Help bear attack... should I euthanize?

[CCinVT]

One more comment:
You said bear attack.
Did you report this attack to the Police and or a Game Warden yet?
You probably need to, that way if the bear does start coming back, which they often will, and continues tearing stuff up, killing your animals, tearing up the house etc, you have it on record so that if it comes to a point where the bear needs to be killed, it's easier all around, over just .. hey out of the blue im reporting an attack and I had to kill it... type thing.

Depeding on your area etc, they might even be able to locate and trap the bear for you a lot of logistics and circumstances around that but, it's best to let the authorities know. Chicken today, maybe dog tomorrow?, kid who happened to be out when the bear was around? You just never know.

Aaron

The bear isnt considered a nuisance until you've tried electric fencing. The game wardens dont relocate the bears. She has been coming back daily, amd alot of people this season in my area are having issues with their birds. It's a long winter in Vermont. We wont shoot her but I know others in the area would. I'm just gonna do what I can to not contribute to her becoming comfortable around people. I will report it if it gets to that, but as of now I havent dont everything on my part yet to deter her.

 

[CCinVT]

That sounds like a good idea. When I had a lizard with MBD that wouldn't take calcium, I mixed the powder with water and put it in his mouth with a syringe. If you crush up the pills and mix them into a paste with water and use the syringe to give her drops, it may be easier to get them in her.

Also, can we have a photo of her full right leg? It's looks very discolored and has me a bit concerned.

Crushing then pills and making a slurry to syringe into her mouth worked great. I wish I had thought of it sooner maybe would have wasted as much trying it in food and such! Any ways i got every drop in her this time not just most of it!

 

[CCinVT]

Oh, good!

You may want to try gently debriding the necrotic (green) flesh with antibacterial wet wipes -- the "Wet Ones" brand has worked best for me. Gently wipe at the green flesh -- if it doesn't slough off now, it'll start doing it soon. She'll need that removed in order to heal. Hopefully the surface wounds will debride themselves over a few days as you wipe at them, but you may need to cut away the necrotic flesh if they don't. The punctures and deep wounds will debride on their own when you do the saline flushes.

The debridement is removing dead tissue, so it won't hurt her, it'll just be a little uncomfortable.

I've circled the areas that have necrotized.

View attachment 2679957View attachment 2679960View attachment 2679961View attachment 2679962

I've had to remove dead skin from a rooster v. Racoon wound once but it was more obvious (to me) skin flesh wounds that were peeled back but not so many punctures and rips. I've been gently wiping the areas with my gauze squares soaked with vetericyn. The area around her comb wiped away today and looks healthy, and I can see some areas around her tail area and under where the skin was peeled back is now hard. She just act in pain still understandably around her tail area. I have been letting a vetericyn soaked gauze sit on some of the areas to soften while I pack the iodine strips and then go back and wipe gently. Your circles help, and I did notice the green. On the section under her wing it looks like exposed muscle. So that green will start to wipe away too? Like I said these wounds ar deeper than I've felt with before. And u should keep packing the punctures but leave the one alone right?

 

[CCinVT]

You are doing a great job! Threads like this are so helpful for educating and preparing others for what to do in this kind of situation. I hope she pulls through. Her eyes look bright and wide open, which is a good sign. And her comb is a nice color.

Dunno what to make of that nasty poo. I am no expert on what blood in a chicken's poop looks like, that almost looks too brown to be blood? But maybe it's dried blood? Hopefully someone will chime in with what should be done. I dunno who to tag around here that has experience with this kind of injury. Maybe @Tesumph ? Last I heard they were training to be a vet. No idea if they are still active around here or not though.

I dunno if this will be beneficial at this stage or not, but this was one of the most helpful threads I've ever read on severe wound care in chickens. It's a lot to go through, but they talk a lot about necrotic skin vs healthy skin and how to know if a wound is healing well, which might be helpful for you:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/graphic-pics-wing-amputation-advise.1246736/

There's also some ideas on how to build a chicken sling and/or keep them from taking the gauze off, if that's still a struggle.

Thank you for the link! I'm hoping the poos are just from antibiotics and fighting infection and not something worse. She is very alert and clear eyed. Even fiesty a bit. I hope maybe because she hasn't been eatting much or any of her normal feed is contributing to the way her poo looks. I'm def keeping an eye on it, and doing my best to keep it clean. I'll check out the thread you sent though too thank you.

 

[ryneaeiel]

Crushing then pills and making a slurry to syringe into her mouth worked great. I wish I had thought of it sooner maybe would have wasted as much trying it in food and such! Any ways i got every drop in her this time not just most of it!

I'm so glad that worked! Hopefully the infection will begin to subside faster now.

On the section under her wing it looks like exposed muscle. So that green will start to wipe away too?

It's hard to tell honestly if that's necrotic tissue or an extreme bruise. The look of it honestly seems more like a bruise to me, but we'll have to wait and see. If it's necrotic, it will begin to slough and you can wipe it away.

