Dog attack, breathing and wound care

[ckjohnson04]

One (three actually...) were attacked by our dog yesterday. The one who I am most concerned about has a wound about 4x3 inches mid back. We have flushed it with chlorahexidine 3 times so far (like we did with a previous attracted bird). I hesitated on getting it stitched because of infection. But my real concern is her breathing. Her mouth is NOT open, but I can see her body moving as she breathes.
Both birds who survived are on clavamox in their water for infection, chlorahexidine 3x's a day for cleaning out the wound and I have neosporin but I am waiting until tomorrow.

Thoughts on if I need to do anything else?
Is deep breathing with mouth closed ok?

 

[huntingirl]

My hen got attacked by my dog on Tuesday. She had her entire tail bitten off and all of under her wing had no skin. My hen did the same thing with her breathing. After a while she breathed normal. She is most likely coming out of shock. Keep a VERY close eye on her. Can you post a pic of her wound so I can see what it looks like? I can help you have her back with the flock in no time if I see.

 

[ckjohnson04]

The girls are down for the night. I will get you a picture in the morning.
Thanks for your help.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

It's possible she is in shock. Hence, the breathing.
Sounds like you have treated the wounds well. Neopsorin the next day is a good idea.
Keep them warm and quiet and hopefully the breathing will even out.
If it doesn't, I would suspect possible "crush/squeeze" injury internally.
Hope she is better in the a.m.
Keep us posted.

 

[ckjohnson04]

Here is one photo up close.

And here is one other from a bit further back

It doesn't smell which is good.
I think I will take her to the vet because she is not putting pressure on her one leg (on the side where there is more of a wound). It could be a Bone injury or just soft tissues from the wound. She can use the leg to push away from me as well as to grasp... So I don't know.

 

[huntingirl]

Her wound should be just fine if you keep cleaning it and applying neosporin or triple antibiotic ointment with NO PAINKILLERS OR SUFFIXES -CAIN. i would For sure take her to the vet for her leg. Also check the others that got attacked. Examine them thoroughly. If they have any wounds at all, clean them and put on painkiller free neosporin. Good luck.

 

[ckjohnson04]

Already checked the other girls and they look good. They are moving fine and eating and laying like normal.

The wound is still pretty moist so we still haven't done Neosporin yet but I'm hoping tonight it will look ok to smear on.

Thanks for taking a look. When the skin pulls away and you can see down her side, you kinda freak out. I'll keep you posted on going to the vet.

 

[huntingirl]

Ok. If you keep her wound moist with an antibiotic ointment it also helps the skin put itself together faster. Looks like your doing everything right.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Here is one photo up close.

And here is one other from a bit further back


It doesn't smell which is good.
I think I will take her to the vet because she is not putting pressure on her one leg (on the side where there is more of a wound). It could be a Bone injury or just soft tissues from the wound. She can use the leg to push away from me as well as to grasp... So I don't know.

The wound looks good.
Sounds like you are taking good care of her.
Hopefully the vet will be able to tell about the leg.
Hope she gets better soon.

 

[ckjohnson04]

Holy cow! She laid an egg in the cage this morning!!

After giving her a bath last night to clean her up, we found some bruising on the thigh of the leg she is favoring. This would also help to explain why she is limping.

We have scheduled an appointment with the vet just to make sure she is still healing properly and we didn't miss anything. But I'm taking this as a positive sign.