bobcat ripped silkie's leg off through the fence

[TinyBirds]

We have a bobcat that's killing most of what we have, and we're down from 300 to 150 birds. It is a DAYTIME predator. We've never had problems at night because all of our birds are in super-secure-wood-coops.

So, today at 11:30 am, the bobcat attacked again, going right through the outer electric fence (3 wires starting at 4" off the ground) and tried to get my prize-buff-silkie-girl through the metal fence that has approx 2"x4" openings (5 ft high and covered pen). He ripped/tore her leg off at the knee joint, so now she just has a hole in her skin where the leg used to be. I never found the leg. I stitched up the opening in her body with needle and thread, and she is still drinking water occasionally if I hold her up. She has no interest in eating yet, and at this point I'm just hoping she doesn't die from too much blood loss from her knee inside. I tried to look/feel inside the opening, and didn't notice any tear into the intestines (hopefully). If someone has any care instructions for this type of situation, I would love to have some advice on how I can try to keep her alive. I love her! My husband said he guesses she won't be a show bird now, but I said maybe she can still qualify for the special olympics if we can get her up and hopping around again (note: sometimes joking around is the only way we can handle these devastating type of situations - it's so sad!) Is there any pain type of medicine I can give her in the water? I assume I should start her on some type of antibiotics as well, maybe tomorrow.
Thanks so much,
Jenny

 

[drumstick diva]

I think you could flush it out with saline solution and then apply neosporine (without any 'caine" ) ingredient. Don't use peroxide it burns healthy tissue. If you can't take her to a vet, you could try stitching her up. Some of the posters do that themselves. I think when a bird is kinda shocky like this they don't feel the pain. I think aspirin is the only thing safe to give chickens and I have no idea of the dosage. I hope someone will come on board and give you more specific info. Watch for swelling around the area which would indicate infection.

 

[DinosRBirds]

Put a pegleg on her.

 

[TinyBirds]

Love the DinosRBirds name! I'm always telling people that. Sometimes I have dreams that hawks are getting bigger and they turn into huge hawks that attack people as prey. I love all Michael Crichton books too. His are the only fiction books I read.

 

[sourland]

This bobcat has killed 150 chickens and it's still alive? Or am I mis reading something?

 

[TinyBirds]

Quote:
A lot were lost to hawks also before we put up the overhead netting. But we also have foxes and other daytime predators coming. We live next to a year-round creek and a wildlife preserve. The other farms nearby call the wildlife preserve the "predator breeding ground" so I doubt we'd be improving things much by killing 1 or 2 of them, even if we could. They are super-fast in their attack, too fast for me to shoot them. Plus we're not allowed to shoot hawks. The hawks hunt in groups here, often taking more than 1 bird per day. Our neighbor saw 5 hawks together as a team lift her huge turkey into the sky. They dropped it after awhile, but STILL!! Yes, it's Jurassic Park here. I know a dog would help, but my husband doesn't want a dog (kids would turn it into a pet, if it didn't get eaten by a predator itself before that).

 

[Desert Rooster]

OMG, hope your silkie gets better, as for the bobcat, trap it or SSS it

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I have read that chickens can learn to hop around on one foot ok.

Someone wrote here on BYC an aspirin dosage- but you would have to do a BYC search for it. That's the only pain med I know of for chickens.

I hope she does ok!

 

[Cetawin]

When you stitched her up did you leave a small place on the lowest part unstitched? If not, cut those stitches and leave a tiny open place so any infection can drain.

Also, do a search for the dosage of aspirin and penicillin. Make sure she is eating and drinking. Keep her warm and quiet. I would call an avian vet myself and if they could not see her, maybe some advice would be given.

Good Luck with your girl.

 

[SLWyandotte]

for the -cat and other grounded critters live and steel traps work well.