Major Raccoon Bite, Possible Paralysis, & Mites

[NoxiousDog]

Please help! About 2 weeks ago I came back from a trip and found that my coop had been broken into and ravaged by raccoons. I found one girl, a Appenzeller Spitzhauben, with a large hole on her back and side and infection already setting in. We've brought her inside and got the infection to stop with antibiotics & cleaning, and now the skin has started to heal. She is eating and drinking, and generally seems pretty happy. However, now that she's started to heal, it's brought a couple of other issues to light. One is that she may be paralyzed or unable to walk once she fully heals. Her legs are splayed out with one in front and one behind and she is unable to stand. Her attempts to move around in the box involve a lot of flopping around. At first I thought it must be because of the intense amount of pain she was in, but now I'm not so sure. The second issue is that now I found out that she (and probably the rest of my flock) has mites and we have brought them into our home. The problem has gotten extensively bad, and I didn't realize what was happening until I found them crawling all over my bathtub where she has been staying a couple of days ago. Now I have potentially infected myself, husband, and 2 cats & dogs that stay inside the home. Can I even treat the mites with such a large, open wound?? I feel like such a bad animal momma right now, and I'm not really sure what to do. I am a relatively new chicken owner and these are problems I have not dealt with before. Just hoping someone could offer some advice. Thank you.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I can address the mite issue. The good news is they can harass you for a while but can't survive on you, so a good cleaning, showers, baths and vacuuming should rid your house of them.

I personally would dust her with a pyrethrin based poultry dust. Can you keep her somewhere besides inside your house?

As far as her leg injuries have you given her a good gentle exam to determine if something is broken? My guess might be her pelvis unfortunately, but you should be able to feel some wrong movement in anything broken. Sometimes they can heal up enough to walk again, but breaks should generally get set by a vet.

Your description of her legs makes me think of Mareks. Are you sure a raccoon attacked her? Could the wounds be caused by other chickens pecking her? Just a scenario that comes to mind. Other chickens will often peck a sick acting bird, and mites get out of control on sick birds too, so that's why I ask.

 

[NoxiousDog]

I can address the mite issue. The good news is they can harass you for a while but can't survive on you, so a good cleaning, showers, baths and vacuuming should rid your house of them....

Thank you so much for replying, . I could move her to a detached garage but worried about the temp & cleanliness.

I have examined her legs as well as I can without fear of hurting her too much & was unable to find any breaks. This was concentrated on the legs and not the pelvis however.

We are fairly certain the injury was caused by a raccoon, as we found a hole chewed in the fence, raccoon scat in the coop, 3 other birds were missing and one was injured beyond saving unfortunately. We trapped a raccoon attempting to get into the coop a few nights later as well. We had a neighbor watching them while we were away, but apparently they did not do a very good job...Was very difficult to come home to.

It appears that "the splits" position of the legs you are referring to sometimes seen in Mareks is due to lesions of the sciatic nerve (just what I'm seeing based on a google search). It's possible that damage to her sciatic nerve is part of her extensive injuries. It's also possible that her raccoon injuries were made worse by other chickens pecking at her wounds. Hard to know how long she was injured and alone but it must have been some time because she was already showing signs of infection when we found her. I will definitely keep my eye out for other signs of Mareks in my flock. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

Thank you again so much for your help. I will pick up some of the poultry dust you've recommended ASAP.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hi @NoxiousDog Welcome To BYC

Can you post some photos of her wounds and the way she is laying?

@oldhenlikesdogs has given you some good advice on treating the mites.
I also tend to agree that having the splits sounds like Marek's. It's possible she may have some nerve damage from the attack, but being attacked, injured and having an infection is a highly stressful situation. Diseases like Marek's may not present until a bird is under stress (injury, molting, etc.). If you have a vet that can examine her that would be best. http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq

It sounds like you are doing well with treating the wounds. Provide her with some poultry vitamins that contain B Vitamins and some extra protein to help give her a boost.
Depending on how calm of a chicken she is, she may benefit from being placed in a sling to get her upright for short monitored periods of time. These will give you an idea, but if you Google "chicken sling" you can find a lot of images.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Hi @NoxiousDog Welcome To BYC

Can you post some photos of her wounds and the way she is laying?

@oldhenlikesdogs has given you some good advice on treating the mites.
I also tend to agree that having the splits sounds like Marek's. It's possible she may have some nerve damage from the attack, but being attacked, injured and having an infection is a highly stressful situation. Diseases like Marek's may not present until a bird is under stress (injury, molting, etc.). If you have a vet that can examine her that would be best. http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq

It sounds like you are doing well with treating the wounds. Provide her with some poultry vitamins that contain B Vitamins and some extra protein to help give her a boost.
Depending on how calm of a chicken she is, she may benefit from being placed in a sling to get her upright for short monitored periods of time. These will give you an idea, but if you Google "chicken sling" you can find a lot of images.

View attachment 1155998
View attachment 1155999

Great illustration. I would definitely start slinging her too. I only used one once on a little RIR the dog stomped. She recovered well with only a slight limp. I had to give PT to a chicken, but it was worth it.