Advice on Metacam/antibiotics after a hawk attack

galgo98

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One of my adult Indian Runners was caught by a hawk this afternoon. I didn't see the inital attack. I went looking for her and found her pinned upside down. I am (hopefully) lucky to have found her when I did, he did not manage to get past flesh and muscle. I am also lucky he did not take off with her when I started yelling. She is doing a little better now. Still seems shocky, but able to sit up on her own, hold her head up, drink and eat a few mealworms. There is one large flesh wound on her abdomen, and several small punctures around her head, bill, and wing. We clipped and cleaned the wounds with dilute chlorhex solution. I have not put anything else on the wounds yet. She is now indoors on towels that I have changed a few times to keep them clean. I would like to give her some metacam though to make her comfortable. I have tried to find an injectable dose and I'm having a hard time finding it in the archives. We were going to hold off on antibiotics at this point and try to keep the wounds clean and let them heal on their own. She will be inside for now, so I can keep a close eye on her. I know that drug doses are difficult to find b/c there are none labeled for ducks. We will discard her eggs for at least a month. I would prefer the injectable, but if not, I can get the oral metacam too. Please let me know if this all sounds ok, or if you would do anything differently. Thanks in advance.
 
Im so sorry to hear about your duck! Dont panic though waterfowl are very tough. I had a goose get a nail pierced through his neck and he was there for at least 4 hours and he recovered just fine. The most important part is keeping the wound sterile. I used an aniseptic for livestock i found at tractors supply. I also kept the wound bandaged to prevent maggotd. I wpuld suggest electrolytes for the next few days to help her. I hope your duck has a speedy recovery.
 
Oh, so sorry to hear about this!

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I'm not real familiar with metacam - I've heard of it used on cats, sometimes with concerns about liver damage, less so with lower doses.

With puncture wounds, while I trust your instincts, I would be considering oral antibiotics. At least be watching really closely for signs of systemic infection. But go with your gut.

A friend's chicken survived a hawk attack, mostly with some time in a clean warm sick bay with a good cleaning and some blu-kote.

Good she's eating and drinking. That's huge.

Praying for you both.
 
Quote:
Thanks! Which oral a'biotic would you use (and dose
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)? Yes, there is some concern w/liver damage and metacam in cats, but I have seen it used on a regular basis w/out any problems. I feel it is still a good choice for NSAID pain relief in cats.. Kinda like the Vioxx in humans, not good if you were the 1% who had a heart attack, however it was the only thing that actually helped my aunt w/the severe chronic pain from RA.
hu.gif
Anyway, sorry, I'll get off my soapbox.
Is there anything you would recommend for pain? I can't imagine that she is not in some kind of pain after what she went thru... How do you perform a pain score on a duck??
 
Quote:
Thanks! Which oral a'biotic would you use (and dose
wink.png
)? Yes, there is some concern w/liver damage and metacam in cats, but I have seen it used on a regular basis w/out any problems. I feel it is still a good choice for NSAID pain relief in cats.. Kinda like the Vioxx in humans, not good if you were the 1% who had a heart attack, however it was the only thing that actually helped my aunt w/the severe chronic pain from RA.
hu.gif
Anyway, sorry, I'll get off my soapbox.
Is there anything you would recommend for pain? I can't imagine that she is not in some kind of pain after what she went thru... How do you perform a pain score on a duck??

Right now being shocky is probably helping her not feel the pain but she probably will need it more tomorrow. Maybe contact a vet about it they can look it up for you if they don't know themselves. And i don't know if you've ever heard of Vetericyn it is the best for healing of wounds and keeping infection at bay. Got it at TSC. Hope she does real good.
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Thanks for your help, but Long Tall Sally didn't make it. I thought she seemed like she was going to get better, but she just seizured in my lap and died.
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I'm so sorry for your loss. She's over the rainbow bridge
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i'm sorry for your loss
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best thing to do for wounds is flush 2-3 daily with a iodine solution, best thing for shock is sugar water or even better nutra-drench vitamins, these things have saved many of my birds lives

hope you never have to use any of that in the future but its here if you need it
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