Rooster Attacked by dogs

[Larkspur88]

My roo was attacked yesterday by dogs. I plan to take him to work to my vet today. (I work for a vet) But he isn't up to date on poultry care. We only treat cats and dogs.

I guess what I am asking if anyone has advice to antibiotics we should try him on orally. I may even have one of those here at home. He's in pretty rough shape. I haven't seen him eat or drink on his own. I did put his beak in water and he drank some this morning. I was going to take him to be seen right after it happened yesterday, but after screaming and yelling and bawling my eyes out at my dogs who suddenly stopped obeying me to kill him I had a migraine that went on for over 10 hours.

Here's the miserable boy:

His face is swollen around his eyes and he has bite wounds on his back and butt. He also had one of his wings (hopefully it was mainly the feathers) crushes at the tip by one of my dogs. One dog tried to strangle him so I don't even know how he is still standing...

 

[Frost Homestead]

You can use Tylan, but I think you have to inject it. If you can't get that or don't want to go that route, you should be able to get Clavamox from the vet where you work. It comes in a liquid and is broad-spectrum so I think it would work pretty good for whatever types of bacteria he could be exposed to from the dog bites. Poor guy, I hope he gets to feeling better soon!

 

[scratch'n'peck]

It sounds very traumatic. Even if the vet does not treat chickens often, the vet will likely know what is best to prevent infection from dog bites. If the poor roo isn't eating or drinking yet the vet may decide to start with an injectable. We had a hen attacked by a hawk and we injected Penecillin G every other day (Some injections can be dosed less often than oral antibiotics. I have read on this forum that is good for preventing wounds from getting infected. She recovered completely. Chickens can heal amazingly well.

Fortunately first aid for chickens is not all that different than for other animals. Just be sure not to use any significant quantities of benzocaine or lidocaine topical pain relievers, because birds can be sensitive to them.