Chicken attacked by dog - need advice

[earthlove]

My 16mo white Orpington, Cotton, was attacked by a dog on 4/25. She has several dime sized puncture wounds on her back and the sides of her body. Her tail end was ripped up, so there is a 1x1" flap. I have been cleaning and disinfecting the wounds daily. She is on oral antibiotics, amoxicillin, prescribed by our veterinarian (not a chicken vet). I've been cleaning the wound with betadine solution, spraying vetericyn, and applying lots of neosporin then wrapping her loosely with gauze and vet wrap. I have also been administering 1/2 of a baby aspirin twice a day.

The puncture wounds seem to be healing nicely. It's not pretty, but it's not our first catastrophic injury so I am pleased with the progress in 5 days. She has continued to eat and drink small amounts and is alert.

I have a few concerns however -
1. She is not standing or moving her body. At first I thought there was a chance her legs were paralyzed but after the third day, I could feel movement and when I pick her up and put her feet on the ground, she tries to help me support her a little with one leg. Since she's not moving, she's being kept in a small plastic cat carrier on a heating pad in our sunroom. I have her supported by towels otherwise she would slump over.
2. She has a lot of bruising on her abdomen and torso, which I expected because of the trauma. But this morning I noticed that there may be a bone poking up slightly in the center of the bruise. I am guessing that she may have a broken rib. I don't know what to do for that.
3. Her breathing is not labored in anyway unless I am moving her to clean the wound and wrap her, but sometimes she breathes through her mouth.
4. She is not eating/drinking enough and is only pooping small amounts. The poop just seems to ooze out of her and she's not pushing it out. No eggs, but again I attribute that to stress.

I am posting from my phone, but if I find a way, I will upload some photos. I don't want to lose my girl. She's a fighter. I'm hesitant to give up because of all the amazing success stories I have read and from our own success story with a huge laceration on our rooster's chest.

 

[earthlove]

I also wanted to mention that she is sleeping a lot and the process of cleaning and redressing the wound really wears her out.

 

[earthlove]

Day 1

Day 2

Day4

Day 5 - today

Bruising today

 

[anlawrence]

I've just posted about my hen attacked by a dog asking for advice!

So I don't have any to give you but just wanted to express solidarity as it were!

My Betty was attacked on Saturday morning and is under the Vet for antibiotics and anti-inflammatories. This morning she seems brighter and actually DIVED on a grape I put in for her to tempt her.

She seems to be sleeping a whole lot too - but I guess that's what you do when you are sick. Sleep is a great healer.

All the best for your lass! I'm sure she will pull through - chickens are often tougher than they look!

Warm regards
Angie
Isle of Man

 

[realsis]

poor baby you seem to be doing everything right. I might offer her some water with a dropper to keep her hydrated and maybe consider tube feeding her. that might help her get her strength up. I'm so sorry this happened and I wish you the best and pray for her recovery. please keep us posted on her condition. God bless you.

 

[NovaAman]

Keep on doing what you are doing. It could take her several weeks to recover from such an attack. It is amazing what a chicken can recover from when everything is in its favor to recover AND it does seem like it is.

Personally, I'd up the protein content on her foods. Even if you are just giving her yolk added to her mash. The protein is what she needs the most to food wise to help her heal/mend/grow. I don't know what to do about a rib... I hope it is not broken.

About the dog... Was it yours or a neighbors? It if were a neighbors, I'd leave them with the vet bill. If its yours... Well, you have the burden now of teaching them NO for the chickens. I have had my dogs tear up two of my birds... Not. A. Happy. Girl. They also got a chick who went through the fence.... They used that chick like a chew toy. I thought for sure with all the bruising that happened that she'd die... With heat (give your girl a bit of heat) and confinement, sav a chick... She pulled through...
Day of the attack after setting her up in a fish tank... only thing I had at the time... and dosing her with save a chick...

A few days after. She had quite a bit of bruising. BUT after this pic, I brought her back out to her mom, mom took her right away.

Now, I know this isn't nothing like what you are going through, but the point is, that bruising will recede given some days and keeping her still while she heals... The bruising is the worst part of it...

Good luck, and keep us posted on her recovery.

 

[earthlove]

Hi everyone, thank you for the advice and support. Cotton is still trying to heal. The bad dog was one of my own, a new addition. It wasn't her fault. We had been training with the chickens and she was learning to look at the chickens and look at me for guidance. The problem was some one put her in the yard unsupervised with the chickens (we're staying with family temporarily).
But on to Cotton.. Her puncture wounds and the rip at her tail are healing nicely. The bruising is mostly gone on her side, but I noticed some other bruising on the knee joint on the leg of the same side. I'm worried she may have a broken hip. In the last few days, I've moved her from a cat crate to a dog crate where she has a little more room and I have more space to lay out different types of food. She has started to flap her wings and shuffle around. I had been positioning her in a nest of towels with support so she wouldn't topple over. I was placing her legs underneath her like a nesting position. Now that she has some (slight) mobility, she is extending the "bad" leg straight back and the "good leg" underneath her. I'm worried that this isn't a good position for healing and that she may not regain use of that leg.
Additionally, her appetite seems to be getting worse. I have been feeding her eggs for protein, as well as her feed, sunflower seeds, and oats. I also tried to encourage her to eat with fruit bites.
Her wound doesn't smell like its infected, but, though I clean it every day, her crate smells awful. She isn't pooping much at all, but what comes out (no push, just kind of oozes out) is mostly watery with some solid and smells like death. When I pick her up, I feel her sternum poking out and there's often a squishy gurgling in her abdomen. Also no eggs still, accident was on 5/25.
Does anyone have any experience with a chicken sitting in that position? Someone mentioned force feeding, how would I do that and do you think it's necessary at this point?
Anything else I can do?

 

[earthlove]

 

[earthlove]

I'm starting to worry that keeping Cotton alive is inhumane. She eats very little and poops even less. She is clearly depressed. This morning both of her legs are straight back behind her. Has anyone had a chicken recover from this kind of state?

 

[jsreal]

One of my hens was attacked by puppies I was fostering. She has a large abdominal wound, and my husband said you could see internal organs. However, she was eating and drinking, so we thought she deserved a chance. We laid her on her back and sewed her wound up, got injectable penicillin from the feed store and gave her that for a week. That was almost a month ago. she still has a large hard scab on her abdomen but started laying again last week so i know she is getting better. Chickens have a remarkable way of recovering from awful things. You may want to try some antibiotics. Mine also perked up when her she got to see her sister for a few hours a day and even when she wouldn't eat feed, she would always eat mealworms. Hope she gets better!!