Lavendar Orpington attacked by dog, back of neck has no skin

[blairsgarden]

It had been raining. When hubby found her she was huddled in the grass front yard all wet looking around. Dog standing over her. He brought her inside and put her in small solitary box next to wood stove. She is 6 months old, and my baby! She follows me around everywhere. I was gone for a meeting. Sad. She is in terrible shock. The back of her neck has no skin. I read that I should not ever let it dry out. What should I put on it to keep it moist? I sprayed vetericyn on right away. I now have a heat lamp above her, and used my hair dryer on feathers as she was shivering, which is part of shock, right? Trying to dry her and warm her. Gave baby aspirin and electrolytes by dropper which she drank a little. She is sleeping with her beak hanging on ground. Need as much info as you can give. She is my little love.

 

[blairsgarden]

This happened today Saturday May 6th 3pm.

 

[Ursuline Chick]

Last year one of my hens was attacked by a possum and it removed all of the skin on her right thigh. It was bad, it looked like something you would see in the grocery store. I cleaned the thigh and any bite marks with sterile saline in a 60cc syringe and covered EVERYTHING that was open with a heavy coat of name brand Neosporin. I repeated this twice a day and we made a place for her inside the house. She was there for the better part of 3 months, before all the skin grew back and it grew from the back forward, so she has fluffy butt feathers on her right thigh now. We gave her pediolyte cut with 1/2 water and an egg with her food everyday for the extra protein and zinc.
@blairsgarden, please feel free to ask me anything you want clarified, or if you have additional questions.
Your hen doesn't have deep bites? And she seems to be able to hold her head up okay, right? Also my hen was in shock for 2 days and wouldn't eat or drink anything. We did get small amounts of pediolyte in her during those 2 days and on day three she started to nibble on the scrambled egg. Good Luck.
Make sure to use lots of Neosporin and do not let the skin or cuts dry for any reason.

 

[Ursuline Chick]

I looked at the picture again and Dixie's wound looks like my girl's thigh. It has been almost a year and she is outside now playing with the other chickens, she even began to lay eggs again. I won't lie, it was a bit of work to treat her twice a day for about 3 months, but it was worth it.

 

[blairsgarden]

She does raise her head and she has gotten onto her feet once for half a minute.

 

[Ursuline Chick]

Our girl was in shock for like 2 days, we had to use an eye dropper to put drops of pediolyte on her beak so she wouldn't dehydrate. During the shock period, she seemed so bad off that I was afraid we were going to have to put her down. Thank the Lord we decided to give her a few days, just to see what direction she was going in. And it did take about 3 months for her to heal enough that I felt comfortable putting her out with the rest of the flock.
We would remove the towel from the top of the box and she would stick her head up and watch me in the kitchen, or watch TV with the family in the den. She never once jumped out the box, and she walks just fine now.

 

[blairsgarden]

Last year one of my hens was attacked by a possum and it removed all of the skin on her right thigh. It was bad, it looked like something you would see in the grocery store. I cleaned the thigh and any bite marks with sterile saline in a 60cc syringe and covered EVERYTHING that was open with a heavy coat of name brand Neosporin. I repeated this twice a day and we made a place for her inside the house. She was there for the better part of 3 months, before all the skin grew back and it grew from the back forward, so she has fluffy butt feathers on her right thigh now. We gave her pediolyte cut with 1/2 water and an egg with her food everyday for the extra protein and zinc.
@blairsgarden, please feel free to ask me anything you want clarified, or if you have additional questions.
Your hen doesn't have deep bites? And she seems to be able to hold her head up okay, right? Also my hen was in shock for 2 days and wouldn't eat or drink anything. We did get small amounts of pediolyte in her during those 2 days and on day three she started to nibble on the scrambled egg. Good Luck.
Make sure to use lots of Neosporin and do not let the skin or cuts dry for any reason.

 

[blairsgarden]

I looked at the picture again and Dixie's wound looks like my girl's thigh. It has been almost a year and she is outside now playing with the other chickens, she even began to lay eggs again. I won't lie, it was a bit of work to treat her twice a day for about 3 months, but it was worth it.

Oh, thank you for all your support and information! She is lifting her head up once in a while and then goes back to sleep. I am encouraged ever so much! I will keep on treating her twice a day and keeping the neosporin on her exposed meat. I am in hopes I will have your luck and blessings from the Lord. I don't have prepared saline solution on hand and its a long way to town. How much salt should I mix in a gallon of water?

 

[blairsgarden]

Last year one of my hens was attacked by a possum and it removed all of the skin on her right thigh. It was bad, it looked like something you would see in the grocery store. I cleaned the thigh and any bite marks with sterile saline in a 60cc syringe and covered EVERYTHING that was open with a heavy coat of name brand Neosporin. I repeated this twice a day and we made a place for her inside the house. She was there for the better part of 3 months, before all the skin grew back and it grew from the back forward, so she has fluffy butt feathers on her right thigh now. We gave her pediolyte cut with 1/2 water and an egg with her food everyday for the extra protein and zinc.
@blairsgarden, please feel free to ask me anything you want clarified, or if you have additional questions.
Your hen doesn't have deep bites? And she seems to be able to hold her head up okay, right? Also my hen was in shock for 2 days and wouldn't eat or drink anything. We did get small amounts of pediolyte in her during those 2 days and on day three she started to nibble on the scrambled egg. Good Luck.
Make sure to use lots of Neosporin and do not let the skin or cuts dry for any reason.

No deep punctures!

 

[Ursuline Chick]

Since she has no deep punctures I think you are okay using plain water. Do you filter your drinking water? If not, I would boil some water and put it in a clean container with a top to use for rinsing. DH and I are both Registered Nurses, so we have easy access to sterile saline. (0.9 % saline) so roughly 1/10 th of the salt to water. (check my math). Thoughts and prayers y'all's way. Also I am willing to chat if you are anxious or if you have questions please don't feel like you are bothering me, I am glad to answer anything I can. And if I don't know the answer we can call on someone who is more educated in this type of problem or look it up