Opossum wound, which antibiotics?

[majortaylor]

my favorite hen got attacked by a opossum 2 nights ago. It got her by the wing and body and the bone on the wing is exposed. We got her right away and flushed the wounds with peroxide, irrigated them to get the debris out, rubbed betadine on them and finished off with triple antibiotic cream.
She was in shock for a day, but I managed to get baby parrot food and syringe electrolytes into her every hour.
I started her on Tylan 50 orally due to the wound being so bad and I spray it with Vetracyn 3 times a day.
Yesterday she started eating on her own and today she started drinking on her own and walking around. She has her own room and little area with a heat lamp.
This morning, I could smell her wing was starting to get infected.
My question is, what antibiotics would you guys suggest for such a bad wound and I know normally you leave the wound uncovered but should I wrap the wing?
She seems a lot better than the first day, but I really don’t want infection to set in!
Also, would you soak the wing in warm water to irrigate the wound again?
Any help would really be appreciated! I’ve got another chicken in sick bay with a mysterious eye/ neck injury that refuses to go away, so I feel like I’m just constantly looking after chickens!

 

[azygous]

A broad spectrum antibiotic such as amoxicillin or penicillin would be best.

It appears you're doing everything right, but have you been keeping the wound cleaned each day and moist and not allowed to dry out? Those two steps are crucial to keep infection at bay.

 

[Eggcessive]

Pictures can be helpful. You could cleanse the area with some weak betadine, and flush it out well (saline is good, water would work.) A kitchen faucet sprayer is good for cleaning a wound. Re-apply the Vetericyn twice a day, and repeat the cleansing of the wound again tomorrow if you notice the odor, or see redness, swelling, or see pus. The Neosporin is good if it seems not to be infected. Do not use peroxide any more. Normally cleansing the open wound is all that is required. Most antibiotics available in feed stores are not the best to treat a wound infection. They still have injectable procaine penicillin G in the refrigerated medicines, or you can contact your vet for something better. Or just keep trying what you are doing with cleansing the wound.

 

[majortaylor]

I have human amoxicillin pills, Can I crush those and give it to her mixed with water orally? Also, she is a small little silkie, she weighs 2 pounds so any idea of dosage.
I had been packing the skin around her exposed bone with neosporin but I feel like that is just trapping the germs in. I will thoroughly clean it out again today and just irrigate it regularly with diluted betadine again.

 

[azygous]

You can use those amoxicillin pills without crushing them. I dose at 250mg once a day, or 125mg twice a day for ten days, whichever I have time to do. I just slip the pill inside the beak and they swallow.

 

[Eggcessive]

Use the dilute betadine a time or two until it looks better. Repeated use of betadine can delay healing, so once that is achieved, plain saline can be good. Vetericyn is excellent for wound care. The neosporin can be good for keeping it from drying later. Amoxicillin dosage is 50 mg per pound in 2 or 3 divided doses. A silkie weighing 2 pounds would get a total of 100 mg daily, and if you can give 50 mg twice a day, that would work.

 

[majortaylor]

Use the dilute betadine a time or two until it looks better. Repeated use of betadine can delay healing, so once that is achieved, plain saline can be good. Vetericyn is excellent for wound care. The neosporin can be good for keeping it from drying later. Amoxicillin dosage is 50 mg per pound in 2 or 3 divided doses. A silkie weighing 2 pounds would get a total of 100 mg daily, and if you can give 50 mg twice a day, that would work.

Just gave her the amoxicillin and cleaned all her wounds out again with water, saline and a mild mixture of betadine. I finished with a spray of vetericyn and made a little sock covering for her wing. She’s doing much better then a day ago, eating and drinking on her own, she’s even grumpy at me for cleaning her (but who would blame her!) I just hope this infection doesn’t take hold. Thank you all for your help!!

 

[Eggcessive]

Keep us updated on how she gets along.

 

[Engine823]

I hope she gets better very soon!

 

[majortaylor]

Well little Sumo is still alive and kicking, despite missing all her muscle + skin along the top of her wing. The bone is still exposed and there is no skin to cover it since the possum ripped it off. She eats & drinks heartily, walks around in her recovery room and seems generally ok for such a bad injury.
She does still smell pretty horrible, but the amoxicillin seems to be holding off the infection.
I purchased some powder called Multidex which is used on debetic patients that have wounds that will not heal. It came today and she just got a bath to soak the wounds and then powdered and bandaged. I’ll report if this stuff works, as it’s meant to create a gel in the wound that makes the area moist for healing. The best bit is that it can be put on already infected wounds and it should eliminate the horrible smell in up 72 hours. Fingers crossed this helps!