Help my 4 wk old cornish rock got attacked by my neighbor's cat

[justlearning]

Help. Last night my neighbor's cat attacked my flock and got one of my 4 wk cornish rocks. She is missing feathers on her head and there is damage to the wing area--it looks like muscle may be exposed. We brought her in last night and she actually made it thru the night (didn't have high hopes). She is also eating and drinking. Is there anything I can put on her wound? I own Watkins Petro-Carbo which has been around since 1868 so I it is possible they used it on animals. Or what should I have on hand for chicken injuries? I am new to this. We also think we know where she got into the fenced in area and will be fixing that today.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

I'm sorry for the trouble, you're doing right to fortify your security after this. It's a good sign that your chick is eating & drinking. I've seen chickens pull through some awful injuries, often by just providing warmth & seclusion. It also helps to wash the wound well, especially since it was a meat-eating animal bite. You can put regular people Neosporin on it, or an animal product like Wound-cote or Alu-shield. That second product comes in an aerosol can, I've heard good results with it. You can boost her strength to help her heal by giving her extras like cooked egg, and putting a bit of sugar or electrolytes & vitamins in her water. I wish you & your chick the best of success!

 

[AKsmama]

I'm sorry your chicken got hurt

This is what I would do, and have done, for my own injured chickens. You can clean the wound with some saline wound wash- if you don't have any, you can Google how to make your own. Pat the area dry and apply Neosporin (or any triple antibiotic ointment) without pain relief. Keep her isolated until she heals- you don't want the others picking at her wounds. It's possible she may need injectable antibiotics as well, but I would hold off until you see if the cleaning and topical abx will help. I had a chicken with a horrible mating injury all along her left side with lots of muscle exposed (we think it happened over and over again and she just didn't show any signs of being injured until it really got bad) and this is what I did and she is fine and dandy now.

It's good that she is eating and drinking. Good luck!