Do NOT suture a dog bite closed! It will trap the bacteria and cause a massive infection. You need to leave it open to heal and clean it out as well as you can a couple times a day, plus get her on some antibiotics. If possible, I would put a loose bandage over it, just to keep any other infection from getting in. Good luck with her!
If she survives the next 24hrs she should be alright.
I had a coon attack one of my hens, she got away minus some skin that left a large open wound on the back of her neck. I left her alone and decided not to close the wound, just isolated her away from the rest of the flock. Gave her some food and water, she's just fine today.
The wound closed up and the feathers are growing back. It took about 3 or 4 weeks to completely close up.
The coon had an unfortunate accident with some lead.
I just got back from the feed store..they had NOTHING, no vet wrap, no wound meds..nothing. I wasn't going to stitch her up, I will let it breathe and clean it well I guess. She has no real interest in drinking right now, but i will keep trying to give her some.
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Agreed! Chicken owning people very often allow human feelings to interefere with the welfare of the animal itself. Not only do most vets NOT treat chickens, it is often EXTREMELY costly, and only prolongs the suffering of the animal, which is no quality of life at all.
No one can say for certain that she'll even survive, and if she does no one can guarantee a good quality of life afterward. And in my honest opinion, the slim chance of a quality of life is not worth the tremendous amount of suffering needed to obtain it.
Bec, I'd just let her rest for the night. Don't try to force her to drink or eat. Just keep her somewhere she's not going to be bothered. If all goes well, she'll get her appetite back in the morning.
Try a pharmacy or wal-mart or something like that, usually they have wraps and such.
You do what you think is best for this little cutie and get a towel and put it (the towel not the chicken) in the dryer. Wrap her up in that towel to keep her warm. Put her in a warm, safe place away from muncher dog. We will be cheering for her!
just want her to know we feel her pain and to go with her gut instinct. Sometimes that means putting the poor chickey out of her misery and sometimes that means wait and see. No hurry to put her out of her misery really. unless of course it is obvious she is in distress!
Ther is a difference in a food chicken and a pet chicken. If she is one of your pet chickens then a trip to the vet is worth the money (if you have the money to spend).
When my Pooh was caught by the dogs they ripped a big flap of skin from her side. Of course it was on a holiday so there were no open vets. That night I flushed the wound with warm water and tried to put some neosporin on it (although that is a tricky process since neosporin is sticky.). We went to the vet the next day and she was stitched up (after being cleaned up and disinfected). It WAS costly. Very costly. But I figured it was my penence for not ensuring that the chickens couldn't get into the backyard. Plus she was still alert and very alive. It seemd wrong to extinguish that spark, you know.
Pooh is back with the flock and doing great. She was on antibiotics and painkillers for a week. She got the stitches out two weeks after the attack. Her feathers are just now starting to grow back in.
If she is a pet and you have the money, by all means take her to a ver. Exotic vets that see birds will likely take a look. At very least, if the injury is too bad, the vet can help ease her suffering.
I'm so sorry. This makes you frantic and sick all at the same time. Plus is the guilt that another pet did this to your chicken pet (even though the dogs were just acting like dogs).
Good luck to you!
Well I cannot say cull her because you are reading the post of a woman who paid 79.00 to have 3.99 rat neutered because my daughter rescued a little female rat. Sooooo....
Clean it really well with warm water...if you have some betadine to put on it, do so and just rip some strips of white cotton from an old sheet and wrap around her over the wound.
Make her drink...drop it on the tip of her beak, put it in a spoon and put her beak tip in it...whatever it takes...she needs water. Try some warm oatmeal or some yogurt for her.