- Aug 1, 2009
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I've been reading all the previous posts from others whose chickens have had similar injuries, but I'm wondering if I've done the right thing with ours.
Yesterday, Jasmine (9 month old Australorp--sweet girl and a wonderful layer) jumped the fence in the garden and was bitten by our dog (he's previously been so good around our hens). I found her lying on the ground and initially thought she was dead since she was not moving, and our pup was just lying next to her with a look on his face, like, "Oh, S*&#!"
I took her to the vet, and she was looking very shocky. She has a lot of feathers missing, and a gash on the back of her neck about an inch and a half long and half-inch wide, down to the muscle, and a puncture on one wing. The vet seemed to think that this could be a potentially survivable injury and she did not have any other obvious injuries. He cleaned her up and gave her a shot of dexamethasone for the shock.
That was about 24 hours ago. I've been giving her trimethoprim-sulfa twice a day and applying furasin ointmnt to her wounds. She's isolated and is in a nest of towels in a dog crate in our spare room. She's awake and responds slowly, and seems a little more alert today. She won't eat or drink, and I've been feeding her with a syringe (pedialyte, along with some mashed egg yolk and some yogurt).
She has not pooped since this happened, and looks like she's tried to stand once or twice, but gets up a little and then just plops down.
I'm feeling like I should maybe have euthanized her yesterday and don't want to prolong her suffering, but I also did not want to kill our beloved girl if she could survive and go back to looking for grubs.
Any suggestions or thoughts would be be so appreciated. Needless to say, the rest of the girls are confined to the run till we can make the fence taller (and think about wing clipping).
Yesterday, Jasmine (9 month old Australorp--sweet girl and a wonderful layer) jumped the fence in the garden and was bitten by our dog (he's previously been so good around our hens). I found her lying on the ground and initially thought she was dead since she was not moving, and our pup was just lying next to her with a look on his face, like, "Oh, S*&#!"
I took her to the vet, and she was looking very shocky. She has a lot of feathers missing, and a gash on the back of her neck about an inch and a half long and half-inch wide, down to the muscle, and a puncture on one wing. The vet seemed to think that this could be a potentially survivable injury and she did not have any other obvious injuries. He cleaned her up and gave her a shot of dexamethasone for the shock.
That was about 24 hours ago. I've been giving her trimethoprim-sulfa twice a day and applying furasin ointmnt to her wounds. She's isolated and is in a nest of towels in a dog crate in our spare room. She's awake and responds slowly, and seems a little more alert today. She won't eat or drink, and I've been feeding her with a syringe (pedialyte, along with some mashed egg yolk and some yogurt).
She has not pooped since this happened, and looks like she's tried to stand once or twice, but gets up a little and then just plops down.
I'm feeling like I should maybe have euthanized her yesterday and don't want to prolong her suffering, but I also did not want to kill our beloved girl if she could survive and go back to looking for grubs.
Any suggestions or thoughts would be be so appreciated. Needless to say, the rest of the girls are confined to the run till we can make the fence taller (and think about wing clipping).
