It's time for a Henry update, folks, exactly three weeks after the coyote attack.
The photos below are disturbing, but I assure you, as of today, I'm seeing absolutely no indication that the infection in his legs has spread and gone systemic. That could change in a heartbeat, and as I've stated before, I don't intend for my dear boy to be a science experiment, so I've been preparing myself for a swift and humane end should we reach that point.
If life is in the details, it's how we choose to end an animal's suffering that deserves our ultimate attention and care.
So behold that rooster, Henry, but first here's a roundup of what in tarnation I've been doing to keep the rooster henchman at bay.
Not much.
Manuka honey with a deep coating on the drumsticks, snugly wrapped; epsom salt soaks; and homeopathic remedies.
Henry's right leg went from totally limp to flickers of movement, courtesy of the Hypericum remedy; to full use of his hip and the ability to lift his leg and shift it here and there as he hobbles around on his good leg. The good leg has regained some strength and can stand up tall at attention — with the rooster still attached. It's not a free roaming leg.
But the patch of redness on the good leg has worsened, and the other leg isn't looking too pretty, and so here are my working theories:
He had a faint soft pink patch on his right leg (the worser of the two)
before the coyote attack, and now look at that leg. I peeled off some dead scales, hence the raw wounds. I didn't realize they peel off until I accidentally flipped one up and knocked it off into my hand. I read about healing scabs versus not so good scabs and decided the scales were blocking (not protecting) access to the wounds, so off they went. This makes the wounds better capable of receiving honey.
I also discovered what may have been bumble foot on the bottom of the lame leg (lame from the knee on down), minus the telltale round sore. It wasn't round, but he definitely had something going on down there. I used Prid, a homeopathic drawing salve, for three days and was able to easily pry off thick pieces and one bigger piece, and underneath found smooth skin. Or scales. I'm new to scales and don't always know what I'm looking at.
Bumble foot could explain the swollen leg and infection. They both are displaying the same red patches, and yet the good leg has no indication of bumble anything. And scaly leg mites are another possibility for both legs.
And then comes the really fun stuff: Merek's. It's worth considering, and I've done heaps and tons of reading on the topic this past week and know not to discount it as an option.
Oh, and I found a series of three black dots on the good leg, just below the growing patch of red. I removed them with tweezers and examined the things with a magnifying glass, and for a good couple of minutes thought Henry had vampire insects sucking out his life through his leg.
But then I asked myself, "Could they be new leg feather starts?" And sure enough that's what they were. Welsummers aren't supposed to have feathers on their legs, but Henry has a few teeny tufts here and there, and now he has three less.
The thing with horrific wounds courtesy of a coyote is the distraction it creates from preexisting problems.
Anyway, my really quick update is now really long, so without further ado here are some photos for you to ponder.
And let me just say, if you want to humiliate a rooster, shove him in a vintage floral sling, string him up, give him some cooked egg just before the photo shoot, photograph him beak facing forward, and post it for the world to see.
Okay, here we go.