injured poult

[bibliophile birds]

when i was moving the pen this morning, one of my 4 week old Bourbon Red poults got it's foot caught and it ripped the top of it's foot open. as far as i can tell, there isn't any structural damage to the foot, but a large flap of skin was ripped off (well, it's still attached on one end). i brought it inside, cleaned the wound well with water and then peroxide. it was bleeding pretty profusely, which scared the dickens out of me. i slathered it with neosporin really good to help stop the bleeding and wrapped it with gauze and surgical tape.

the poult, which is now in my bathtub, seems ok. it's walking around a bit, but it also holds it's foot up some- i can't tell if that is from being injured or from all the bandaging. i've not seen it eat or drink yet, but it hasn't had much time, so i'm not worried about that yet.

so, other than keeping the wound clean, is there anything else i need to be doing? should i worry about tetanus? is there something i can do for that? the chicken wire is brand new so i'm hoping it can't be too bad. i've never had an injured baby, so i'm especially paranoid- it doesn't help that these are my first turkeys and i keep reading that they often drop dead from nothing...

i just went and redressed his foot. the bleeding has stopped, so i'm feeling much better. i had tried to fold the skin back over the wound the first time, but i think it's going to die and have to come off- it's shrinking and won't cover the wound now. any opinions on whether it's better to wait for it to die before removing it or cutting it off now?

what about superglue? i use it all the time on small cuts, but i've never used it to keep a skin flap in place. is it effective for that or is it best to just leave it open to the air to do whatever it will do?

thanks for any help.

 

[feathersnuggles]

Don't worry, keep it very clean and bandaged until it heals. I had a bird rip almost all of her toenail off the nail bed and it bled like crazy. I cleaned the wound & her entire foot throughly with saline, and stopped the bleeding finally. Then I spread neosporin over the bloody nailbed, wrapped in gauze, and wrapped the whole thing in vet wrap, weaving it around & between her toes so she could still walk and grip things. It worked. I put her back in the coop and she held up her foot for the most part of the first day. Each day, same time, I would grab her and bring her inside the house, to remove the old bandage, check the wound, clean it with iodine if necessary, and put the antibiotic cream+gauze+vet wrap on it. She was able to jump to the roost at night, run around the yard, and eventually forage again even with her bandaged foot. It healed pretty quickly. She even laid eggs during that time. I gave my bird a couple drops of PolyViSol vitamins mixed with some yogurt & oatmeal, that first day, just to give her a nutritional boost for healing.

 

[bibliophile birds]

he seems to be doing ok. he's limping around the bathtub, but he's eating (and pooping

) just fine. i left the bandage off for a few hours to let the wound breath, but i'm going to put it back on in a few minutes before i head to bed.

my big worry now is whether there is muscle/tendon damage. i don't know much about the anatomy of turkey feet, but this seems to be such a large portion of the top of the foot that i can't see how there wouldn't be some damage. i guess it's not too bad, since he's using it... of course, i'm being all paranoid. a friend on another forum reminded me that there is a point where treatment becomes over-doctoring, so i'm trying to just let it be as much as i can stand. i'm sure he'll be fine and then i'll feel silly for being so worried.

 

[feathersnuggles]

The skin flap will die off, eventually. In the meantime, it will help to protect the wound and give it a cushion while it heals over.

Keep it clean & well covered and change the dressing daily. The bird will limp and hold up its leg until the sensitivity and pain is lessened. Should be within a couple days, if the wound begins healing and doesn't become infected.

When or if you cleanse again, use a saline solution. Peroxide actually kills living tissues. So it's pretty nasty for open wounds - unless you have nothing else to work with. Good luck!

 

[bibliophile birds]

Quote:
hmm, never thought about that. i've got some saline so i'll use that next time.

the wound is looking pretty good, but the foot is horribly discolored. it's worrying to see, but i know in my rational brain that it's just bruising. the foot and leg aren't hot to the touch and there isn't any red puckering or puss that would indicate infection.

thanks for you suggestions and advice!

 

[drumstick diva]

please no more peroxide, it kills healthy tissue and burns like blazes on open sores. I always used to think it was a good first choice because I read it gets oxygen into the wound(like punctures) BUT, the foaming action can also push pus deeper into a wound. So ick - never used it again.

 

[bibliophile birds]

well, the only saline i have laying around is emergency eye wash (99.05% purified water, inactive ingredients: boric acid, sodium borate, and sodium chloride). is this ok? i figured if it's safe enough for eyes it should be safe enough for a wound...

i could make some saline solution, but if this will work i'd rather just use it since it's in a nice squeeze bottle.

 

[feathersnuggles]

saline eye wash is fine.