maimed GLW - stray dog - need med advice

[thegreypony]

Caught a neighborhood dog in our flock this morning. He killed several chickens before I got to them. One of the Wyandottes is badly injured. She's still bright, alert, and responsive but has a couple of puncture wounds and several bad cuts.

I've treated for shock but need advice on bandaging and wound preps....Triple antibiotic okay? What's best??

Daughter is going to be devastated at the loss of her pet birds

TIA

 

[Bananas]

I was just posting on the other person who had a hen attacked by dogs and saw your post.

We had the same exact thing happen when I was in high school. Four hens had puncture wounds. The wounds were on both sides of their bodies where the dog's jaws closed around them. All four hens recovered perfectly. Here's what you need to do:

I would go down to a horse supply store and get antibiotic ointment and Vetrap (which is a stretchy bandaging material), and you'll need gauze pads. Using the triple antibiotic ointment from the little tube is going to be tough and they sell big tubs of all purpose antibiotic ointment.

You need to clean the wounds very well. Make sure there is not lung involvement (there would be bubbling from the wounds if a lung was punctured). We put the hens in the kitchen sink and ran warm water into the wounds for at least 5 minutes until the wounds were flushed completely clean.

If the wounds are very deep and you are up to it, you can stitch the wounds. Your hen is in shock and she won't be paying attention. You just want one or two big stitches to hold the wound closed, but don't close it too tight or it won't have good drainage.

If you're not up for stitching, the wounds will take longer to heal. Cover the wounds with antibiotic ointment, then with Gauze 4x4 squares, then wrap the entire bird around the body with Vetrap. Wrap under her wings so she's not pulling the bandaging with her wings, and the Vetrap should sit snugly and comfortably around her body, covering the wounds.

Call your vet and tell her what happened and get some oral antibiotics prescribed. You should be able to buy antibiotics without having the bird looked at. If your vet won't do it, try another vet (sometimes they are weird about prescribing meds to an animal they haven't seen, but if you explain that this is a farm animal and if you don't get antibiotics the hen is going to be soup, usually they are more reasonable!

)

Then keep the bird inside and dry. We kept ours in the house for the first few days so they could be warm. Change dressings and ointment every 2 days. Keep the dressings on for about 10 days, then if the wounds seem closed up you can take them off.

Hope that helps....there's a really good chance your bird will be ok. You do need the oral antibiotics though, because with puncture wounds there is a HUGE risk of infection.

I am so sorry about your other birds....I know the feeling, I cried for days when I had that happen. First attack 4 injured and 1 killed, and then that stupid dog got out again and the second time he killed 3 and punctured the lungs on 3 which had to be killed.

There was a leash law (at ALL times dogs must be leashed) where I lived. The first time the neighbor got a warning to fix their fence. The second time the dog got out my mom went after the dog with a bat (no lie!!!). She smacked him hard and broke a leg. Dog never got out again, and the neighbor had a pretty nice vet bill to deal with and a hefty fine from animal control to boot....

When the animal control officer showed up the neighbor mentioned pressing charges on my mom for breaking her dog's leg and the officer just laughed at him! Lol

 

[thegreypony]

Thanks for the response, Bananas. The worst case hen survived the night and even layed an egg....as did the other gnawed up Wyandotte. No puncture to lung, thank God. I flushed the wounds with sterile saline, flushed and flushed and applied antibiotic ointment. Did not bandage...I've got vetwrap in the barn and 6x6s so I can get that done today when I clean her up again. I had duramycin here so I've got it in the water and am giving probiotics for what that's worth. We have zero in the way of chicken vets.... and NO ONE will rx for anything. I scrambled some eggs for my little ladies this morning and they ate well. Worst Case Hen (who never was given a name b/c we couldn't tell 2 of them apart - neither got a name) ate a little yogurt and a little egg...still not sure she's going to make it though she's talking at me and BAR (bright, alert, repsonsive)

Never thought I'd be praying so hard over chickens.

ETA - I'm all for your mom and her bat!!! We got the shotgun out last night, wrapped the coop in electric fencing, and put the word out to the community. I will have no issues in burying their dog after having buried our hens. Sadly, the dog is just being a dog...it's the backsideholes that won't keep their dogs up/confined/contained who need a little rat shot in their fannies!!

 

[bwebb7]

Maybe keep the sickest one in a dark place so she will just rest. Offer water/food a few times during the day.