Anesthetic/wound-closing necessary? (Fox attack)

[LinLinDove]

tldr; Week-old fox puncture wounds, antibiotics+no symptoms of infection, behavior and energy all good. Can I avoid stitches/anesthesia risks?

Note: Will include pictures tomorrow. They all look like they've clotted up and have minor yellow discoloration in the surrounding skin.

Hi all,

I have a 1-year-old Cinnamon Queen hen who was attacked by a fox 1 week ago (Friday). She lost many feathers and sustained 5 wounds along her back; 1 scrape and 4 punctures which are all down to the muscle, deepest is under an inch. The biggest skin openings are about quarter-sized on either side. Most vets wouldn't see her due to the avian flu, so we were only able to bring her in 3 days after injury (Monday) when they started appearing infected. The vet gave her antibiotics, pain pill prescriptions and cleaned her up better than we could. We've followed their daily cleaning regimen of iodine rinses and keeping the wounds dry. I've stayed by her side nearly 24/7, and her behavior has gotten so much better. She has no problems with eating, drinking, or her stool, and she's clucking and moving around quite a bit in her dedicated room. She's very alert and spends a lot of time brooding the 2 (infertile) eggs we gave her. All signs of infection in her wounds have dissipated after 4 days on 125mg amoxicillin 2/day.

The vet said her wounds should have been closed on Friday, and should still be closed once the infection cleared. We scheduled her for surgery 4 days from now (Tuesday). Here's the thing: they gave her a max 25% chance of survival, in large part due to them putting her all the way under with anesthesia. This absolutely broke my heart. Especially now seeing how well she's recovering otherwise, I'm wondering if it is absolutely necessary to put her all the way under for this? Or if they even actually need to be closed? They appear to be healing well on their own, but I'm not trained on this. Should I find a different vet?

Or worst case, should I suture them myself? With topical anesthetic?

I hate to question the vet, but to be honest, they almost seemed too busy to be bothered with a chicken. I also don't know how many options they were considering as they talked like she would pass within a few days regardless. Please help. I want to do whatever I can to see her live, and I don't know if this surgery is worth the extreme risks.

 

[Eggcessive]

I will be back online tomorrow, but could you post some pictures of the wounds? Anesthesia for chickens is not always safe, so I would recommend treating the wounds myself. Suturing an old wound is something I would not do. Puncture wounds may fill in on their own. Even deep wounds can eventually fill in and heal. Chlorhexidine is very good to clean wounds, and you can follow that with plain Neosporin or Triple Antibiotic Ointment applied to the wounds. Long term iodine (betadine) can prevent wound healing. When infection seems low, normal saline can be used as it is mild to clean wounds.

 

[LinLinDove]

Thank you so much for your advice!

Everything in the pictures is hard now, feels scabbed over. She picked a little at her right side but seems to have stopped. Would you still recommend ointment? The vet said that the moisture would lead to greater risk of infection. I was also slathering Neosporin before bringing her in, and she did get infected. But now combined with her oral amoxicillin, maybe it would be okay?

I also have poultry Vetericyn plus spray on hand. Could I start applying this again?

 

[coach723]

I would not suture those wounds. It looks like it's healing well, I'd leave them as is. Keeping the wounds moist with ointment is usually recommended, and with the round of amoxicillin, she will probably be fine. Sometimes scabs can be very thick, and healing can take some time. I've used ointment on some pretty horrible wounds and that has never caused infection, more likely there was bacteria in there that the neosporin just wasn't enough for, so the amoxicillin likely took care of that. If she's eating and drinking, and behaving pretty normally, poops look normal, then she is probably recovering well.