Severe dog attack! Please help

[mifahmifah]

Hello everyone,

I am in desperate need of chicken wound advice. I'm a newbie, and I'm learning more and more everyday. I've been a chicken mom for almost a year now.

This is my first time with a dog attack.
Yesterday morning my husband and I woke up to the sound of a hen screaming, we both jumped up and ran out of the house. The dog had her, but my husband kicked the dog causing it to drop her. Our Aussie chased it off our property. She took off but we brought her in and assessed the damage. It's bad, never seem anything like this. She was in shock but she managed to overcome that. (warm, dark, quiet)
She is missing almost all the skin from the middle of her chest, half way down her leg, the side of her body, and all the way up to the wing pit (armpit?). She also has a 2x2 gash in her thigh muscle. About half an inch deep.
Most of her muscles and tissues are exposed on that side. There is a flap of skin about half the size of the wound attached. It lays on top of the gaping hole in her thigh.
We rinsed the area with a syringe with 50/50 hydro peroxide and followed with betadine tea. We then applied EMT gel hydrolysate of collagen to the gash, then covered the entire area with vetinary strength vetricyn spray gel.
Then we warped the skin that's attached back to the muscle and let her rest. She was eating a good bit, and drank some water. She also laid an egg.

*today:
Fed her a whole boiled egg, shell and all, mixed with a couple of drops of honey, vitamin e, and chopped garlic. Also have her crumbles in her pen as well. Gave her a few dried mealworms to cheer her up. She's Eating well, not as interested in water. I have mixed some vitamin/elect. To water. Had to put sone in dropper to get it in her. Laid an egg. Seems to be swollen and I smell a bit of infection I think. Unwrapped the wrappings and rinsed area with betadine, packed hole with neosporin without pain killer, coated her in vetricyn. The skin seems to be sticking but I'm not sure if it's attaching back or if it's just stuck?? Was able to get some betadine under it as well as some of the ointment. Also, gave her some aspirin. Wrapped more loosely this time and put cotton shirt on her so it can breathe. My question is:

What do we do about the skin flap? Will it reattach? Do we cut it off? Some skin is ripped on her leg resembling a sock that slid down so there's an opening into that part of her foot as well. Will her muscle heal? She's limping a bit but I don't know if that's from discomfort or muscle damage.... What antibiotics should I get her???

Any thoughts or suggestions are greatly appreciated as we are doing this by the seat of our pants. Please help us, she's a good chicken girl and a dear pet to my 3 year old daughter. She lets her carry her, she swings with her, and sleeps on her lap. Please help!

Thank you all!

You can't really see all of it but I didn't want to lift that ripped skin cause it appears to be sticking back to her.

 

[realsis]

Hi. If you smell infection it might help her to put her on a antibotic to help keep the infection down. Any general broad spectrum anti - infective antibotic might help like penvk, or erythromycin. That might help keep the infection down and promote healing in her. I can't really see the skin flap to advise on it but use your best judgment on that. It's a wonderful sign that she's eating and laying and sounds like your doing a great job with supportive care. I would add the antibotic and see if that helps with the infection. I wish you the very best and hope this helps her. Keep up the good work and I will say a prayer for her. Hopefully she will heal and get through this. She's lucky your husband got to her when he did. Good luck and God bless.

 

[Sjisty]

Poor baby! It sounds like you're taking excellent care of her and it's amazing what they can recover from.

I had a hen last August that suffered a pretty brutal dog attack, too. She was practically skinned alive. My first thought was to put her out of her misery, but her eyes were bright and she was moving around pretty much okay, so I decided to see how she would do.

One thing I did - I filled the sink with warm water/Betadine and gave her a good soaking for several days in a row. She seemed to like the warm baths, and that way the Betadine got into the wounds I could see as well as whatever wounds were hidden under her feathers. It also cleaned the dirt out of the wounds. Of course, afterward I put her in a cage with a warm lamp so she wouldn't get chilled. I also sprayed the worst areas with Vetericyn a couple of times a day. After about 10 days I let her go outside in a separate pen.

