Help!! My chicken was attacked by a cat!!

[Newbie to chickens]

I was watching my 10 week old chick as she was free ranging when all of a sudden this random cat jumped out of nowhere and grabbed her in it’s jaws and started running away, I chased it and managed to wrestle my chicken out in under a minute. Her wings are injured and bleeding, but not dripping. She’s a bit shocked and all she wants to do is rest and cuddle. Are these injuries dangerous? What should I do? Please help.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

First give her some sugar water for shock, 1 teaspoon sugar to a cup of water, and put her in a fairly dark place.

Do you have Veterycin? If not can you make some saline solution? You should wash her injuries with mild soap like Dawn dish soap and warm water and rinse well, or just use a warm wet washcloth. Are her injuries deep or superficial? Might have to trim feathers to see well. When you get her cleaned up, coat wounds with original Neosporin and keep her quiet. She may not eat tonight but tomorrow provide her regular food, clean water and grit. Let us know how she does.

Every day rinse wounds with Veterycin or sterile saline, pat dry and coat with the Neosporin twice daily. Don't let the wounds dry out. She'll heal.

 

[Newbie to chickens]

I noticed one injury the skin has come off exposing flesh! Is this dangerous?

 

[BigBlueHen53]

View attachment 4007073
I noticed one injury the skin has come off exposing flesh! Is this dangerous?

Not if you treat as described. Chickens are amazingly resilient and survive sometimes horrendous injuries. Protect her from flies and from other chickens (and cats!) and she should recover just fine.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

The triple antibiotic ointment (Neosporin) should be Original formula and should NOT contain pain reliever, which is toxic to chickens.

 

[Newbie to chickens]

okay thank you so much for the quick reply and advice… making saline solution now and going to buy neosporin

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Because these were cat bites, cleaning thoroughly with soap is very important, as is the twice daily treatments. We don't want infection setting in. Good luck!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

@Eggcessive, @azygous, did I miss anything?

 

[Newbie to chickens]

she’s looking ok for now, resting well, but I just realized she has a lot of these tiny mites all over her! How do I get rid of them?

 

[azygous]

Mites and lice are often confused. It helps to know which you're chicken has. If you can, get a magnifying lens and look at one of the bugs and count the legs. If it has eight, you have mites. If it has only six legs, it's a louse.

Both can be treated with permethrin, either the dusting powder or the liquid. If you have mites, then the coop must be treated since the mites live in the coop walls while lice only live on the chickens.