Duck Injury

[othrside]

I need some help with one of my ducks. I went outside to find her pinned under some scrap lumber with a nail. It looked like the nail had peierced her skin. Not quite sure how it happend. I pulled the nail out and brought her inside. Ive cleaned the wound up with betadine. Need some advice on what to do next. Since this is my first post I cant attach the images but the links are below. Thanks

http://img26.imageshack.us/i/photo2jt.jpg/
http://img8.imageshack.us/i/photoqu.jpg/

 

[lizzyandTreversrescue]

ust make her comfortable and wrap it if u can

 

[othrside]

Any suggestions on what I should use to wrap it?

 

[lizzyandTreversrescue]

guase

 

[scratch'n'peck]

if the gauze doesn't stay in place well you can also put some of that vet wrap that is available in the horse section and comes in bright colors. put neosporein or polysporein with out the pain reliever on it at least once a day too. If the would starts to ooze pus or she seems to be showing signs that infection has spread you could probably give her an injection of antibiotic. We gave a chicken an injection of penecilin from the feed store and she responded well, but you may want to do a little research on ducks and antibiotics first. Hopefully it isn't such a deep wound that the neosporein will prevent any infection.

 

[BarnGoddess01]

I don't know ducks but if it was a chicken, I'd clean it up (saline or betadine) and leave it alone. I wouldn't try to wrap it. If it was any other species, since a nail was involved, I'd make sure tetanus vaccinations were up to date but I've never heard of tetanus vacs being given to poultry! If ducks are anything like chickens, they are remarkably good at healing. Just keep it clean. (Saline is better than betadine at this point. Less caustic to healing tissues.)

 

[Mtn Margie]

If it is just a puncture wound, you should leave it open. Depending on where it is, might be hard to wrap. How deep is the wound? Punctures heal from the inside out and so 2x day flushing for deep ones, other than that just flush it for a few days and make sure it stays clean and draining. Keep her from getting it wet and dirty. A puncture wound that closes up before it has healed will turn nasty and reopen with a smelly abcess or worse. You might have to pick the scab off if it closes before it heals.

 

[othrside]

Thanks for the help everyone. The puncture wasn't too deep, she caught the nail on her side and it went through maybe 1/2in of tissue, but it did go all the way through her side. The worst part of her injury seems to be were the skin is missing. Right now I've got it covered with neosporein. When the feed store opens up I'll see about getting her some antibiotics.