She healed very slowly. Her skin did grow back together but is "ripply" feeling on her back. Even her feathers grew in, but took about 5 months. I made sure while she healed that she wasn't with the other chickens. The thought of our rooster trying to mount her gave me nightmares!

I never put any ointment on her wounds. In my experience with birds and chickens, ointment just makes the feathers stick to the wounds and cause irritation/pain.

As far as my girl (since named Hope), she is now a part of the flock again, happy and healthy, although she hasn't laid an egg since the incident happened last August, so she probably had some major internal injuries. That doesn't matter - we have enough other girls laying.

Good luck with your girl!

 

[mifahmifah]

Thank you both for responding. I will check and see if I can find either of those antibiotics realsis. I know tractor supply has penicillin, what type of antibiotic would be best in this situation? Should I get injectable or oral?

The skin flap is quite large but not large enough to cover the wound completely, tonight I will try soaking her IN the betadine tea instead of just rinsing the wound and see if that proves any easier for the 3 of us, as I do think this will reach everything more deeply. If this soak softens the skin flap to where it's dangling again I will take more pics so you all can better see the extent of the injuries. I truly appreciate your advice! Thank you very very much!

 

[3chickchicks]

Thank you both for responding. I will check and see if I can find either of those antibiotics realsis. I know tractor supply has penicillin, what type of antibiotic would be best in this situation? Should I get injectable or oral?

The skin flap is quite large but not large enough to cover the wound completely, tonight I will try soaking her IN the betadine tea instead of just rinsing the wound and see if that proves any easier for the 3 of us, as I do think this will reach everything more deeply. If this soak softens the skin flap to where it's dangling again I will take more pics so you all can better see the extent of the injuries. I truly appreciate your advice! Thank you very very much!

See if you can find Doxycycline or Clindamycin as it treats for bacteria from a dog's mouth.

 

[mifahmifah]

Okay all I can find for her is:

-Tetracycline
- Penicillin

Everything else requires a vet, and there aren't any around here that will see a chicken.
I've called and called and called.

So which of these will be best for her?
Thank you so much.

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry about your hen. For a bite wound I would use Procaine Penicillin G, and give 1/4 ml as a shot into the breast muscle once a day for 4 days. Get 4 syringes 3 cc or ml, and replace the needles with 4 needles that are 20 gauge since the drug is very thick (shake well.) The 20 gauge needles are too long, so only insert it a 1/2 to 5/8 inch into the muscle. Penicillin is refrigerated, and may be available at farm stores.

 

[mifahmifah]

Was able to get metacam AND clindamycin!!!!! Thank The Lord!!!!!!

 

[mifahmifah]

Tv:
She's sleeping much more today and still eaqting. She isn't interested in water and didn't lay. Hasn't made a peep in 3 days and is normally quite chatty. Still haven't been able to obtain the clindamycin or metacam but taking her to a cat/dog vet to check her out he said he will try to help.
Will clean wound again shortly.

 

[ten chicks]

Tv:
She's sleeping much more today and still eaqting. She isn't interested in water and didn't lay. Hasn't made a peep in 3 days and is normally quite chatty. Still haven't been able to obtain the clindamycin or metacam but taking her to a cat/dog vet to check her out he said he will try to help.
Will clean wound again shortly.

Keep her warm(when ill/injured birds cannot regulate their body temp). For pain you can give her a low dose aspirin(81mg)or a regular aspirin(325mg)dose is 25mg per lb of body weight. Crush and sprinkle over feed or give orally(break into pieces and wrap in a pce of meat or cheese)or dissolve one 325mg aspirin in one gallon of water.

Keep her hydrated as bird become dehydrated very fast,give her electrolytes. How long since she last drank water and has she been eating?