Dog attack!

[mermaid_of_the_farm]

Is she in the house? If so, she should not need heat. In the coop, 39 - 40°F is not cold for chickens, she'll be fine without added heat.

She's in a small, cozy coop set aside for grow-outs and things like this. I thought about bringing her in though. I'll hold off on the heat then. Thank you!

 

[mermaid_of_the_farm]

Update: Sweetie survived the night. I sprayed blucoat on her this morning but I noticed a foul smell, kind of fishy. I gave her a warm water soak bath and made sure to rinse her wounds as best I could. It's so hard to see everything with all those feathers! Anyway, I blow dried her and did another round of blucoat. She's eating, drinking, walking around just fine. Should I be doing anything more? It's the smell that concerns me - is that normal?
Here is a better picture of her tail that looks like it's half ripped off.

 

[Anon112]

Poor thing. The eating/drinking/moving around is a great sign.

Continue to monitor the smell---can you tell how deep the injury is? (In other words, do you just sort of see muscle where the skin is ripped?).

That will start to close up, but it will take a lot of time. I'll just reiterate to keep an eye out for feathers starting to get stuck in the wound as it heals. It can cause infection and it's painful for them when you have to pull one out.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Update: Sweetie survived the night. I sprayed blucoat on her this morning but I noticed a foul smell, kind of fishy. I gave her a warm water soak bath and made sure to rinse her wounds as best I could. It's so hard to see everything with all those feathers! Anyway, I blow dried her and did another round of blucoat. She's eating, drinking, walking around just fine. Should I be doing anything more? It's the smell that concerns me - is that normal?

Trim the feathers away from the wound so you can see it better and also check for any wounds that may be hidden and need extra cleaning.

A foul odor can indicate infection, so you'll want to clean the wound again really well. Chlorhexidine (Hibiclens) or Povidone Iodine can be found at stores like Walmart, CVS, etc. I would use one of those for cleaning the wound very well, then apply triple antibiotic ointment to the wound.

BluKote is o.k., but it makes it hard to see and access wounds and doesn't always provide a moist coating like an antibiotic ointment does.

Eating/drinking and walking around is promising!

 

[Folly's place]

I'd avoid BluKote, and would much rather use Silvadene (brand name) which is an excellent antibiotic wound dressing, Rx only in the USA. Ask your veterinarian or MD about it. It's a sulfa drug, so handle with great care if you are allergic to sulfas.
Very recently we had an injured pullet, I think a hawk attack, who has recovered from similar injuries, using Silvadene. It was developed for use on burns.
Mary

 

[mermaid_of_the_farm]

Poor thing. The eating/drinking/moving around is a great sign.

Continue to monitor the smell---can you tell how deep the injury is? (In other words, do you just sort of see muscle where the skin is ripped?).

That will start to close up, but it will take a lot of time. I'll just reiterate to keep an eye out for feathers starting to get stuck in the wound as it heals. It can cause infection and it's painful for them when you have to pull one out.

It's very red and shiny but I don't see anything puncture like. It was a tiny dog and I saw him tearing feathers out so I am assuming her injuries are all tearing and pulling related rather than big punctures BUT it is hard to see. I did trim the feathers a little.

Should I be worried about blood feathers or can I cut freely? I am considering taking her to the vet. They are booking out 6 weeks but I will ask again and plead to make something work. That dogs tiny mouth did some very bad damage.

 

[mermaid_of_the_farm]

I'd avoid BluKote, and would much rather use Silvadene (brand name) which is an excellent antibiotic wound dressing, Rx only in the USA. Ask your veterinarian or MD about it. It's a sulfa drug, so handle with great care if you are allergic to sulfas.
Very recently we had an injured pullet, I think a hawk attack, who has recovered from similar injuries, using Silvadene. It was developed for use on burns.
Mary

Thank you, I think I am going to try harder to find a vet that will see her. Blukote was recommended a few times but I'm worried it's not enough. I will ask about Silvadene.

 

[Anon112]

Should I be worried about blood feathers or can I cut freely? I am considering taking her to the vet. They are booking out 6 weeks but I will ask again and plead to make something work. That dogs tiny mouth did some very bad damage.

I would definitely try to get her into the vet. If they are booked out that far, you might ask them if they know of any urgent cares that will see chickens.

For Candy (who had two rough puncture/tear injuries), the urgent care vet was able to clean the wound (debriding) and then gave me some silver cream and a short course of antibiotics.

And while this may not be 100% how it's supposed to work, if you email your vet pictures of the injuries, they might be willing to let you come and pick up some cream.

As for feather trimming, I haven't done much of it. Someone else can advise you on that part.

If you can get hold of saline spray, or if you're using betadine/iodine, it's probably worth doing at least one more really good rinse out, then rinse with saline once or twice a day until it crusts over.

 

[mermaid_of_the_farm]

I would definitely try to get her into the vet. If they are booked out that far, you might ask them if they know of any urgent cares that will see chickens.

For Candy (who had two rough puncture/tear injuries), the urgent care vet was able to clean the wound (debriding) and then gave me some silver cream and a short course of antibiotics.

And while this may not be 100% how it's supposed to work, if you email your vet pictures of the injuries, they might be willing to let you come and pick up some cream.

As for feather trimming, I haven't done much of it. Someone else can advise you on that part.

If you can get hold of saline spray, or if you're using betadine/iodine, it's probably worth doing at least one more really good rinse out, then rinse with saline once or twice a day until it crusts over.

Right now, I was able to get saline spray in addition to the blukote I picked up yesterday - so I will be doing my best with those. I will give her another bath soak, saline rinse, blukote and blow-dry session then cross my fingers. On monday I'll try your idea of emailing pictures so I can get some antibiotics.

The foul smell isn't noticeable anymore and she laid an egg this morning!