were. (We got Zoe as a puppy and didn't know she was deaf, but obviously kept her even after we figured out that she was) So, we will take her to meet up with transport tomorrow, and she will go on to a wonderful loving home, and we won't have to worry about her getting ahold of any more of our animals. It really is a win-win situation for everyone involved, and I will miss her and wish her nothing but the best!



No bandage on here, the wound doesn't look half as bad as the hack job I did on his feathers..lol!



He looks so skinny without that wing! In the background of the picture you can see our chicken first aid kid (that I of course put in a fancy little chicken wire basket) It makes it a lot easier to keep up with/ put away all his supplies that way, and we'll have it ready to go in the future instead of having to make do with what first aid items we just happened to have on hand like we did when Red was first injured. We have also stopped putting him on his side and covering his head to keep him calm during bandage changes. Since all we have to do now in change the bandage and re-apply neosporin, we just let him stand on his towel with my fiance holding him to keep him still, and he does just fine. We're very lucky that he's such a friendly boy, or this experience could have been much worse for all of us.



You can see what I mean about it looking 'hard' here..The wound is together, but it's not fully closed, and I know that will just take time. When I'm rubbing in neosporin with a Q-tip, I make sure to get it into the cracks of wound just a bit to make sure everything is getting the ointment. The biggest reason too that we've kept it covered is from fear that something would get in there and cause infection, but so far so good!



Red with his ladies this afternoon. He's already taken up the habit of showing them (and us) his good side..lol. (Anytime you put your hand in the box he's in inside the house to pick him up, he turns his bad side away from you.) I always stand in the coop/ right by them if they're in the yard to make sure they don't start pecking at him, and they honestly don't act any differently around him..like they don't even notice.


Here's a shot of him from behind..just funny looking! I also keep thinking that something is wrong with his right thigh, but it's just the fact that there is no wing there makes it look like his thigh is sticking out too far.



Here he is in the process of flapping his wings..lol. I'll try to get a video one day of his little nub moving on the other side. He still has muscle function in it, because when he stands to flap his wings, it still moves up and down just like his normal wing.