And u should keep packing the punctures but leave the one alone right?

Yes, the only puncture you shouldn't pack is the one that struck through to her lung.

 

[Ascholten]

Out of curiosity. I used to raise bearded dragons and would from time to time get rescues that were in really bad shape and Id have to give them subcutaeous shots of antibiotics etc.

Is this something that is do able with a chicken too if you had to? Give her shots of antibiotics?

Aaron

 

[CCinVT]

I'm so glad that worked! Hopefully the infection will begin to subside faster now.


It's hard to tell honestly if that's necrotic tissue or an extreme bruise. The look of it honestly seems more like a bruise to me, but we'll have to wait and see. If it's necrotic, it will begin to slough and you can wipe it away.


Yes, the only puncture you shouldn't pack is the one that struck through to her lung.

I woke up early this morning, around 3:30 am and gave her another dose of the antibiotic. I added a small pinch of her feed to the mush to try and just get something in her. She is sort of messing with her food but not eatting it. The chunks from her feed made syringing it a bit trickier but I got the full dose in. This is her poo this morning. Still yellow.
The areas circled are def close to being able to rub and cut away maybe by tonight or tomorrow. I was able to remove some of the areas around the edges but not much. Just looks almost (as of the last bandage change. I can see in these photos I just took there is already more change in the wound) I can see some of it cracking at the edges, and in the gash. The gash is hollow up her spine direction under the skin. When I irrigate I am trying to aim it away from where the puncture went towards her lung. It seems that underneath the one wound (gash) connects/is open to the other (puncture). So Im also trying to keep the packing away from that puncture where it goes down into her body as opposed to under the skin of the gash where it goes up. I took the pictures below just now, but I think you can see where the gash/puncture is L shaped. I packed up, under, and fill in the gash, but am leaving the puncture. Is there saline that still might be getting into the puncture? I try to sort of protect, and catch the saline run off with gauze whole I do it.

The area under her wing I think was both bruise and narcotic tissue. This morning it was less the whole area deep blue and now more of that dark patch in concentrated area. I was able to rub off some in this area and at the gash of her tail. I have more time to spend on this step in the evening because I have someone to help watch my child. Its changing so fast now I wouldn't be surprised if I can get more off tonight. I found some tiny scissors so that should help me.
Shes resting this morning but still bright eyed. I think she was handled alot yesterday.
Both times I did her bandages she pulled them off so I redid them. This morning I used the wrap to hold the gauze on again so she couldnt pull off her little bandage cape. Sometimes she leaves it alone other times not so much.

 

[HollyWoozle]

I don't have enough knowledge to comment on the wound photos but in terms of her fussing with her food and not eating, is that her normal feed and egg? Have you tried anything else? Sometimes with poorly chickens I have made the egg into an omelette and sliced it into little worms (the lengths we go to for animals sometimes!) and that has tempted them or sliced raw liver into worms if you can get some. Otherwise something like ham, tuna (I rinse it), meal worms or anything nutritious. I feel like she has to keep up the eating and drinking in order to heal. I also read on here about someone making the normal chicken feed into a sort of dough by wetting it, then rolling it into little balls and popping them into their beak to swallow - I thought that was a clever idea!

You are really doing an amazing job.

 

[CCinVT]

I don't have enough knowledge to comment on the wound photos but in terms of her fussing with her food and not eating, is that her normal feed and egg? Have you tried anything else? Sometimes with poorly chickens I have made the egg into an omelette and sliced it into little worms (the lengths we go to for animals sometimes!) and that has tempted them or sliced raw liver into worms if you can get some. Otherwise something like ham, tuna (I rinse it), meal worms or anything nutritious. I feel like she has to keep up the eating and drinking in order to heal. I also read on here about someone making the normal chicken feed into a sort of dough by wetting it, then rolling it into little balls and popping them into their beak to swallow - I thought that was a clever idea!

You are really doing an amazing job.

Thank you. I have been keeping normal feed in with her at all times. Scrambled egg she will eat everytime, and also sunflower seeds, and rice. So today shes eaten some rice, and I float the sunflower seeds in her water so she drinks some while she fishes them out of the water. Everything else she just seems to sample. Oatmeal which she usually loves. Oatmeal with mealworms. She picked out some of the worms. Cherry tomatoes,pear, wet food at first cause she had a chipped beak too, but she seems to have adjusted now. We don't have meat in the house, but I do have a couple cans of tuna I keep on hand for our cat so I could try that. I'm making sure she is getting some food. I stringed her food with her medicine last time. I brought her outside for a bit yesterday and she ate grass, and I'll do that again today. So I wouldn't say shes lost her appetite, but certainly is taking some reminding to get her to nibble things.

 

[HollyWoozle]

Sounds like you are doing all you can! I had one who just wanted to eat dry oats all the time and nothing else when she was sick.