HELP! Attacked by Roo, badly hurt

[devildogtigress]

Hi! I'm new, and this is my first post...what an introductory post. :-( To start off, we have land, and thus horses and chickens. We LOVE our chickens, and have 7 total between laying hens and pullets. We have the COOLEST hen, a black mix of who knows what who lays technically brown eggs, but they truly appear to be pink. Fantastic. She follows us around like a dog, begging to be picked up. She's a hoot and we adore her.

Okay, so back to the topic...

I was looking at a couple of horses last night. They are adopted mustangs who are in serious need of an experienced home. The owners are offering to give them to me (as in "free" of course, there's no such thing as a free horse LOL).

While I was there working with these horses, to get a feel for how much gentling they've had, and how receptive they are to humans and a human placing themselves in a position of authority over them (like the herd leader, aka alpha, would...something the owners who are total green horns when it comes to farm life of all sorts did not do...they have tried to win them over with love and treats like a dog...and have the same attitude towards their highly aggressive roo). This roo they had (the ONLY bird they owned, I might add) has attached himself to the horses. He's decided the horses are his "flock" and his highly protective of them. As I'm asserting myself to the horses as the dominant "horse" the roo had a fit. This roo, as the owners warned he would, attacked me! He kept trying but the owners shooed him away until the walked around the house, then he chased me down and dug those spurs and his beak into my knee over and over and over. It was at least a dozen times.

I have several autoimmune disorders. One of them causes a lot of inflammation in my joints and causes excruciating pain. I live on 40 mg. of hydrocodone per day plus have a fentanyl patch on to keep a constant dose of pain medication in my system. As a result of this attack I have a hole in my jeans w/ blood all over them, plus two puncture marks in my knee cap. It's badly swollen and despite all my pain medication my knee hurts so badly I can't put full weight on it and it hurts to bend it.

I'm traveling out of town for the weekend, so I spoke with my doctors and they both said to keep it clean, take it easy, watch for infection but honestly, they laughed when I told them I was attacked by a rooster. *smh* So, my question to you, fellow chicken owners, what else should I watch for???

Thanks for your time and help!

Gen

 

[CountryKitty]

Ditto everything CMV stated. A tiny pocket of damaged tissue that doesn't heal as quickly as the rest can contain a small breeding pool of bacteria that can form an abcess quite a while after the original injury appears to be healing well...even sometimes after the suface has completely healed over. Glad you seem to be on the road to recovery, but do be careful with the injury--especially after resuming your immunosuppressants.

Y'know, I'd say that roo needs to spend the night in time out--along with some potatoes, onions, garlic, peas, and wine--in the crockpot...but I've yet to see a crock big enough to stick his owners in with him.

 

[CMV]

As living in a family with a great number of autoimmune disorders, go get it checked out. I know you are leaving, so maybe they can get you in before your trip. If not have it looked at when you get back. I am unsure if you are on any immunosuppression therapy or not, but if you are this is even more important. Chickens are nasty. They are constantly digging around in the dirt and they are filthy creatures as a result. You are at serious risk for a latent infection.

If you can't see a doc before your trip I would recommend soaking that knee as often as you can. Shower first and then run a bath to soak the knee in an epsom salt bath. Those punctures need to stay clean. Soaking will help to flush any debris out, and will help to heal the wound from the inside out. You don't want it to heal outside in because something may get trapped in there and cause an infection/abscess. With your compromised immune system this could be very dangerous for you.

Good luck.

 

[Haruna]

Thank you flock mistress, i had learn alot out of what you have discussed on this issue. What i need to ask was that, even if the injury stay long he should use a salt to wash it? It wount hurt him?

 

[devildogtigress]

Thank you for your help! I'm sorry for my tardy response. We were, as stated, traveling. I woke yesterday morning and it was obvious the wound had become infected. I called my Rheumatologist, and was told as I'd been pulled off the two previous meds 2 weeks ago and hadn't yet started the new one (Methotrexate) that I shouldn't be immune suppressed any longer. With that, my husband and I decided to proceed with the plans. My knee was very red and warm to the touch as well as swollen. As I had 300 miles total to cover that day, I set my purse on the passenger seat to ensure easy access to my healing oils (I am a big believer in highly pure essential oils for healing...having personally witnessed some amazing incidences of healing and recovery with them...for anyone interested, I use the oils from www.youngliving.com). Every 45 min. through out the day, for aproximately 12-14 applications, I applied 1-2 drops each of: Thieves, Purification, Lavender, Peppermint, Pan Away, and Frankincense and massaged them into my whole knee. Finally, once in my hotel and settled in for the evening, I sat and applied the oils and applied a hot compress to help open my pores and encourage further absorption by my skin of the oils and went to bed early to get much rest.

I awoke this morning to find the infection completely healed!

CVM - All day, however, I was reflecting upon what you said. When my husband met me at the hotel we discussed what you said at great length, and decided if it wasn't any better in the morning, then I would go to either a walk-in clinic or the Emergency Room. Thank you SO MUCH for your help! I really do appreciate it.

 

[CMV]

Please keep monitoring the area closely until completely healed. Any signs of an infection and you need to have it seen. You might consider taking your temperature each eve until it is gone. Also make yourself familiar with the signs of a latent infection- lethargy, malaise, night sweats, changes in sleep patterns, an intermittent fever, etc. Thankfully you are on a break from your immunosuppression therapy or this could have been much worse. You need to watch out for nasty roos in the future! Or carry around a sturdy stick.

Haruna- salt water soaks do not hurt unless you are putting too high a concentration of salt in it. Salt soaks and saline flushes are the current standard of care for wounds.

Good luck.

 

[devildogtigress]

Please keep monitoring the area closely until completely healed. Any signs of an infection and you need to have it seen. You might consider taking your temperature each eve until it is gone. Also make yourself familiar with the signs of a latent infection- lethargy, malaise, night sweats, changes in sleep patterns, an intermittent fever, etc. Thankfully you are on a break from your immunosuppression therapy or this could have been much worse. You need to watch out for nasty roos in the future! Or carry around a sturdy stick.

Haruna- salt water soaks do not hurt unless you are putting too high a concentration of salt in it. Salt soaks and saline flushes are the current standard of care for wounds.

Good luck.

Yes, I have already been doing all of the above. Thank you SO MUCH for all of your input and help. I REALLY appreciate it. I've been using this site as a resource when searching for topics for a year and a half, since we started building our own flock...now that I've posted, you can expect more.

 

[wingstone]

I to have an auto immune disease, and have in the past followed all of what the doctors told me, untill I had an infection that did not want to go away, since then I use my own remedy on all those puncture wounds (no getting away from them on a farm).....It is as simple as a shot of whiskey for me,pour some on the wound(be prepared, it will burn) and if I have any left over in that shot glass, I drink it to stop the screaming from the burning>>>>I know this way is not for everyone but it works for me....Haven't had anything get infected since.