Stray dog attack/open back wound care

[Mizzkrawfish]

My rooster was attacked last Tuesday by a stray dog. He successfully defended the flock, not a hen was hurt. It flayed his back open, exposing muscle. I have been flushing his wound with saline, packing with neosporin, then an absorbent pad secured with vet wrap. I am having trouble keeping his bandage from riding up and he is also getting increasingly pretty pissed about it. He was beginning to pick at the bandage around the wound site causing the edge to sit across the wound, I figured the pressure there would not be good, so today I am attempting to let it air out. Maybe it will bother him less, and also let the wound air out now that it seems to be closing. I am monitoring him and so far so good. He is isolated in a dog kennel and also has a heat lamp on him for supplemental heat. I layer a clean puppy pad in there after he soils it a few times to try to keep it clean as possible. I’m feeding him his usual pellets free choice, aspirin water for pain relief, and he is also getting some scrambled eggs topped with his favorite treat (grapes) to entice him to eat and also for the protein and moisture because I don’t think he’s drinking much and he’s not really eating much pellet either. He is crowing and missing his flock. The past couple of days his appetite has been less but he is still eating and he is pretty lively. His wound had a bit of smell, so two days ago I started giving him pen g antibiotic injections.

Is there anything else I should be doing? Is this healing alright? I probably should have stitched the wound but I was a bit timid, didn’t want to further traumatize the tissues, and also I didn’t want to possibly close infection up. I am posting a picture from wednesday night(1 day after attack) and one from today (4 days later).

Any advice would be welcome. This is my first time dealing with a horrific injury. He’s a great bird and my hens adore him so I want to make sure I am doing all I can to get him healed up.

 

[Sammi_0411]

Looks infected to me but no an expert poor lad his a hero

 

[Mizzkrawfish]

Looks infected to me but no an expert poor lad his a hero

I’m pretty sure it is a bit. It’s a massive open wound. It is starting to tighten and scab up and I think I see some granulation on the edges. The first picture is 1 day after the attack, second picture is 5 days after.

 

[Mizzkrawfish]

Day 6 update.

 

[Oncoming Storm]

How’s it smelling? The black tissue on top looks dead. I’ve had dead tissue on me before and it came off on its own but I would keep an eye on that stuff and if it doesn’t go on its own, you may have to break out the tweezers.

 

[Tonyroo]

If it smells it's infected with bacteria. I had a similar wound with a pullet she got attacked by the Serama rooster I had. He tore the skin off her lower neck area. About the size of a half a dollar size.
What I did was I brought her to my bathroom had my partner hold her while I saturated her wound with cotton pad soaked in hydrogen peroxide to kill the infection, rinsed off the foam, patted dry with tissues, then I layered neosporin over it. I layered the neosporin for 3 days. Her wound was healing up fast. It took a week for her to close her wound and she wasn't too bothered by the whole experience. I always use this method for this type of injury, cause I know it works. Just sharing.

 

[Mizzkrawfish]

There isn’t much smell now. I get a very faint whiff when he fluffs up at me, but it is nowhere close to day 2-3. Tonight was round 4 of penicillin g, debating if I need to continue or if the four days would suffice. There is no discharge as well.

I’m hesitant to use peroxide now that new tissue is developing, don’t want to damage that. I have been rinsing with saline solution, blotting, and then slathering the wound with neosporin pretty thickly. On hindsight I should have flushed the wound with it the same evening it had happened but it’s almost a week late for

The black tissue is most definitely dead. It reminds me of truck-stop beef jerky. The kind that comes in the bin, not the bag. It’s a pretty solid scab. I’m worried about it blocking the skin from fully enclosing over the wound. I also don’t want to open it back up. It’s clinging pretty hard on there.

He is being a good sport about all of this.

 

[arwoon]

Wow! You did a great job! I think the wound should heal up fine, try not to mess with it too much. (The dead stuff should fall off by itself) how long have you been administrating pen g? I would think that would be enough to clear it out.

 

[Tonyroo]

There isn’t much smell now. I get a very faint whiff when he fluffs up at me, but it is nowhere close to day 2-3. Tonight was round 4 of penicillin g, debating if I need to continue or if the four days would suffice. There is no discharge as well.

I’m hesitant to use peroxide now that new tissue is developing, don’t want to damage that. I have been rinsing with saline solution, blotting, and then slathering the wound with neosporin pretty thickly. On hindsight I should have flushed the wound with it the same evening it had happened but it’s almost a week late for

The black tissue is most definitely dead. It reminds me of truck-stop beef jerky. The kind that comes in the bin, not the bag. It’s a pretty solid scab. I’m worried about it blocking the skin from fully enclosing over the wound. I also don’t want to open it back up. It’s clinging pretty hard on there.

He is being a good sport about all of this.

From my experience the hydrogen peroxide, does 3 things, cauterize the wound and stops the bleeding, kill infection on contact, cleans the wound. And that's why I use it.
Everyone has there own know how.

 

[arwoon]

From my experience the hydrogen peroxide, does 3 things, cauterize the wound and stops the bleeding, kill infection on contact, cleans the wound. And that's why I use it.
Everyone has there own know how.

Its very good for first time cleaning and if the infection is REALLY bad, but should not be used on a healing wound, as it causes it to open up and not heal. It doesn't sound like the wound is infected that bad anymore. It should clear up with the pen g.