Rooster Hit By Car - Survived - Leg out of Socket?

[Ravie]

Hi everyone,

I've dealt with broken legs before and that injury is pretty obvious. My rooster was hit by a car this evening and he can stand on one leg. The other seems to be out of socket. We could not feel any breaks or anything, but it's obvious that something is wrong with the leg. His wings are nice and tight and he seems to be able to move both, so I'm going to assume he doesn't have a back injury.

Does anyone have any tips for determining if his leg is out of socket or sprained? What treatments would you recommend?

 

[Erica]

Hi Ravie,

I was going to leave this one (as I'm nowhere near expert in that kind of thing), but as there haven't been other replies I'll have a go.

I think it's very hard to tell whether it's broken up high (near the hip) or just sprained. Dislocation would also be difficult to discern from a really high break. That's going to make treatment really tough.

I guess if it was my bird (and I don't keep show birds, but production birds, so my approach won't suit you if he's a pet) I'd confine the bird in a small cage and try to immobilize it for a while. If you could somehow strap the leg so the thigh can't move, that would be better. A week should give some idea whether it's going to heal or not.

Unfortunately that's not going to help at all if it's dislocated, but then I don't really know if a hip joint can be put back in the socket successfully. A vet might be the only option there.

I did have a hen who had a similar problem after she got her leg caught in a bent nail near the roost. She'd been hanging there an hour before I found her and it was very sad because I couldn't feel a break and decided it was probably soft tissue damage. Two weeks later it was clear she wasn't improving, but by then I was really attached to her. However over that time the muscle had wasted away and by the end of it even I could feel the break right up near the joint. There was simply no way it could heal.

Sorry I can't really help with this one. Others might have a better idea, but those are just my thoughts.

good luck,
Erica