Dog attack

[Sue Gremlin]

I hope I did the right thing, what do you guys think?
A dog got to my chickens tonight and wounded one, killed another.

The wounded one was unable to stand when I found her, I picked her up and put her in a warm dark space for about an hour, and she regained her footing. I gave her a thorough once-over and found a couple of small bite wounds and one large tear in her skin under her wing, the hole is about 3 cm across. Nothing broken and no apparent penetrating injuries.

I opted not to stitch the big wound, I plucked what feathers I could from the edges, rinsed it out with saline and sprinkled some oxytetracyline powder on it.

I gave her a shot of Tylan and put her in one of the nest boxes.

Should I have stitched her up?

 

[ashlandco]

Oh no! I’m so sorry

 

[Angeline1978]

I had a hen one time get cut open with my dog. I rinsed kept meds on and she healed just fine. Keep an eye on it and keep clean. It will probably get kind of nasty but it will heal. Her cut was about 2 / 2 1/2". A careful eye and she should be fine. Once a dog kills a chicken you have to watch the dog more than likely will do it again. I'm sorry for your loss, it's a difficult thing.

 

[Angeline1978]

I've been on here for a while now. I have read a lot of problems from all over. Out of all the problems I've read, one problem is always the same. "The vet here does not do chickens". Is there a vet that does work with chickens? I'm telling you, they could make a million and never touch another animal.

 

[SW31]

You did the right thing. We have a lovely vet who is starting to treat chickens but will contact experts if she’s not sure. She first injected them with steroids to manage their shock( they were very badly injured) and then started on antibiotic injections which we then did at home. We also had to clean the wounds daily and apply an antibiotic type cream to the wounds. That was in the beginning on January this year. We added more protein into their diet, such as ground beef and chopped up boiled eggs, to help them heal better. Due to lack of feathers and cold weather they couldn’t go back outside until mid March; they were a nightmare in the house but we could watch them carefully and tell how they were recovering. It was surprising just how poorly their combs were - very pinky grey colour and very droopy. Now they are bright red and standup properly.
They are now fine and the worst injured has almost re-grown all her feathers, just a few still missing. It takes time but they will be fine with lots of TLC,

 

[Ruralhideaway]

Sometimes finding a large animal vet can work out better. Horse and cow vets find themselves seeing chickens on their rounds here and there and seem to be more practical often.

Sounds like this wound will be fine though with a little care.

 

[Sue Gremlin]

I've been on here for a while now. I have read a lot of problems from all over. Out of all the problems I've read, one problem is always the same. "The vet here does not do chickens". Is there a vet that does work with chickens? I'm telling you, they could make a million and never touch another animal.

I can't say I can blame them. Chickens are more or less "disposable" and there's no money in them. It's hard enough to find a veterinarian who sees livestock. My vet has her own chickens and has made the effort to learn about poultry medicine, but that kind of thing is more production-related than pet-related. I had her look at one of my hens with a static crop and she sort of shrugged. I totally get it. I just have to be able to doctor them myself, or euthanize as necessary.

 

[Angeline1978]

She is going to look and feel very bad for few days. She not only has stress from being attacked but now adrenaline gone pain kicks in. Just keep eye on her.

 

[Sue Gremlin]

For anyone who is in a similar situation, my dog-attacked hen is doing so much better today, two days after the attack. She's still walking gingerly , but she's eating and drinking and seems much better. This has been a good learning experience for me about chickens and large skin wounds.

 

[Sue Gremlin]

Not quite 2 weeks later and I can't even tell which chicken it was. The skin tear was complete, when I lifted the skin, I could see meat and fat. I thought it was a very serious injury.
Chickens are tough!