Chicken attacked - possible prolapsed vent? Graphic photos

[HippieAtHeart]

I would spray the Vetericyn 2-3 times daily. When dry apply the ointment, so that it doesn’t dry out. Vent or cloacal tissue can dry out and die, and the wounds will heal faster if ointment is applied. Some use honey on vents and wounds as well. Medihoney is one I have seen recommended. But I would use what I already have.

So I took some warm water spray and trimmed away feathers as much as I could, but some feathers are stuck to her vent area. Do you think I should just keep trying to spray with the water and get off what I can or should I give her a bath and let her soak then try? I just worry that if I pick her up and hold her in the bath it will cause her a great deal of pain because of her other wound. I don’t want that vent tissue to have major issues either. Will the vent heal itself eventually if I can remove feathers and keep it as moist as I can, and if not what will happen to it?

 

[HippieAtHeart]

Just wanted to update on her (I’ve officially named her Honey because every time I go to take care of her I just keep saying “honey, honey, honey” lol) she seems to be doing better. She ate a whole little container of cat food, she didn’t at first when I put it down but once I put it to her beak and let her eat it she scarfed most of it down and then it was all but gone when I just took care of her for the night! She still isn’t drinking a ton of water, but I did give her grapes with water with them and I think she drank some of that, tomorrow I will not be adding aspirin so maybe she’ll be more about it. Maybe she didn’t like the taste, who knows.
Aside from that I have been spraying warm water on her vent wound to loosen up feathers and dead tissue before spraying vetericyn and applying ointment and I’m pretty sure I’ve figured out where her vent actually is and some dead tissue that may have fallen down over it? It’s definitely healing up though and looks a lot better even than yesterday.
I really couldn’t have made it this far without everyone who has posted to help me or encourage me, it’s been really rough and I just feel so guilty when I go to take care of her, but I know if I didn’t she wouldn’t be here and moving along in the right direction. I’ll update in a few days with some new pictures.

 

[Eggcessive]

I think you are doing a great job, and spraying the vent with the warm water is a good idea. It is good that she is eating. I would put plain water in with her. Aspirin can be given orally 1/2 tablet of 81 mg once or twice daily for 2-3 days. Post some new pictures when you can, and good luck.

 

[HippieAtHeart]

I think you are doing a great job, and spraying the vent with the warm water is a good idea. It is good that she is eating. I would put plain water in with her. Aspirin can be given orally 1/2 tablet of 81 mg once or twice daily for 2-3 days. Post some new pictures when you can, and good luck.

Thank you for the encouragement. So I have a new photo attached after cleaning her up this morning and applying ointment. At what point should I stop spraying with vetericyn and/or applying the ointment? Also there is a smell when I walk into the shed I’m keeping her, nothing looks like pus, is that a bad thing or is the tissue just healing?

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Thank you for the encouragement. So I have a new photo attached after cleaning her up this morning and applying ointment. At what point should I stop spraying with vetericyn and/or applying the ointment? Also there is a smell when I walk into the shed I’m keeping her, nothing looks like pus, is that a bad thing or is the tissue just healing?

What kind of smell is it? I’m assuming not good... healthy healing tissue doesn’t smell like much, so you probably have necrotic tissue. You might need to debride the dead tissue, using some kind of antiseptic solution (like dilute chlorhexadine or betadine), swabs, tweezers maybe. The goal is to remove the dead tissue, that is essentially rotting, until you get to healthy pink or maybe lightly bleeding tissue. You need to be careful that you don’t pull and tear open the healing wound tissue. Your situation is different, but this is a pic of my prolapsed hen. I was having difficulty with her re-prolapsing, and the tissue was damaged and infected. All of that yellow/white in this picture was infected and unhealthy tissue that needed to be removed before she could heal. I soaked her in Epsom salts for 1/2 hr then used swabs to roll away this diseased tissue As best I could until I saw blood, then I stopped, lubricated, and reinserted the prolapse. When she prolapsed again, I did the same again. I had to do this at least 3 times before I only had healthy looking tissue left, then she stopped prolapsing.

 

[HippieAtHeart]

What kind of smell is it? I’m assuming not good... healthy healing tissue doesn’t smell like much, so you probably have necrotic tissue. You might need to debride the dead tissue, using some kind of antiseptic solution (like dilute chlorhexadine or betadine), swabs, tweezers maybe. The goal is to remove the dead tissue, that is essentially rotting, until you get to healthy pink or maybe lightly bleeding tissue. You need to be careful that you don’t pull and tear open the healing wound tissue. Your situation is different, but this is a pic of my prolapsed hen. I was having difficulty with her re-prolapsing, and the tissue was damaged and infected. All of that yellow/white in this picture was infected and unhealthy tissue that needed to be removed before she could heal. I soaked her in Epsom salts for 1/2 hr then used swabs to roll away this diseased tissue As best I could until I saw blood, then I stopped, lubricated, and reinserted the prolapse. When she prolapsed again, I did the same again. I had to do this at least 3 times before I only had healthy looking tissue left, then she stopped prolapsing.

That’s really helpful to know about the skin, I have been spraying with warm water and slowly peeling off whatever dead skin I can find around her vent specifically. I’m surprised at what easy comes off, the stuff that doesn’t I haven’t wanted to rip off because I didn’t want to hurt the health skin. Did you end up peeling off be yellow bits? How hard did you pull?

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

That’s really helpful to know about the skin, I have been spraying with warm water and slowly peeling off whatever dead skin I can find around her vent specifically. I’m surprised at what easy comes off, the stuff that doesn’t I haven’t wanted to rip off because I didn’t want to hurt the health skin. Did you end up peeling off be yellow bits? How hard did you pull?

I pulled very gently, maybe a millimeter at a time. I used the tweezers to pull at the dead part a mm, then used the rolling action of the swab to try to extract the dead portion. You can be more forceful with actual external muscle and skin, but the prolapse is not skin, it’s damaged internal organ, and it can tear more easily.

 

[HippieAtHeart]

I pulled very gently, maybe a millimeter at a time. I used the tweezers to pull at the dead part a mm, then used the rolling action of the swab to try to extract the dead portion. You can be more forceful with actual external muscle and skin, but the prolapse is not skin, it’s damaged internal organ, and it can tear more easily.

That’s good to know, I will try to get some each time I go to spray her with the vetericyn. Did it look like one big scab you took off or was it in pieces?

 

[HippieAtHeart]

I pulled very gently, maybe a millimeter at a time. I used the tweezers to pull at the dead part a mm, then used the rolling action of the swab to try to extract the dead portion. You can be more forceful with actual external muscle and skin, but the prolapse is not skin, it’s damaged internal organ, and it can tear more easily.

Also do you have a photo after you got that tissue off?

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

That’s good to know, I will try to get some each time I go to spray her with the vetericyn. Did it look like one big scab you took off or was it in pieces?

It came off in small chunks and smelled foul. Sadly I did not get an after picture. This is a pic of the prolapse at the beginning, and it looked a lot like this but with a little more redness and bleeding.