4 month old pullet attacked by opossum

[lamps]

I need help. I have a bard rock pullet, about 4 months old that I do not believe is laying eggs yet. I found her in the coop today with her leg mangled, the flesh has been eaten and the bone is entirely exposed. I sprayed the entire area with a wound spray that I got at the farm store and I put her in a small enclosed box with food and water, she is eating and drinking.

I know the leg can not be saved, should I leave it and see what happens or amputate it. If I should amputate, should I leave the bone beyond the flesh or go to the next joint in the flesh?

Amazingly, besides having a mangled leg and exposed bone she seams to be doing good.

 

[86121]

I would amputate, last thing you want is a nasty infection and for it to start rotting.
I would clip the bone up to the undamaged flesh to prevent any issues with it.
Please keep us updated on how she does!
I also hope more people pipe in for you!

 

[nurse_turtle]

What kind of anesthetic will you use?

 

[86121]

I have heard from just watching the emergency section, that you can numb the aria with Ice first to the point that they cant feel anything. I have also heard that most drug anesthetics will just kill a hen?
Im not sure if thats true or not, but hopefully someone can pipe in.

 

[chkn]

Ruth is an expert in my opinion. She has done several types of surgeries. Here is her post on doing an amputation similar to yours:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=106942&p=1

 

[lamps]

I did the amputation today.

I didn't have anyone to assist me so I strapped her down to a board, she actually didn't seam to mind. Then I cleaned feathers away from the area and took a better look. The drum stick was eaten up about half way with bare bone exposed, (this made this a bit more involved than what Ruth described). I used some abesol, not sure if it did much but I thought I would at least try to deaden the pain. Then I cut the flesh back to where is looked to be the end of the dead flesh was. At this point she started bleeding some so I applied pressure fro a few minutes. The bleeding slowed, but I decided that I needed to get the bone out ASAP so I could wrap it up. So I took a set of bolt cutters and cut the bone off as close to the good flesh as I could. Once the leg was off I took another good look and things looked good, although I could already see a couple of small maggots, hopefully they will eat away the dead flesh. I gave the entire area a good spray of a wound care spray I use on all the other animals and wrapped it up.

Amazingly to me the only time she displayed any signs of pain was when I sprayed to wound, but it is an aerosol and it might have just scared her.

I'll try to keep you posted on how she does.

Sorry no pictures, my wife does not want to see it, plus would have been hard to take pictures and work on the amputation.

 

[chkn]

Great job, I hope it works out for her. You should probably administer some antibiotics. About the maggots, don't! They'll eat good flesh too. If there's any reocurrence of them (keep checking under the bandages), get some SWAT down at the pet supply or feed store. Neosporine (without the pain reliever in it) might work and be better for the wound healing, at least put it on underneath. You only need to apply the SWAT once, maybe twice, and it'll take care of the problem.

 

[chkn]

BTW, keep her hydrated. Put a little something tasty in her water (a pinch of cherry jello, a splash of gatorade).

 

[lamps]

I haven't rechecked for magets, but have checked on her a couple of times and re bandaged once. How much blood does a chicken have? The bode that I had to cut off is still bleeding from the marrow. I probably should have taken it off at the joint. I would guess that she has lost between one and two table spoons of blood total.

Any ideas how to make it stop? I am thinking about leaving the current bandage on until tomorrow and then changing it and see what is happening. If she is still bleeding I will consider going back and taking the bone off at the joint, but as long as it is a slow bleed, I will wait a few days to let her recover some between operations.

Thanks for the water advice, I will do that shortly. I also plan to feed her some beef liver tonight, since liver is supposed to be really good for blood production. I also might try golden seal on the wound.

 

[86121]

Freezing it is my best suggestion, I know cold stops blood flow?
Though I am VERY happy to hear she did well threw the surgery. Please keep us updated!