Rooster attacked, severe neck injury (graphic image)

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Seems like he is getting better still. He's keeping his left eye open for the most part, unless he's in some pain. His right eye opened while I was applying neosporin to his ear wound, I assume it was very painful.
Now that he is not wearing a bandage, he isn't slumping his head. He's standing up tall and bawking a bit more.

I'm only able to get him to drink a couple of beakfulls of water maybe 20-30 times a day. Is this going to be enough? I'm really hesitant on the tube feeding. He's feisty / jerky And I'm a little bit clumsy and my vision isn't so great at the fine details. Im worried I could do more harm than good.

It doesn't look like he's wanting to drink on his own yet. Leaving him provisions in case he musters up the energy.

Watering him once now before sleep. I'll post again tomorrow to update, and hopefully we can watch this rooster heal!
 
MaxLevine said:
Seems like he is getting better still. He's keeping his left eye open for the most part, unless he's in some pain. His right eye opened while I was applying neosporin to his ear wound, I assume it was very painful.
Now that he is not wearing a bandage, he isn't slumping his head. He's standing up tall and bawking a bit more.

I'm only able to get him to drink a couple of beakfulls of water maybe 20-30 times a day. Is this going to be enough? I'm really hesitant on the tube feeding. He's feisty / jerky And I'm a little bit clumsy and my vision isn't so great at the fine details. Im worried I could do more harm than good.

It doesn't look like he's wanting to drink on his own yet. Leaving him provisions in case he musters up the energy.

Watering him once now before sleep. I'll post again tomorrow to update, and hopefully we can watch this rooster heal!
Click to expand...

He's made it through the first day and that's fantastic! If he's happier without the bandage, then yes, leave it off- just keep the wound moist using the antibiotic ointment.

Given his wounds, I would worry about trying to tube him- you pretty much need to be able to control his head and neck to get the tube in and down into the crop- and of course you cannot grab/hold him there with his injuries. I'm always for tubing, first water and then the baby parrot food that can be thinned out, but in his case - there's no good place to grab.

For giving him water via syringe, don't try to open his beak. Aim for the side of his beak while it's closed- like if you're greasing a door hinge. The best syringe size, for me anyway, is the 12ml/12cc size with the small opening. A feeder syringe (35ml or 60ml) is harder to control. Don't try to tip his head up.

Often times when they feel the water on their tongue, they will tip their heads back to swallow it, which is so much easier than trying to open the beak and handle the head/neck.

If he catches on- and some water may dribble out in the beginning - then I would add some sugar to it. I've yet to meet a chicken who didn't like the sugar water.

Can you elevate his food/water dishes in the crate? Just thinking if he doesn't have to move his head a lot to get to the food and water, he might go after it some more. Like ... an empty tissue box or something similar to set them on.

The same 12ml syringe with warm water- and a lot of q-tips can help you get down to the bottom of the blood in a gentle way. Any time I've had that kind of mess to deal with, mine have accepted the syringe/qtip method readily. I start at the bottom near the nostril and work my way up.

I'm glad you've seen some eye movement - it may take a couple days of wiping away any serum that seals them shut, especially overnight.

Great job, keep it up!
 
The info on tubing was just so you have it if it was necessary. Since he's taking water willingly then I would just offer it as often as you can. It sounds like he's doing pretty well considering. These things can take some time, but there is every hope for recovery. Sometimes time and patience are the hardest things, the body just needs time to heal. When swelling goes down some, and he's seeing better he may start to feed and drink better on his own. You are doing well, just keep up with the support and treatment you've been doing.
 
Thank you coach. My intuition agrees that the little bit of water he is willing to drink now is enough to keep him alive until he can do more.

I may start him on aspirin today or tomorrow if he's willing to drink enough for it to work. I think it may help him get back to normal eating habits.

I tried using my syringe on the side of his beak just now with some sugar water. He got a few licks, but otherwise he just let it drip off.

I have his food and water and mash propped up in his cage. I have to go to work now, so I won't be able to watch him for a few hours but he seems as though he's hanging on. More updates tonight.
 
New update : I've been having good success with using the syringes on the side of the mouth.

He seems to be in a good deal of pain still, as expected. I gave him aspirin dissolved in water (following recommended water solution). It's hard to quantify how much he took, but I'd guess between 2-4 mg actually made it into his system. When I do the syringe on the side of the beak, most of it drops down until I move away the syringe, and that's when he feels safe swallowing.

After the aspirin, I pressed some warm scrambled eggs into his beak, he ate a few bites, and then immediately scratched his beak on the ground to pick up some crumbled feed I left for him. He picked up the feed, chewed and swallowed!

Minutes later, he seemed to be in a digestive, low energy state, but now 10 minutes later he seems very perked up. I left the eggs in his cage and I'm hoping he starts eating without encouragement soon.

It really feels like he's going to make it, y'all! Seems like the biggest risks now are infection and a bad reaction to aspirin. I'm going to monitor his behavior for a while to assess if the aspirin is causing any issues.

Thanks again for all the help.
 
Meloxicam is prescription only by a vet. Perhaps if you have a regular vet who would help you out, it can be good to have for other animals as well. Aspirin probably should not be used more than 2-3 days, since it can cause intestinal bleeding. So glad that he is holding in there, and has such a good caregiver.
 

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