Hen attacked by raccoon, neck torn open! Help, please!

[GoldenBasilisk]

Last night, a raccoon sneaked into our coop, grabbed one of our adult hens and bit into her neck. We scared it off, but not in time to save her from her wound. Here's the details:

• Her neck is extremely torn open, bone, fat, and muscles are exposed.
• She is having some difficulty breathing, as I sat with her all last night, and about half the time, she was making very loud, painful breathing noises. I think her breathing tube might be punctured.
• We brought her inside and is sitting in a warm box in our bathroom.
• We've gently cleaned her neck wound with watered down hydrogen peroxide, and this morning, we've cleaned it with saline wash.
• She is still moving around, standing, moving her head and neck and making soft, strained sounds.

A relative who deals with animal emergencies as well recommended that we use penicillin on her neck. We also will most likely to move her to a dog crate once we get our hands on one. I've set up a small water dish in her box with some electrolytes and vitamins in it to help with the shock.

The previous night, another one of our chickens was found dead in the morning, and we thought it must have been a stray cat since our area is somewhat infested with them, but now we know it is a raccoon. Our remaining chicken (We only had three) is being locked up in the coop at night with the doors locked and the chicken door latched and obstructed with a brick to weigh it down. I hope this is enough.

What do you recommend? She may not make it, but we want to try as hard as we can to treat her and help our little lady heal.

Do you want me to try to upload pictures? Let me know if you need them. Thank you!!!

 

[silkiemother]

yes pictures would be helpful,and don't cover the wounds,that traps bacteria and aids infection.is she still with you?can she eat or drinks at all?

 

[DesertBird]

Poor thing! Sorry for your previous loss and hoping your current one gets better. I'd say pictures would be very helpful in this situation; is there a lot of blood loss still? Do you have a vet nearby?

 

[GoldenBasilisk]

No, she doesn't seem to keep bleeding, despite her open wound. We have the wound open to the air and have contacted a vet. We will pick up a shot penicillin to administer to her, and we asked about an antibiotic salve or something like that as well.

She's been standing in her box and moving a bit, but I haven't seen her drink her water yet. I haven't offered her food. Do you think I should?

I will upload pictures very soon.

 

[DesertBird]

You could try offering it; anything to keep her strength up would probably help her. Getting her to the vet ASAP is your best bet - such an injury doesn't sound like one easy to patch up, I'm afraid, but if she's still moving around, she seems like she has a strong will to live. If she isn't drinking or eating, you might have to give her some manually by dripping it onto her beak or even some nutri-drench.

 

[silkiemother]

will she eat plain scrambled eggs?

 

[GoldenBasilisk]

I apologize for the pictures if they are not very high quality. Penny (the hen) was not interested in holding still. If these do not suffice, I can try to take more.

Here she is in her box. She's in our tub. The weird yellow thing is her water dish. I just taped it to the box so it's at the right level for her.


Here is the front:

And here is where it is bad, and where it is very hard to get a good picture; the back of her neck.

I'm sorry for the bad picture
Her neck is torn open pretty badly, if you can't see it. The skin in flayed open, showing the flesh underneath, and if she bends her head down, you can see the bone, etc. I feel bad trying to get her to bend forward so I can take a better picture. She sometimes holds that position for a while, as if she is too weak to hold her head up. She always rights herself after a while.

Thank you for your help and guidance.

 

[DesertBird]

Oh no, poor thing! I would definitely suggest a vet in this case - I don't think there's much someone without the proper equipment and training can do to stitch up a bird or see if there's anything punctured internally. If you can keep her strength up and get her to the vet asap for treatment, I'm sure she'll be okay.

 

[GoldenBasilisk]

Thank you for your advice... The issue is that I simply don't have the funds for a big vet bill... I am going to go get the medication that the vet is offering (My family did call them, and they said we can go pick it up without having to transport our girl, just because of how badly off she is), but I'm afraid I'm just going to have to our best to treat her at home... I hate to leave her like this, but treating her here is the best I can do for my situation.

I've thought about just putting her down so she doesn't suffer, but I feel like she wants to keep going. If I see her declining more, like to where she can't move herself or support her head and neck, I may just do that...

Raising chickens can be trial, can't it? :,(

 

[GoldenBasilisk]

I will cook up some eggs for her and get out a little mash. Maybe she'll be interested in eating some, and I'll try to get some water in her, one way or another.