Dog got one of our chickens --- she can't walk now

[aileen]

1) What type of bird , age and weight: Delaware, 2-3 months, not sure on weight
2) What is the behavior, exactly: not able to walk
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms? 15 minutes
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms? no
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma. no
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation. Dog had her cornered
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all. Irrelevant
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc. None yet
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far? Just rest
10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet? Whatever is best for her.
11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
12) Describe the housing/bedding in use. Raised coop, run enclosed with chicken wire.

The above questionairre didn't seem all that relevant, but I tried to answer anyway.

These types of emergencies tend to happen on off hours when the vet is closed, don't they?

Long story short, our dog got to one of our chickens. When I got there, he had her cornered. She was laying down and he was hovering over her (it happened so fast I don't remember if he was barking, nudging, trying to bite, etc). When I got him, pulled him out and got to her, she was still laying down. I picked her up and we calmed her for several minutes. We checked for any wounds and didn't see any.

We gently set her down and she flaps her wings and tries to walk, but her feet don't work. One seems like it MIGHT have a little strength, but the other seems to be completely unusable. She has not been showing any obvious signs of pain (do chickens show signs of pain?) I have moved the legs and felt around for any obvious broken bones or fractures, but couldn't feel anything.

She is panting a little (probably from shock, as this just happened less than 15 minutes ago) and we put her by herself in the coop and locked the others out. We're hoping maybe she's still in shock and rest will bring back some mobility.

Does anyone have any advice? We have offered food and water, she is uninterested.

The vet doesn't open until tomorrow at 8am, but I'd love any advice anyone can give until then. I feel so terrible about this and my husband is going over the coop again and again and doing his best to secure it so we don't have a repeat situation..

 

[bj taylor]

our dog had one of ours in her mouth & hubby rescued. only visible wounds were on her back - scraped & some feathers lost. she acted like she was on her last breath. i didn't expect her to last the night. i put her in one of the nest boxes, medicated her back & put the heat light on her. i figured she was in shock at the very least & that makes body temp go down. i made sure water was near her.
the other 3 remaining birds seemed to comfort her & made no attempt to peck or otherwise harrass her so i thought she might have more comfort being left in the coop with them.
the other 3 took turns laying with her even though it was too hot for them in that nest box.
she acted like she couldn't walk. i figured she had internal injuries or a belly wound.
she was alive the next morning & got better everyday. she's fine now & no left over problems.

i think shock kills them as readily as actual wounds.

good luck with your girl.

 

[WI FarmChick]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/296632/wound-care

 

[aileen]

Thank you so much! I'm hoping that our story is similar to yours and she's ok by tomorrow. We had the other 2 birds in there with her and they weren't being mean, but they were clamoring all over her and laying on her so we figured we'd give her a little bit of alone time before letting the others in for the night.

 

[aileen]

Just a little update for anyone who is interested and maybe someone who is searching for a similar situation.

We separated her until the sun started to go down and then let the other 2 birds in the coop to sleep. When checked on her this morning, she was still laying on the floor with her legs tucked under. This made me feel a little better because for a while when we'd lay her down she would just lay with her legs straight out and to the side.

I scooped her up and put her down in the run so she wouldn't fall down the ramp. After watching for a few minutes she seems to be healing a bit. To walk she kind of uses one wing to balance and raises herself (using both feet) just barely, maybe 1/2" and waddles around using her feet and legs to walk on. This is a good sign and I'm hoping as time goes by she will be able to lift herself all the way up and walk.

I think we're going to skip the visit to the vet and see how she progresses on her own since she's already doing much better than last night.

 

[Moonblink's Farm]

She will be fine just time that is all it takes