Emergency help: Injured chicken with swollen chest.

[Nandini]

Hello everyone,
Yesterday, our cat chased one of our ladies, Peggy against a fence where she may have either self-multilated herself by getting her head stuck in the gaps (most likely) or our might have bit her (not so likely, since we've had chicken for 1.5 years now and he's never hurt any of the girls. But then again, he's a cat). In any case Peggy has a scrape on one side of her head a cut on the other side. She was bleeding profusely. We applied pressure on the wounds to stop the bleeding. We have since isolated her and washed the wounds thrice with peroxide and treated it with antibiotic cream. She's clearly traumatized but walked a bit in the coop when we took her there for a while since she seemed to want to get out. She also drank some water and pecked at some food while there.We brought her back in after a bit and she's been in the doggy box since last night, except when we try to feed her some water and treat her wounds. Her wound seem to be healing - the weren't too deep I think. But she doesn't want to eat and makes a rasping sound when we try feed her water with a syringe. I read somewhere that we probably shouldn't be doing that. Any advice?
The most worrying is when I came back from work this evening I noticed her chest was really swollen and when I picked her up she seemed to be in pain and started making these weird gasping sounds when I gave her some water.
I'm worried she has an internal injury that we might have not noticed. Maybe a broken rib that's pressing against her lungs? Is there anything we can do that doesn't involve taking her to the doctor (which honestly, I can't afford)?
Please advice.
Any help would be most appreciated.

 

[ten chicks]

Watch the water,you may have accidentally aspirated her(water in lungs),too much and she can die. Any wound to the head will bleed profusely due to the amount of blood vessels.

Could the swollen chest be her crop? Stop the syringe hydrating,leave her for awhile,see if she stops gasping. Keep her warm. I am not going to suggest doing anything to her until she is stabilized,for at this point anything could push her over.

Tube feeding is the safest way to feed/hydrate a ill/injured bird.

Post her condition in a couple of hours,hopefully she will improve and we can suggest treatment.

 

[Eggcessive]

I'm thinking that she may have subcutaneous emphysema, which is a leaking air sac from an injury. Sometimes you can withdraw air from the chest with an 18 gauge needle stuck just under the skin--the air can be pushed out with drawn with a syringe. Here are two links to read: http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publications/6/diseases-of-poultry/223/subcutaneous-emphysema
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/171121/deflating-subcutaneous-emphysema

 

[Nandini]

Thank you Chicken Obesessed and Eggcessive.
If she hasn't eaten much in about 36 hours could the swelling still be her crop. I wish that's all it is, but I suspect it's not. I'm suspecting it's subcutaneous emphysema. But I suppose it would be best to wait till she's a little stronger. Is it ok to keep her in the doggy box all day? Do you thin she needs to stretch a bit from time to time? Never done tube feeding. Will have to look it up. Poor Peggy. She's a rescued battery cage chicken. I really hope she'll make it.

P:S We've put blankets around the dog cage and a room heater to keep her warm. We have the cage in our guest room in the house -locked away from the darn cat

 

[Nandini]

Clearly I'm new to this thread and any online forums for that matter. Not sure if you got this, so sending it as a reply again.

Thank you Chicken Obesessed and Eggcessive.
If she hasn't eaten much in about 36 hours could the swelling still be her crop? I wish that's all it is, but I suspect it's not. I'm suspecting it's subcutaneous emphysema. But I suppose it would be best to wait till she's a little stronger. Is it ok to keep her in the doggy box all day? Do you thin she needs to stretch a bit from time to time? Never done tube feeding. Will have to look it up. Poor Peggy. She's a rescued battery cage chicken. I really hope she'll make it.

P:S We've put blankets around the dog cage and a room heater to keep her warm. We have the cage in our guest room in the house -locked away from the darn cat

 

[ten chicks]

Thank you Chicken Obesessed and Eggcessive.
If she hasn't eaten much in about 36 hours could the swelling still be her crop. I wish that's all it is, but I suspect it's not. I'm suspecting it's subcutaneous emphysema. But I suppose it would be best to wait till she's a little stronger. Is it ok to keep her in the doggy box all day? Do you thin she needs to stretch a bit from time to time? Never done tube feeding. Will have to look it up. Poor Peggy. She's a rescued battery cage chicken. I really hope she'll make it.

P:S We've put blankets around the dog cage and a room heater to keep her warm. We have the cage in our guest room in the house -locked away from the darn cat

Her crop is located on her chest and to the right. It could very well be subcutaneous emphysema,which is a result of air penetration into subcutaneous tissue through a skin wound or to some damage to a part of respiratory system. Treatment is puncturing several areas of skin with a hypodermic needle(recommended 18G needle) until air is reduced,then administer tetracycline to prevent secondary infection. Does she have a pallor look to her skin?

 

[Nandini]

Her comb was pale yesterday and this morning, but seems to have regained color now. Skin is a bit pale but not frighteningly so.

 

[ten chicks]

Neglected to mention,if you are going to puncture skin,make sure you sterilize the injection sites prior to puncturing.

 

[ten chicks]

Her comb was pale yesterday and this morning, but seems to have regained color now. Skin is a bit pale but not frighteningly so.

Pale skin was probably due to the stress from attack/injury.

 

[Eggcessive]

Withdrawal of air from subcutaneous emphysema or leaking air sac may be done by use of an 18 gauge needle into the skin, then squeezing the air out by pressing on the enlarged area of skin. This may re-accumulate and have to be repeated on a daily basis, or from time to time. After awhile many cases will stop collecting air under the skin. Sometimes this can be a real emergency, but if she is resting okay, she may be able to eat and drink.