dog attack swollen wing puncture wounds

[nealsbirds]

Help my pet hen was atacked by a dog, she has several puncture wounds on her back , the one is very deep, she has bleed a lot.Also her wing at the joint is very swollen .I brought her in the house, cleaned her up with betidine trimmed away feathers,put bactriban ouintment and bandaged her up. She is a special hen she has never had an upper beak. I am keeping her on a heating pad and towels. She drank and ate some yesterday after this happened,today I hand feed her katee macaw parrot fomula and giving her some baytril I had in fridge,the baytril is a few years old hope its still good. any advice I can get would be very appreicated.

 

[jjthink]

You likely need new baytril, and quickly. The old stuff may have lost its potency. With deep puncture wounds oral or injectible antibiotic is likely crucial. Hopefully the deep bites did not puncture anything crucial

Rescue Remedy for stress (drop or two in water) - get from health food store or well equipped pharmacy.
Given the bleeding I am hesitant to recommend aspirin in her water for pain even though odds are high that she is really hurting. You may have to wait until she is definitely not bleeding.
As you are likely doing, keep her warm, comfy and in a stress free quiet area.
Keep her hydrated. With pain, she may stop eating - you may need to administer a few drops of children's polyvisol liquid vitamins daily till she comes around. Offer her foods she may find enticing such as scrambled egg, sunflower seeds, yogurt, little bits of fresh fruit to provide interest and moisture.
Electrolytes are usually recommended for shock.

If you know whose dog it is, please report it. The dog will be back so if you have any other birds out and about get them in lockdown for now.

I hope your special hen will be alright. If an avian vet is possible, she may need this kind of intervention.
JJ.

 

[MoodyChicken]

Get some Rescue Remedy, give her that immediately. Give her Poultry Cell (it's by the Rooster Booster company), that'll help with blood loss and healing. Definitely put her on an antibiotic. Baytril or Amoxicillian will do the trick. Keep her in a warm, dark, quiet room. It sounds like the wing is broken or dislocated. I'd seriously recommend taking her to a vet. Shock is a serious threat and deadly, and wings are very difficult to properly splint (being hollow).

 

[nealsbirds]

Thank you for your response, I have take pictures of my chicken cooper, bandaged and without a bandage.I have a call into an avian vet. She seems to be doing better,I am still handfeeding her and giving her gatorade also.

 

[MoodyChicken]

Good! Well if she's survived the night she's probably not going into shock. So you've gotten over that bridge. Now your worry is getting that wing healed without an infection setting in. Offer her her favorite treats. My birds love cheese, and it's high in protein, that'd be a good thing to feed her.

 

[FarmerDenise]

I agree with jjthink's advice. I have found Rescue Remedy very helpfull for all my animals. I will put a drop on the comb as soon as I find my injured bird. I will also place a drop on the beak so it drips onto the tongue. Sometimes it is just too difficult to get them to drink it.
Once the bleeding has stopped you can give your chicken aspirin (one baby aspirin to a pint of water).
With puncture wounds from dog bites, it is best to get the proper antibiotic from a vet if you can. I am glad to see that you have contacted one.
Those puncture wounds can cause nasty infections that are difficult to heal on their own, but not impossible. I didn't see a puncture wound that my rooster had on his wing until about a week after he got bit, by then it was infected. I was able to clean it out and kept cleaning it with saline. He recovered fully.
Wishing for a speady recovery for your chicken.

 

[nealsbirds]

I just wanted to update the health of hen [ cooper]. She seems to be healing now, it's been hard. I called the bird vet,and he told me he would provide a script for baytril. When I got to his office he tried to charge me a percription fee that I could not afford,when we spoke on the phone this was not mentioned. I will never use that money grubber again. Thank God for my dog vet, he sold me the whole bottle of baytril for 50.00. Anyway my hens wing was messed up bad,it smelled bad and had begain to turn dark. I amputated it on saturday,she didn't seem to suffer.She is improving so much better now. I am giving her a small amount of trammadol for pain. I need to figure out how to make a suspintion out of the injectable baytril,so any help would be appricated .My vet that gave me the baytril, dos'nt know anything about mixing it for birds.

 

[jjthink]

I've always used the liquid kind that is given orally so I'm afraid I don't have the answer to your question.

I'm sorry to hear the infection cost her her wing. She might have lost it anyway but time is of the essence with infection and the old baytril may not have been viable.

Hope things look up for her from here.

Thanks for updating us.
JJ

 

[MoodyChicken]

Give it to her orally. What's the percentage? You want to mix it with corn syrup at a certain rate. If you give it to her concentrated, it will burn her throat.

 

[thebritt]

I have found the healing powers of chickens from gnarly wounds to be absolutely incredible. I took care of a friend's hen that had had all her back skin completely ripped off by a raccoon! She had literally been skinned! I washed the areas 3 times/day with Batadine solutution the color of an amber beer. Too concentrated and the flesh dies and cannot regenerate. Also pretty painful stuff. Peroxide does well too. The main thing is to allow air access to the wounds as covering actually seals in any infection. If you've ever had a cat or dog with an abcess, the vet probably put in a drain (rubber tubing) and flushed the open wound. I worked as a vet assistant for 3 1/2 yrs, so I've had quite a bit of experience with this kind of thing. I was often the flusher. In any event, that hen completely healed and even grew her feathers back! Keep a nose out for the rotting flesh smell, and step up flushing if detected. Sterile saline is a very good thing - less traumatic on the tissues if you have to flush a lot. Also, be sure any antibiotic ointment is applied very thinly - more is not better - so air gets to the wounds. Good Luck!