Chook attacked by a dog - help please!

Hi all,

I'm newly joined to BYC but have been using it as a search tool since we got our girls a couple of years ago..so thank you for all the second hand advice I've gotten, it's great!
Our girls have been totally free range on our farm and getting layer mix, food scraps and anything else they could scrounge off us, they are very personable!

Last Friday night my friend came over with her little terrier dog and he got away from her, he quickly dispatched of one of my girls, I managed to prise the other one out of his mouth (he had her by the flank).
She was shaking and very stressed, so I put her in the coop box for the night to see what she wanted to do (live or die).
The next morning she was still alive, and would eat and drink a little...
She is bald across the back towards her tail (still has feathers on her shoulders) and has five deep puncture wounds that I can see.
The next few days I washed her with salt water, and smeared betadine on the wounds, and today I started medicinal honey.
She is getting vitamin c added to water and food, as well as oregano... I don't think she's eating enough and she isn't too interested in layer mash or rolled oats, but seems keen enough for some things (white bread, yoghurt, boiled egg, ham fat etc)...
What's worrying me most of all is that at 6 days now she's still not taking any significant weight onto one of her legs, she hops, sort of, in the smaller cage I have her in now to get to food and water but spends most of her time lying down, preening, head tucked under wing....she feels a little warm, but not feverish..
Is it pointless to keep her going if she's not walking on that leg yet??
If there's a chance she'll recover, what else can I be doing?
Thanks in advance,
Rio

 

Thanks PIGSinSPACE!! your story gives me comfort and hope.... She's a plucky little girl that's for sure...and is so relaxed when I treat her.
I just hope the leg recovers... A couple of the puncture wounds are around that hip so I'm hoping there's no internal injuries just a lot of pain and swelling.
She can lie down and stand up fairly well so fingers crossed!
Lol she's currently enjoying some boiled egg, rice, corn and lettuce...she certainly is picky with her food at the moment...

 

Thanks Sue, I hear rave reviews of Neosporin as an antibiotic ointment, but living in australia there is NO equivalent (believe me I've looked!)... I am using medicinal honey at this point but any better ideas will be gratefully received!
I normally hesitate using Betadine at all, but with the severity of the bites I figured it would give her a good start...
I even put some TuffRock on the wounds initially (it's a clay poultice that I use on horses) and left that on for about 18 hours... Not sure how much good it did but it always works wonders on the horses...
Are antibiotics oral or injections? Will I need to take the chook into the vet to get a prescription?
Thanks guys for the speedy response, I'm feeling a little more relaxed about it all already.

Cheers, Rio

 

Hi guys, thanks for the ongoing advice, it all helps so much!! Please keep it up!
Thanks so much for thinking of me Sue, Our vet is pretty good, he's primarily a horse vet but has stitched up and euthanised dogs for us....never gone to him with a chicken enquiry but tomorrow will make that a first.
When I got home from work today there was poo all over the cage instead of just one quarter - a sign I think that she's moved around a lot more!
She had another really good thorough wash with warm saline today and apart from having a good wing flap when I picked her up she was super relaxed and happy to be treated. I am gradually chopping off more feathers that are in the way of her wounds as they come free...

Thanks raewhitewolf, your comments make me feel better as I have been crushing up an arnica tablet and spreading that over two feeds in the hope it works as well as it does in humans. Nice to know I'm on the right track...wow your chook sounds like an absolute trooper! And you're amazing for persevering with her recovery!

Quick question, does vitamin c have the same healing power in chooks as it does in mammals? I have used it with huge success as a replacement antibiotic and also for shock, poison, tick bite, and as a general tonic after injury for all my four legged guys.
I have been sprinkling powdered vitamin c over her feed daily, just want to make sure I'm not doing any harm...

After her bath, once she had dried off a bit today, I put more medicated honey on the wounds and popped her back in her small cage. But then she had the first really thorough preen I've seen her give herself, and she was pulling off more feathers than I was game to...the gooey ones with honey on them...I can only assume from that she is in less pain??

Again and still, any advice you can give is gratefully received, just want to get my Chicky back up and running...her mate was Dixie-rip (the pair of them were the Dixie Chicks)

Thanks guys,

rio